dells fishing??

[Guest]

first timer's to the dells during the 2nd week in june. just wondering if it would be worth bringing my scratched up old lund along for fishing and crusing the river?? not sure how deep the river is or what the access' are like. thanks for the advice.

[Guest]

The river below the dam can be a busy one with the tour boats rolling around. It has been up for the last few weeks and as long as we continue to get rain is should be ok. There is good fishing throughout the river area and for the adventuresome Lake Wis can also be active.

That stretch of the river between the dells dam and thr lake are good for a variety of fish. Walleye Sauger, Smallmouth Northern all poplulate the area. Work the shorelines with jig and minnow, crawler or leech and you never know what will be on the other end at times. Or cast spinners and cranks in to get equal results.

One thing is be careful. Sandbars pop up out of no where. And if the river is up the current can be a bit challenging in spots.

Good luck and enjoy.

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Good luck,

Bob

[Guest]

Heading to Wisconsin Lake the 4th week of June myself. Saw the post on general tips for the Dells area, does this also apply to the Wisconsin Lake impoundent? Any tips, techniques, recent fishing trip results to that lake would be greatly appreciated. Thx!

[Guest]

The Lake can be equally productive. It does get a lot of pleasure boat/jetski traffic but that typically does not start till around 10 and dies out by 5.

There are a number of good spots depending on what it is you want to pursue. Get a fishing hot spots map and pick up the Lake Wisconsin boating club navigation map (the latter is free at most of the bait shops). You can find all species of fish in the main lake. Early morning and late day fishing is probably the best times for the walleye and sauger. Work the drop offs and stump fields with lindys spinners or cranks mixing up presentations and colors often till you find the right combinations. Sand flats that lead into main lake or channel areas can also be productive. You might even pick up a few smallies and surely some white bass and sheepheads as well. If it is stump fields you like work the area from Okee bay toward Merrimac but BE CAREFUL there are a lot of submerged stumps that are just below the surface and at the perfect height for lower units. Windy conditions make this area hard to maintain boat control because it is so open and get a fair amount of traffic during the day.

LM can be found on most of the shorelines in the typical places. Mid lake has a number of bays that you can work. Northern and musky can also be found in these areas and along the steep drop offs associated with the channel. Oh and hang on to your drag if a sturgen decides to nibble. They can give you a run for your money.

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Good luck,

Bob

[Guest]

Thanks a bunch BD! Great information. I'll be sure to post back with how we do. Appreciate it.

[Guest]

Hey Rugbystar how did you do on Lake WI???

Getting reports that the lake is starting to get lots of algee on it and the loving Mayflies are hatching. Two great signs that summer is upon us.

[Guest]

BD,

Got to fish two days out of the 7 in a boat the rest of the time was restricted to early morning and evening from shore. With the help of your advice we limited out on Walleye/Sauger both days in the boat and caught a lot of Smallmouth, Largemouth and Crappie. We fished during the week and it was really nice, very little boat traffic so the rental with a 9.9 was able to get around ok. Targeting the stumps and river channel seemed to work out the best. We tried a lot of rigs but the most consistent producer was a painted leadhead with a power grub tipped with a minnow, leech or crawler. Crankbait bite was not really happening. Second place was a Lindy rig with a phelps or just bare hook with the afformentioned live bait options. My nephew caught a giant sauger, biggest I have ever seen, in the first 5 minutes of fishing. This fish was 25 inches long and he was pretty dissapointed that he had to release it as it was part of the protected slot from 20 - 28 inches. We got into a ton of short fish from the docks in the morning and evening as well which was really fun for the kids, all catch and release. That may have competed with the waterslides for their favorite thing about the trip! Most fish in the boat were caught from 15-20 feet deep. The docks we were on actually sat in 12 - 14 feet of water so it was really good water right there and you could cast into 18-20 feet of water so we used slip bobbers and live bait primarily there.

[Guest]

Rugbystar,

Glad to see you had a good time. Midweek is definitely the best time to hit that water. Where were you staying that you had the nice drop off at the dock?

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Good luck,

Bob