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| Message Subject: Little Saint Germain | |||
Port Washington |
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Posts: 1 | Looking for any tips/advice for Little Saint Germain. My relatives bought a house on the lake and I'll be spending a lot of time up there...any advice is greatly appreciated! | ||
| Vilas15 |
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Posts: 177 | Fished it one time when it was the only lake we could launch due to wind. No specific advice here, but its basically three different lakes (shallow/medium/deep) all connected. I doubt all fish move into a single arm based on the conditions so I'd try to break it down and focus fishing on one of the arms and learn it before spending too much time on the next. But something tells me the area where they all meet could be a great spot for fish passing through. | ||
| chuckski |
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Posts: 1194 | Never fished it but very busy place you'll have lots of company. | ||
| TheShow |
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Posts: 347 Location: Vilas County, WI | Per our local DNR biologists and creel study folks, Little STG ranks #1 in the entire county based on angler hours per acre. That statistic is based across all fish species. Plenty of fish in there, but plenty of anglers, and plenty of recreational traffic. West bay is deeper and more clear. South bay and east bay get a little cloudy. The area that connects all three is known as "no fish bay" and runs about 4 or 5 feet deep. | ||
| bartlett |
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Posts: 4 Location: TX | Little Saint Germain is my second favorite fishing location. Environment is very beautiful and you can find a lot of experienced people to chat around the lake. You are so lucky to have a free accommodation there, you will be having the time of your life... My uncle bought a property in Spain last year and we were heading to Costa del Sol every weekend for fishing. It's a great location for yellow tuna, sea bream and dentex. | ||
| badkemo |
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Posts: 48 | It depends... what you are looking to catch? If you are targeting Muskies this is a very poor lake to start out. I have been going up there for the past four years now, and have not caught any fish or saw many Muskie fisherman. There is plenty of little Northern if you want to target those. For the first two years I stayed on the West end and stayed seven days each time. Had only two follows and was fishing very hard. Have tried many lures, many sizes, and different retrieve speeds without any luck. Have spent many days in town trying to gather information from local bait shop in St Germain. All I got out of the guys was "the muskies are in there" .. The one guide that guided the lake did not answer my phone call or email. This year I decided to go to Minaqua and ask at the Musky Shop for some help. Surprisingly they told me to stay away from Little Saint and not to waste my time on it. They said that there was so little Muskies in that lake that it's not even worth thinking about fishing the lake. Another customer there said that the WI DNR stopped stocking the lake a while ago and ever since the numbers have plummeted. It is BIG shame because that lake offers perfect habitat for big fish. The west end is clear and deep but has some good weed growth along with a mixture of some rock. The north side is stained and shallow but holds a lot of pan fish. The west side is mostly shallow with weeds and cabbage all over the bay. If you want to get on some small pike just hit up the south bay and keep in the middle of the bay casting out to the weeds right in 6' of water. Blue gill and crappie fishing is good. I have not tried any Walleye fishing but have also not seen any walleye fisherman. I just got back from WI. On my last day up there I hit up Lost Lake which is about 10 min drive from Little Saint.. I was advised by one of the guys from the Musky Shop to fish that lake instead. Even though I wasn't able to catch a muskie on that lake ether, I had 8 follows from decent fish in 6 hours of fishing, and missed one at boat side. Someone above mentioned that this is a class A muskie lake and I would love to see some supporting facts... Other than that the lake is beautiful, and that is why my family and I keep coming back to it. Maybe one day fishing will rebound and it will be a gem in the middle of Musky Country!!! | ||
| kdawg |
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Posts: 734 | Badkemo, a bit of advice. Before believing what some folks say, check with the source first. According to the Wis.D.N.R. stocking data base, Lil. St. has always been stocked. Never fished on it, but what I read, the lake receives a tremendous amount of pressure, which forces fishing early or late in the season, rainy days, or night fishing, for any kind of results. Kdawg | ||
| badkemo |
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Posts: 48 | kdawg, I would love to see the data from the WI DNR that supports that.. I'm not trying to pick a fight here but I just find that hard to believe, also in addition about the pressure the 55 days I have spent on that lake I can count on one hand how many Musky guys I have seen out there. I'm an experienced musky fisherman, I know how to find fish in almost any water type. We all know this fish is not the easiest to catch but muskies are curious fish and I fished many surrounding waters in the area where I have seen fish follow. If there was good number of muskies in Little Saint I would have seen more follows period.. And I'm sorry, I will always believe local folks, guides/bait shops rather then what the DNR puts out on their website. All I am saying here it's not a good Muskie lake. Will I go back next time? Yes because we like the cabin we rent and the owners, but I will fish in the surrounding area.. Edited by badkemo 6/17/2020 9:01 AM | ||
| JZ2386 |
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Posts: 24 | https://cida.usgs.gov/wdnr/apex/f?p=220:1:::NO::P1_COUNTY_NAME:VILAS... I hope the link works. This is the DRN stocking numbers for LSG. | ||
| badkemo |
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Posts: 48 | JZ2386 - 6/17/2020 9:33 AM https://cida.usgs.gov/wdnr/apex/f?p=220:1:::NO::P1_COUNTY_NAME:VILAS... I hope the link works. This is the DRN stocking numbers for LSG. Thanks.. Very interesting numbers. I wonder what the survival rate is with all the small pike around. There is crap ton of those in the lake.. | ||
| Vilas15 |
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Posts: 177 | Port Washington - 6/5/2020 8:49 AM Looking for any tips/advice for Little Saint Germain. My relatives bought a house on the lake and I'll be spending a lot of time up there...any advice is greatly appreciated! If you're going to be spending a lot of time there, then just put in the hours to figure it out. The only info you can rely on is stocking data, info from people you trust not to lie to you, and your own experiences on the lake. Some people will tell you the truth and others will lie to your face, let alone on the internet, about lakes. Ive never found Ray's in St Germain to be a good source of any helpful info. Little St gets a lot of pressure so fishing wil be tough, you'll need to learn spots and best times of day/year for it like any lake. Available data puts hr/fish rates near other class A1 lakes in the area so there are fish there. | ||
| Vilas15 |
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Posts: 177 | badkemo - 6/16/2020 9:54 PM It depends... what you are looking to catch? If you are targeting Muskies this is a very poor lake to start out. I have been going up there for the past four years now, and have not caught any fish or saw many Muskie fisherman. There is plenty of little Northern if you want to target those. For the first two years I stayed on the West end and stayed seven days each time. Had only two follows and was fishing very hard. Have tried many lures, many sizes, and different retrieve speeds without any luck. Have spent many days in town trying to gather information from local bait shop in St Germain. All I got out of the guys was "the muskies are in there" .. The one guide that guided the lake did not answer my phone call or email. This year I decided to go to Minaqua and ask at the Musky Shop for some help. Surprisingly they told me to stay away from Little Saint and not to waste my time on it. They said that there was so little Muskies in that lake that it's not even worth thinking about fishing the lake. Another customer there said that the WI DNR stopped stocking the lake a while ago and ever since the numbers have plummeted. It is BIG shame because that lake offers perfect habitat for big fish. The west end is clear and deep but has some good weed growth along with a mixture of some rock. The north side is stained and shallow but holds a lot of pan fish. The west side is mostly shallow with weeds and cabbage all over the bay. If you want to get on some small pike just hit up the south bay and keep in the middle of the bay casting out to the weeds right in 6' of water. Blue gill and crappie fishing is good. I have not tried any Walleye fishing but have also not seen any walleye fisherman. I just got back from WI. On my last day up there I hit up Lost Lake which is about 10 min drive from Little Saint.. I was advised by one of the guys from the Musky Shop to fish that lake instead. Even though I wasn't able to catch a muskie on that lake ether, I had 8 follows from decent fish in 6 hours of fishing, and missed one at boat side. Someone above mentioned that this is a class A muskie lake and I would love to see some supporting facts... Other than that the lake is beautiful, and that is why my family and I keep coming back to it. Maybe one day fishing will rebound and it will be a gem in the middle of Musky Country!!! Are you always there the same time of year or have you spent chunks of time during spring, summer, and fall? I will say that you can find out what lakes are best during what months and it is surprising how much they very. Im talking 3 times as many fish caught from month to month. Sounds like you timed Lost just right. When every lake is different they are all active at different times, which is especially clear when you pay attention to other fish species spawn cycles. | ||
| badkemo |
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Posts: 48 | Vilas15 - 6/17/2020 12:26 PM badkemo - 6/16/2020 9:54 PM It depends... what you are looking to catch? If you are targeting Muskies this is a very poor lake to start out. I have been going up there for the past four years now, and have not caught any fish or saw many Muskie fisherman. There is plenty of little Northern if you want to target those. For the first two years I stayed on the West end and stayed seven days each time. Had only two follows and was fishing very hard. Have tried many lures, many sizes, and different retrieve speeds without any luck. Have spent many days in town trying to gather information from local bait shop in St Germain. All I got out of the guys was "the muskies are in there" .. The one guide that guided the lake did not answer my phone call or email. This year I decided to go to Minaqua and ask at the Musky Shop for some help. Surprisingly they told me to stay away from Little Saint and not to waste my time on it. They said that there was so little Muskies in that lake that it's not even worth thinking about fishing the lake. Another customer there said that the WI DNR stopped stocking the lake a while ago and ever since the numbers have plummeted. It is BIG shame because that lake offers perfect habitat for big fish. The west end is clear and deep but has some good weed growth along with a mixture of some rock. The north side is stained and shallow but holds a lot of pan fish. The west side is mostly shallow with weeds and cabbage all over the bay. If you want to get on some small pike just hit up the south bay and keep in the middle of the bay casting out to the weeds right in 6' of water. Blue gill and crappie fishing is good. I have not tried any Walleye fishing but have also not seen any walleye fisherman. I just got back from WI. On my last day up there I hit up Lost Lake which is about 10 min drive from Little Saint.. I was advised by one of the guys from the Musky Shop to fish that lake instead. Even though I wasn't able to catch a muskie on that lake ether, I had 8 follows from decent fish in 6 hours of fishing, and missed one at boat side. Someone above mentioned that this is a class A muskie lake and I would love to see some supporting facts... Other than that the lake is beautiful, and that is why my family and I keep coming back to it. Maybe one day fishing will rebound and it will be a gem in the middle of Musky Country!!! Are you always there the same time of year or have you spent chunks of time during spring, summer, and fall? I will say that you can find out what lakes are best during what months and it is surprising how much they very. Im talking 3 times as many fish caught from month to month. Sounds like you timed Lost just right. When every lake is different they are all active at different times, which is especially clear when you pay attention to other fish species spawn cycles. So usually I have two trips a Year to the lake. One is with my Family and the other is just a extended weekend fishing trip. I have been up on the lake anywhere from Memorial Day weekend all the way up to end of June with my Family. I just got back day ago from Little Saint. for my second trips Three years ago I went up mid Sep, Two years ago I went early September, last year I was up there end of August.. This year I only saw one other guy fishing for Muskies in 7 days stay. I was out there from sun up to sun down. This year in early fall I'm thinking about changing it up and moving one state over.. You could be right maybe I was just lucky on Lost lake and had that many follows and a miss, however on other lakes that I never fished in WI before such as Lost Land lake and Teal Lake I was able to see some fish follow on tough days. In my opinion and experience is if there is plenty of fish you will end up seeing one or two at some point. Im not saying there is no Muskies in Little Saint, what I'm saying there very little muskies in it... Unless the Lil Saint muskies have gotten a PHD in human fishing techniques and are avoiding us at all costs that's a different story. When we talk about fishing pressure are we talking fishing pressure for all species? or just muskies in general? Where I'm from down here in IL the muskies dont seem to care much about the crappie/bluegill/catfish guys.. They seem to be bothered by the bass guys and musky guys something I have not seen many of at Little Saint.. I really love that lake as I have stated above.. Do you live in the area? Maybe I'm just that unlucky on that lake... | ||
| CRK925 |
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Posts: 100 | There are usually at least a few fish caught out of here (including a few nice ones) during the St. Germain Musky Tournament in October. I believe a team won it fishing this lake 2 years ago, so there are some fish in there. Typically musky fishing gets better in northern WI between August and November. Maybe try fishing it later in the year. | ||
| badkemo |
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Posts: 48 | you know I herd that from other people around.. I Might give it a try this October... | ||
| Vilas15 |
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Posts: 177 | badkemo - 6/17/2020 1:54 PM So usually I have two trips a Year to the lake. One is with my Family and the other is just a extended weekend fishing trip. I have been up on the lake anywhere from Memorial Day weekend all the way up to end of June with my Family. I just got back day ago from Little Saint. for my second trips Three years ago I went up mid Sep, Two years ago I went early September, last year I was up there end of August.. This year I only saw one other guy fishing for Muskies in 7 days stay. I was out there from sun up to sun down. This year in early fall I'm thinking about changing it up and moving one state over.. You could be right maybe I was just lucky on Lost lake and had that many follows and a miss, however on other lakes that I never fished in WI before such as Lost Land lake and Teal Lake I was able to see some fish follow on tough days. In my opinion and experience is if there is plenty of fish you will end up seeing one or two at some point. Im not saying there is no Muskies in Little Saint, what I'm saying there very little muskies in it... Unless the Lil Saint muskies have gotten a PHD in human fishing techniques and are avoiding us at all costs that's a different story. When we talk about fishing pressure are we talking fishing pressure for all species? or just muskies in general? Where I'm from down here in IL the muskies dont seem to care much about the crappie/bluegill/catfish guys.. They seem to be bothered by the bass guys and musky guys something I have not seen many of at Little Saint.. I really love that lake as I have stated above.. Do you live in the area? Maybe I'm just that unlucky on that lake... Dont live there but fish the area. Still learning as I go and trying to figure out which lakes I want to focus my time on. I will say little saint isnt in my rotation because its not worth the additional drive and pressure the lake receives for the limited days ive got. If i remember correctly little saint is a class A1 lake while other lakes in the area are class A2 which by definition have more fish which seems to match your experience. Im not trying to discount your results, just saying Ive fished probably 40 hours on lost and seen 1 fish. Thats probably worse than average, but there are so many variables at play its tough to determine much without personally spending 100 hours on each lake. It could be I suck at musky fishing since Ive only been at it a few years so that doesnt help. | ||
| badkemo |
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Posts: 48 | Vilas15 - 6/17/2020 5:39 PM badkemo - 6/17/2020 1:54 PM So usually I have two trips a Year to the lake. One is with my Family and the other is just a extended weekend fishing trip. I have been up on the lake anywhere from Memorial Day weekend all the way up to end of June with my Family. I just got back day ago from Little Saint. for my second trips Three years ago I went up mid Sep, Two years ago I went early September, last year I was up there end of August.. This year I only saw one other guy fishing for Muskies in 7 days stay. I was out there from sun up to sun down. This year in early fall I'm thinking about changing it up and moving one state over.. You could be right maybe I was just lucky on Lost lake and had that many follows and a miss, however on other lakes that I never fished in WI before such as Lost Land lake and Teal Lake I was able to see some fish follow on tough days. In my opinion and experience is if there is plenty of fish you will end up seeing one or two at some point. Im not saying there is no Muskies in Little Saint, what I'm saying there very little muskies in it... Unless the Lil Saint muskies have gotten a PHD in human fishing techniques and are avoiding us at all costs that's a different story. When we talk about fishing pressure are we talking fishing pressure for all species? or just muskies in general? Where I'm from down here in IL the muskies dont seem to care much about the crappie/bluegill/catfish guys.. They seem to be bothered by the bass guys and musky guys something I have not seen many of at Little Saint.. I really love that lake as I have stated above.. Do you live in the area? Maybe I'm just that unlucky on that lake... Dont live there but fish the area. Still learning as I go and trying to figure out which lakes I want to focus my time on. I will say little saint isnt in my rotation because its not worth the additional drive and pressure the lake receives for the limited days ive got. If i remember correctly little saint is a class A1 lake while other lakes in the area are class A2 which by definition have more fish which seems to match your experience. Im not trying to discount your results, just saying Ive fished probably 40 hours on lost and seen 1 fish. Thats probably worse than average, but there are so many variables at play its tough to determine much without personally spending 100 hours on each lake. It could be I suck at musky fishing since Ive only been at it a few years so that doesnt help. Fair enough.. In my opinion Little Saint has all the characteristics to produce monster fish... It has better structure, nice mixture of deep and shallow bays, and the water clarity is superb on one end and stained on the other.. overall better lake then the Big Saint, lost, found, and snipe lake. On lost lake most of my follows came out of one area and that is the area by the buoy's on the northern end. The one fish I missed was just south of the ramp.. Back to the Port Washington's question. I think you will have a good time on this lake. Enjoy the Eagles chasing fish on the lake, flying around and enjoy the lake as well. Might not be the best Lake in the area for Muskies but one day I hope to see some good numbers. If I had a chance to buy a property on that lake I would do it tomorrow!!! Edited by badkemo 6/17/2020 9:18 PM | ||
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