Saugers, like this one, are plentiful in the rivers and lakes around the Lodi, WI area.
This is the time of year when I and I know many of you have “cabin fever” and are looking forward to a true Wisconsin tradition, river fishing for walleyes and saugers. It’s been a typical Wisconsin winter with some cold weather and enough snow to keep you busy shoveling. Personally, I’ve kept busy with my new Lab, Katie, who has to be doing something outside with her boundless energy. Plus, I’ve been doing some ice fishing, looking for eagles and wildlife to photograph, feeding over 100 pounds of bird seed a week, and getting ready for the sport show and seminar season. But, I’ve had enough of winter and the stable and sunny days last week had me thinkingof walleye fishing on the Wisconsin River.
It is not unusual to be fishing open-water on the Wisconsin River below the dams at Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin Dells, and Nekoosa in February. In the last decade, there have been a few years where walleye and sauger fishing started this early. Most people think that the “spring walleye run’ starts in March and April when the temperature hits the magic 40 degree mark and all the walleyes in the Wisconsin River system decide to migrate toward the first impassable structure or the dam’s on the river system. The truth is that walleyes and saugers start migrating upriver toward the Prairie du Sac Dam in the late fall and winter and find an area where they will hold till spring. This location is usually a deep water location with access to shallow water feeding flats that have bait fish. These “holding areas” can be close to the dam’s scour hole which is usually the deepest water below the dam that was formed when the water was high from the melting of winter’s snow and rushing through the open dam gates. There is water over 30 feet deep below the Prairie Dam which is deep water for the Wisconsin River where farther downriver 10 feet is considered deep. The scour hole is only 20 to 30 yards below the dam gates. Though many walleyes and its cousin, the sauger, can be very close to the dam, there are locations downriver 2 to 3 miles that will also hold fish this time of year before the spawn. This time of year, many of the smaller males will be active and arrive before the larger female fish. This is why you’ll often go through dozens of smaller, non-legal walleyes and saugers before you catch a legal fish. The legal size for walleyes on the Wisconsin River is 18 inches and the sauger must be 15 inches with a daily bag limit of 3 fish of any combination. Read more »
The Sturgeon Spearing Opens and the State Recorded is Smashed
The Wisconsin sturgeon spearing season opened this past Saturday morning, February 14th, to below zero temperatures and a sunny sky. As soon as the sun rose, the temperature rebounded and one could not have asked for a nicer February day. By mid-morning, the sky was bright blue, the warming sun was shining, and thousands of sturgeon spearers were in their shanties waiting for a big fish to come by their hole.
Sturgeon Record the new state record 212.2 pounds and 84.2 inches speared by Ron Grishaber of Appleton
The glorious day turned out to also be a record-smashing day for the opening of the 2010 Wisconsin sturgeon spearing season. DNR fishery technicians have been seeing and handling sturgeon over 200 pounds for a few years, but none have been speared until Saturday. Finally, one of these “super-trophies” was speared by Ron Grishaber of Appleton, Wisconsin on Saturday morning. Grishaber registered the huge sturgeon (212.2 pounds and 84.2 inches) at the Harrison Registration Station, west of the village of Sherwood.
This was not the only record broken on Saturday. There were a record number of lake sturgeons greater than or equal to 100 pounds registered this day with 31 taken from Lake Winnebago and 3 from the Upriver Lakes. And the other record broken was the largest male sturgeon ever registered weighing 116.8 pounds and being 71 inches long. This fish was registered at Critter’s in the town of Winneconne. This sturgeon came from the Upriver Lakes of Butte des Morts, Winneconne, and Lake Poygan.
Lake Winnebago and the Upriver Lakes were gin-clear last week which would have helped the spearer’s by giving them greater visibility. But, the water on the west shore dirtied up from the flow of the Fox River. The best spearing and visibility was on the east side of the lake and up north near Stockbridge. This is the area where the record fish was speared and where the most fish were harvested. Water clarity can change daily and many people were moving their shanties to the east side and north end of Lake Winnebago for the last few days of the season.
I talked to and interviewed Ron Bruch, who is the Fisheries Supervisor for the entire Winnebago System, and Ron said that “the number of these very large fish in the Winnebago population has been increasing over the last 15 years due to the regulations developed by the DNR fisheries staff and the Winnebago Citizens Sturgeon Advisory Committee, and implemented in the late 1990’s and designed to decrease the annual exploitation of adult female sturgeon (which are the largest fish in the fish stock and also the most vulnerable).” There also were large hatches of sturgeon over a 20-30 year period in the early 1990’s that are now entering the “super-trophy” size in their life. Lake sturgeon and especially females are believed to be able to live to be 150 years old or more. The 212 pound record-breaking sturgeon hasn’t been aged yet, but is thought to be well over 100 years old. The previous state spearing record was a 188 pound and 79.5 inch sturgeon that was speared by David Piechowski of Redgranite in 2004. This year’s record fish was not only a record speared fish for Lake Winnebago, but also a Wisconsin state spear record topping a 195 pound fish speared on Lake Pokegama in Vilas county in 1979. Read more »
Sturgeon Spearer’s Look Forward to Opener This Weekend
All signs point to a successful sturgeon spearing season on Lake Wiinebago
This coming Saturday, February 13th, the Wisconsin sturgeon spearing season opens on Lake Winnebago and the Upriver Lakes of Lake Winneconne, Lake Buttes des Morts, and Lake Poygan. The spearing season lasts until February 28 or until the pre-set Winnebago System wide harvest caps are reached. Spearer’s had to apply for their spearing permit by August 1 for the Upriver Lakes where only 500 permits are allotted and licenses for both Lake Winnebago and the Upriver Lakes must have been purchased by October 31st. An individual can apply for a permit on either Lake Winnebago or the Upriver Lakes, but not both.
If you haven’t ever tried spearing for sturgeons, it is a tradition that is deeply rooted in the outdoor culture of Wisconsin. Spearing sturgeon goes back many generations to spearing families and groups of friends. Some families have traditions that go back to the early days of spearing with the Stockbridge Indians on the east shore of Lake Winnebago in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The “season’ is much like a huge tailgate party with thousands of anglers and their shanties dotting huge massive Lake Winnebago and having fun outdoors. The atmosphere is festive with families and groups getting together in the outdoors to socialize, see old friends, and hopefully get a chance to spear one of these prehistoric fish. Last year, an aerial shanty count had almost 5,000 shacks on the ice opening weekend. This year over 10,000 licenses have been sold, which shows that the sport is increasing in the number of participants and preserving this Wisconsin tradition.
The first spearing season in Wisconsin was in 1903 and later the season was closed from 1915 to 1931. But, the work and effort of the DNR and many other local groups have helped the growth of the sturgeon population to the point where it is now self-sustaining while still giving people the opportunity to spear. Read more »
Watching eagles at the Overlook on the Wisconsin River at Sauk City, WI
I have a friend who I regularly talk to and sometimes see during the week with problems and glitches with my computer, website, or something technical. When I have problems, he’s a genius at fixing my mistakes. He usually is my savior when it comes to fixing the problems that I encounter on a computer. But, I rarely see this person when it doesn’t have to do with work or business. This past weekend, I thought that I’d ask my “friend” (let’s call him Dave) if he’d like to join me in an outdoor experience or activity. This past weekend looked like it was going to be a nice one, so I thought that I’d ask my friend what he had planned and see if he was interested in joining me for a day outdoors doing “something” like ice fishing, snowshoeing, eagle watching, driving the back roads looking for wildlife, or checking out the many fisherees and trap shoots that take place every weekend this time of year. Now when so many baby-boomer are stopping their participation in outdoor activities that they have taken part in for decades, its time to try and recruit or bring some new and fresh blood into all outdoor activities, not just fishing and hunting.
I asked Dave if he was interested in doing “something” in the outdoors with me over the weekend. To my surprise, he said declined and said no! He said that during the winter he rarely does much outside and usually stays home and watches movies or sports. I was disappointed because there are so many diverse outdoor activities I was sure that I could find something that might get “old” Dave fired up. We get along fine, but most of this is superficial and part of work process. Dave grew up in a big city and never was introduced to anything in the outdoors. To him, the outdoors was taking the dog for a walk in the park or driving in the country to an apple orchard in the fall. Read more »
Grandfather and grandson with their catch at the Yahara Fishing Club Kids Fishing Day.
This past weekend, the Yahara Fishing Club held their Annual Kids Ice Fishing Day at Brittingham Park in Madison, Wisconsin. The milder weather had many children out ice fishing with their parents, grandparents, brothers, and sisters. A few of the past ice outings have had extreme cold weather and even poor ice, so this years weather brought out many who other wised might have stayed home.
The members of the Yahara Fishing Club do a wonderful job in giving so many local children and their guardians an introduction to ice fishing and experience the fun of catching fish through the ice. Saturday’s event started at 9:00 am at Lake Monona’s Brittingham Park and those that attended were provided with free gear, live bait, food, and club members to help beginning anglers learn a “little” about ice fishing basics. If you were brought up in Wisconsin or anywhere in the Upper Midwest then you probably were introduced to ice fishing at some time in your life or know people who ice fish.
The one thing that makes ice fishing more accessible to people is that you don’t need a boat to catch fish. Though many ice fishermen and women use ATV’s for greater mobility, many anglers still walk to their favorite fishing hole. Most of the gear that an angler needs can be put into a five gallon pail and pulled on a sled. The pail also can be used to sit on while you fish your holes in the ice. Everything that an ice fisherman needs can be put on a small plastic sled that costs under $10.00. Ice fishing rods and reels can be bought for $15.00 to $30.00 which is inexpensive when compared to what open water rod and reels cost. A beginning angler should get a sensitive rod with a spring bobber on the end to detect the lightest bite. Purchase a small spinning reel with 2 to 3 pound line spooled on it to your ice fishing jigs. Talk to local anglers and those in the know to find out what the best ice jigs are for the area that you’re fishing. Bait can be wax worms, spikes, plastics, or the new Berkley Gulp which is made from real fish and lasts longer than live bait and really catches fish. A new hand ice auger can be purchased for about $80.00 and power augers start at over $300.00, but a thrifty angler can usually find used hand augers for $25.00 at garage sales. You’d be surprised at the good deals you can find at “swap” and garage sales if you spend some time looking for good used gear. Ice skimmers for clearing your hole of ice are less than $10.00 when brand new. Then, about the only other thing that an angler needs is a good assortment of ice jigs and plastics which are inexpensive. It’s nice to have an ice shanty for the real cold weather and recently I’ve seen new ice shelters for under $200.00 for a 2-man tent. But, you can also spend over $400.00 for bigger and deluxe shelters. It’s also possible to find good used shelters for under $100.00, if you do some searching. Read more »
Early Ice Fishing in Southern Wisconsin and the Madison Area
A nice 10" 'gill from the Madison Chain
The warmer than normal November had ice anglers worrying about when there would be ice on area waters. With the way the weather was going, I didn’t think there would be “good’ ice until at least Christmas. But, the recent frigid blast has angler’s already venturing out on area waters. Wisconsinites love a few things this time of year; first and foremost they love the Green Bay Packers and their second love is ice fishing. The average date that Lake Monona freezes over is usually near the end of December and in 5 years of the last decade the ice wasn’t safe until January. Last weekend, there were many anglers out on Monona Bay and the Brittingham Park area. There were at least a hundred anglers out Sunday afternoon when the packer game finished.
Personally, I’m waiting till the ice is a little thicker, in the 3 to 4 inch range, before I “hit’ the local waters. The vision of fresh bluegill and crappie fillets frying in a cast iron pan is so inviting, but I’m not as daring and bold as I once was and am waiting for thicker ice. Anglers love to be the first one on the ice because fishing is usually good in many areas early before the fish migrate to deeper water structure later in the winter. Now, the fish and I mean most panfish, walleyes, and northern pike are in the same location as they were before the ice formed. The key if possible is to find green weeds because most fish will be close to these spots.
Safety is the most important thing when fishing the first ice of the year! The weather this week looks good with another cold front coming in by mid-week which should continue the ice building process. Use good judgment when going ice fishing because any fish isn’t worth going through the ice for. Here are a few important tips to remember when fishing the year’s first ice: Read more »
A Valiant Attempt to Increase the Muskie Size Minimum
A nice Wisconsin River musky.
Many anglers now know that the Lower Wisconsin Riverway has seen an increase in its muskie population during the last decade. Muskies have always been present in the Wisconsin River and in Lake Wisconsin above the Prairie du Sac Dam, but most of these catches have been accidental. Anglers fishing for another fish species (northern pike, catfish, sturgeon, and walleyes) have accidentally caught muskies.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the muskies present in the Wisconsin River have gotten there during periods of high water usually in the spring. Melting snow and spring rains can raise the river’s water to where it is possible for muskies from Lake Wisconsin to go over the top of the Prairie du Sac Dam and into the Lower Wisconsin River. Periodically, muskies have also been stocked in Lake Wisconsin, but the population of these fish has been low making it difficult to “target’ the big fish. There also are muskies in the Mississippi River, but it would be extremely difficult for the fish to travel up river and take up residence below the Prairie Dam. The amount of natural reproduction in these waters is minimal if any, so most of the fish in question are old.
As I earlier said, the population of muskies below the Prairie du Sac Dam has risen for the years to the point where there is a fishable population of good sized muskies. These fish are concentrated in the waters below the dam from the tailrace area to the Highway 12 Bridge in Sauk City, Wisconsin. Everything that a muskie could want is in the area. There is deep water in the “scour hole” below the dam formed from many years of the spring’s high water (over 30 feet), good habitat, and a steady supple of forage fish to their liking. I’ve caught and seen muskies caught for years, but they are almost always caught when fishing for another species and not in great numbers till recently.
The last few years has seen more and more muskies caught to the point where many local anglers have started targeting and releasing the fish. It is not unusual to fish the tailrace area below the dam, the deeper water in the scour hole, and both of the river’s shorelines and catch and release some nice sized muskies.
But, a problem has arisen with the growth of the fishery. The minimum size for a muskie in the Wisconsin River below the Prairie du Sac Dam is 34 inches which is the state minimum unless there are local regulations. The Madison Chain of Lakes has a minimum size of 45 inches and the Bay of Green Bay has a 50 inch minimum. A vast majority of muskie anglers practice catch and release anyway, so over-harvest has not been a problem till recently. Read more »
George Banfi and Gary N-Ski casting for muskies in Northern Wisconsin
Recently I had a chance to travel to northern Wisconsin and chase the king of freshwater fish…the mighty musky. My brother, George Banfi, a builder by trade, built a beautiful home in the wilderness of Vilas County where we would be staying. Our good friend and fellow “musky-hunter” Gary N-Ski of Lodi would be joining us. Gary is a professional photographer and is a “hoot” to have in the boat. Gary’s good humor and fun outlook on life makes him a lot of fun to be around. I was anticipating some big muskies and really looking forward to the adventure. It’s the lure of the north.
After arriving Friday around noon, we downloaded some of our gear and got the boat ready to fish. I fish out of a Ranger 618 VS, which is very safe and has lots of room to work. We had 10 musky rods rigged and ready to go. Many were Fenwick 7’6”, 8’, and 8’6” rods with Abu-Garcia 6500-C3 reels loaded with 80lb and 100lb test Stealth Super-Braid. We were ready to tackle a monster! It’s the lure of the north.
I had purchased 5 extra large musky suckers from the bait dept. at Wilderness Fish and Game. They were 15” to 16” long and I had special ordered them knowing we would be heading up north to lakes that have produced numerous muskies over the “benchmark” of 50”. I kept the suckers alive in my pond at my home and I fed them nightcrawlers and minnows to fatten them up and keep them happy. The pond is aerated to keep them healthy, and I have a lid on it to keep them from jumping out. The ventilated lid also helps keep un-wanted critters from trying to get them (raccoons, etc). I built a remote aerator using a deep cycle marine battery in a battery box and a bilge pump, with 3’ of tubing. Attached to the tubing is a 1’ piece of ¾” p.v.c pipe with 6 holes drilled in it to spray water down onto the bait. It works great. We were ready to catch a giant musky with our giant bait! It’s the lure of the north. Read more »
Author with a big walleye caught on Lake Erie during late November.
November is the best month of the fishing season for the angler looking to catch a trophy fish of any species. The largest fish of the year are usually caught from the beginning of November until freeze-up which varies from lake to lake. Many anglers put their boats away for the year around Labor Day and a few others wait till sometime in October. But, the hard-core and serious fishermen wait till sometime in November (and sometimes later) and just before the area’s lakes freeze solid for the ice fishing season to store their boats.
When and Where
Every year there may be a “little” variance in the exact time that the local lakes freeze solid. The variables that affect a lake freezing over include; the size of the lake, the lake’s depth, and if there is any current or flow that runs through the lake from any rivers and creeks that enter and exit the lake. Large lakes, like Madison’s Lake Mendota, usually don’t freeze until December and there have been some years when Lake Mendota isn’t frozen till Christmas time. But, Lake Mendota is 10,000 acres, over 80 feet deep, and has some current running through it from the Yahara River that enters and exits the lake. A smaller lake, such as Madison’s Lake Wingra, will freeze weeks and even a month before some of the other area waters because it is only 345 acres, has a depth of roughly 15 feet, and only a little flow from Murphy’s Creek.
There also are waters, like Lake Wisconsin, which is actually a flowage much like the Petenwell and Castle Rock Flowages, which are actually impoundments of the Wisconsin River. These lakes or flowages have dams at both ends that control the current and flow throughout the year. The current is less during the winter months, but never worth the risk of ice fishing over its deeper water. The point is that most lakes in southern Wisconsin are open for fishing throughout the month of November. When fishing late in the season, try to find any green weeds because these are fish magnets this time of year. Read more »
Pheasants, like this beauty, may be harder for hunters to find this fall with the expiration of CRP acres.
The key to pheasant numbers in any state and particularly Wisconsin and the Midwest is habitat. Wild pheasant numbers are driven by habitat and the loss of over a million habitat acres of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands in the main core of Midwest states will have hunters finding fewer pheasants than they have the last few years. Another 3.8 million acres of CRP will expire this fall, 4.4 million acres next fall, and 21 million acres will be gone from the program by the end of 2012 and without a new CRP general sign-up- of which none are scheduled by the Department of Agriculture hunters worried.
The CRP Program has been one of the most successful programs that the Government has ever implemented with benefits of improved soil quality, cleaner water, less soil erosion, and increased habitat for game animals, game birds, and even song birds. The continued loss of CRP acres in key states will be a disaster for the conservationists. If you are a pheasant hunter (over 60,000 pheasant hunters in Wisconsin and 2 million nationally) and conservationists it is important that you contact your elected officials and “lobby” them for a continuation of the CRP program with a new general sign-up, expansion of the wildlife friendly CRP practice known as State Acres For Wildlife Enhancement (SAFE or CP 38), and the expansion of the Upland Bird Habitat Buffers practice (CP 33) also within CRP. I strongly suggest that pheasant hunters join Pheasants Forever which is a quality conservation-minded organization that does wonders for all wildlife nationally and within Wisconsin and most others states in their numerous local chapters projects. Read more »
Its early fall in Wisconsin and as I’ve mentioned before now is the time to start getting ready for some of the years best fishing. If you’re an outdoors person then this is “your’ time of the year. One has a difficult time deciding what outdoor activity to participate in with most hunting seasons being open in some part of Wisconsin and fishing just starting to heat up.
After having the coldest July on record and a cool August, September has already had some of the warmest days of the summer. The cool summer kept the weeds down and the water considerably cleaner on the Madison Chain of Lakes this summer. An example of the cleaner water was the overall clarity on Lake Mendota, where you could see to 10 to 12 feet down in the middle of summer. Some of this can be attributed to which direction the wind is blowing, but the cooler temperature helped keep the weeds down. This past summer, the wind blew from the north and north-west a considerable amount of time. The blue – green alga was down as was the Eurasian milfoil making local waters much cleaner this fishing season. This may make fish a little spookier, but I don’t think it hindered fishing to any extent. Read more »
Lodi Valley News serves the Lodi, WI and Lake Wisconsin area with news and information from local writers. We serve Columbia, Dane and Sauk Counties in Wisconsin
Fishing, Local, Outdoor | Free Speech | 
February 26, 2010 11:00 AM | 
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