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Posts: 24
Location: Cave Run KY. | Hello people:
My buddies and I are planning a trip to WI this year. Would like to know what would be the best lake for us to catch numbers of fish. We will be bringing our on boats and plan on taking tents with us, seeing how we don't have alot to spend.
We are planing on leaving here in Ky early Sun. morning and fish till Fri. sleep that night and head home first thing Sat. looks like they will be 5 of us in 2 boats. This trip will be taking place around mid July and hope some1 here would tell us the best lake with camping sites for tents away from the public to catch numbers of pike. Hoping for a lake at least the size of Cave Run. Any and all tips and info is greatly thankful. I went to a school at Ft. Mc Coy and was able to wade fish the La Crosse river 5 mile from the post, other than that none of us has ever been there and we know nothing about the state little on the lakes. TIA |
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Posts: 4343
Location: Smith Creek | At 3000 acres its not near the size of Cave but Namekagon by Cable Wi. has a primitive campground (tents welcome) and some of the best pike fishing anywhere in Wisconsin, both numbers and size. |
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Posts: 315
| middleton, wisc. is in the middle of the hustle and bustle of downtown Madison but its on Lake Mendota which has great pike, bass, walleye and muskie fishing. there is a camp site right on the lake but i cant remember the name of the park. very popular location probably fills up fast
there is an option
-b- |
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Posts: 1316
Location: Madison, WI | Mendota for sure, best pike lake in the state imo. Shoot me a pm when if you guys decide to go. I can try and help ya out anyway I can. |
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Posts: 315
| Mendota is great......my dad grew up on that lake, he knows it alittle bit
-b- |
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Posts: 968
Location: N.FIB | mendota being in madison doesn`t sound like a wis vacation,I would head north more around vilas county,alot of lakes to fish and campgrounds to stay at.Also you could try the hayward area or rhinelander area,lakes all over the place,and you would be out of the big cities. |
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Posts: 97
| You might want to look into the Turtle Flambeau Flowage if you are looking for numbers of pike. You have a good shot at some musky, and plenty of smallmouth bass too. Very primitive camping on a beautiful body of water. |
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Posts: 111
Location: somewhere! | muskypup,mendota for sure.numbers and size!!!!shout me a holler and ill send you some photos.so what if its in madison.college town,girls,good bars,good fishing.
Edited by charlesb 3/14/2009 9:45 PM
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Posts: 24
Location: Cave Run KY. | ye we realy don't want to be in the city, we feel more at home in the back woods somewhere. somfar Namekagon or Turtle Flambeau Flowage sounds more like it. |
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Posts: 80
Location: Clintonville, Wi | Turtle Flambeau has some neat Islands to camp on and alot of water to explore. |
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Posts: 18
Location: Northwoods | Great pike fishing, smallies, musky ect...You will be able to get away to camp, fish, swim, in a quiet setting. My opinion is that this body of water is one of Wisconsin's great wilderness areas. You will see many critters too. Just take it slow, until you know. Lotta lumber. --Joe |
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Posts: 20218
Location: oswego, il | The flambeau flowage is full of eater sized pike. Most are in the 18-22' range. Believe it or not they have good growth rates but only live to be 4 years old, thus the small size. Plenty of walleyes and smallies too and has muskies. It is treacherous water, plenty of big, I mean really big stumps and alot of the flowage is fairly shallow. it is largely unbuilt and scenic with rustic camping opportunities. |
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Posts: 4343
Location: Smith Creek | The Flowage is more scenic and the campsites are sweet but it might be kind of hazardous to some. And its a pack-in.
Namekagon is less primitive while still being in the woods, built up shoreline but not like Mn. Both waters have big muskies, Namekagon has big pike. |
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Posts: 620
Location: Seymour, WI | I would recommend the Chippewa Flowage in North Western WI and Lac Vieux Desert in North Eastern WI. Both lakes are full of pike, with the potential for a big fish, both have multiple campsites, reletively remote. In addition to pike you could fish for walleyes, muskies or panfish on either lake. Both great fishing lakes.
Grass,
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| Mendota second week of July, LOL, that not a vacation its a traffic jam.. Nice pike in there no doubt, but not a vacation spot.
In my opinion I would say Green Bay, Sturgeon Bay, you can camp right at Poto State Park, they have a launch and there is great pike, walleye, perch, trout, and ski fishing close. Camping facilities are top notch as well. Plus being in the canal somewhat and near Sawyer Harbor if the wind picks up, you can get out of it a little bit.
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/LAND/parks/specific/Potawatomi/
I will also second the Turtle Flambeau as well, nice fish, and tons of it.
Good luck and have fun! |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | you could consider chequamegon bay in asheland, wisconsin and fish pike in the sloughs and then smallies on the reefs and around the ore docks. there is a campground and launch right there and a short walk into town. big water lol ... but very scenic and someplace you'll enjoy. |
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Posts: 24
Location: Cave Run KY. | thanks everyone I will certainly take all into consideration |
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Posts: 24
Location: Cave Run KY. | I think we are going to go with Chippewa Flowage in North Western WI. are they any way we could get more info on this lake area. is it dangerous to navagate where to find campsite on it and so on so on |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Franklin Lake in N WI. Nice campground, excellent Pike fishing. |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | i saw a show on Discover Wisconsin this weekend that highlighted a pretty neat pike and bass experience that i'd like to do .. there is a lake/slough water on Madelline Island off of Bayport in the Apostle Island area where you can ferry across, camp at a state forest campground on a beach on the island on Lake Superior and then catch pike and bass out of a kayak. very cool, scenic and adventurous thing to consider for anyone wanting something different. |
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Posts: 4343
Location: Smith Creek | It's a shame the locals refuse to protect the big pike in the lagoon on Madeline or the sloughs of Chequamegon. They grow MASSIVE. There just aren't too many of em in there anymore. |
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| flambeauski-
I would really like to talk to you a bit about Namakogan, would you shoot me an email if you would be interested in talking about it? Thanks! Tom- [email protected] |
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Posts: 12
Location: Normal, IL | Muskypup, Lake Chippewa Campground is right in the middle of the Flowage. You can reserve sites right on the lake shore, it is more of a family campground, but it has a bait shop, landing, groceries, great log lodge with pool tables and snacks (no Alcohol sold) etc. I have known the owners for over 30 years and now the daughters run the place. My Parents used to have a permanent trailer there. It is very scenic looking out over the lake. There are more kids there during the summer months especially in July. In my opinion June is the better fishing month. There are plenty of resorts to stop in and tip a few in the area. Or you can camp on an island as well.
Here is the url: http://www.lakechip.com/
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Posts: 2894
Location: Yahara River Chain | muskypup - 3/14/2009 11:58 PM
we feel more at home in the back woods somewhere.
Do I hear banjos playing??
I really doubt that you would like the Turtle Flambeau as I can remember back in 1996 we had a Intl Chapter Challunge and the boys from KY really had a hard time with the stumps eating their lower units. Had to make do with their kicker motors all week. Yikes!!! |
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Posts: 360
Location: Tinley Park. Fish Cen IL. Bass & Vilas Cty.Muskie | If you need a good stop on the way, Stop at Delevan Lake just west of Lake Geneva, Great lake for Big Bass and Big Pike. a lot of 30+ inch fish,maybe a ton of them. |
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| <I think we are going to go with Chippewa Flowage in North Western WI. are they any way we could get more info on this lake area. is it dangerous to navigate where to find campsite on it and so on so on>
Good choice on the Chip. But I'd stay away from the public campground. Especially if you're wanting to not spend much money. Another option to consider on the Chip is to camp on one of the many rustic island campsites available. We've done it many times, and it's a blast. They are available on a first come basis, so come early if you can. When you need gas or supplies most of the resorts will be glad to sell you what you need. If someone in the group has a small generator, bring it along for recharging your trolling batteries. Besides that an enclosed fly is nice to put over your picnic table. Keeps the bugs and rain off of you.
The Chip, like most lakes, has a few spots to be careful on when navigating. But NOTHING like Flambeau. It's a BIG, and beautiful lake with lots of Pike available, as well as about any fish you'd want to try. But...it's BIG and there are a lot of islands. You can easily get lost there without a good map. I'd recommend having some type of GPS, as well, even if it's just a hand help one. They can save you a lot of confusion as to where you're at.
A campout and Pike fishing trip on the Chip is one you’ll remember for a lifetime. You’ll probably see Loons, Cranes, Eagles, and maybe even a black bear back in some cove. Besides the great fishing, it’s quite a site-seeing experience.
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| the native american tribe in the area owns some of the islands and if you contact them you can reserve one of those so you can count on a camp site. the pike pop has been plentiful and there are also eye,and skis..... chips nice but id look into somewere in vilas co. for ease and enjoyment, if your looking for comfort check out the eagle river chain. again it has a species and if you want to go for a booze cruise theres something like 14 lakes, the chain is a place for action not trophys, you will catch alot of 5 pound pike and 30"skis,eyes and panfish. south of the chain is another chain called the three lakes chain and its a bit more removed but it may be a good choice. Im partial to northern vilas co. near land o lakes you got lac vieux deseart and north twin. you can throw a dart and find muskies and pike. near land o lakes there is a lake called black oak and its hardly fished for skis at all, its gin clear but has great potential, good pike and eyes as well. my .02 |
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Location: SE Wisconsin | sworrall - 4/7/2009 9:17 PM
Franklin Lake in N WI. Nice campground, excellent Pike fishing.
I'll second that! My mom was the horseback riding director at Camp Nicolet on the Lake since before I was born. Since my parents were divorced when I was a year old and I always lived with my mom, I spent the summers in Eagle River their on Franklin every year till I was 18. When I was fifteen I started working as a handy man/maintenance guy for the camp, but my hours were almost always my own, so I fished more than half the time of every day. Tell you what, I won't disclose any secrets, but I will second the suggestion of giving it a try. Size and numbers, this lake has it all. . . No musky though
This lake also has very limited boat pressure due to the severely shallow launch and very few homes. The launch is difficult to find unless you have good GPS or map/directions. There are a few turns off that little Nicolet Fo. road that makes it too much a pain for most to deal with. The campsight is just East of Camp Nicolet (FOR GIRLS), they have also been away from guys for the whole summer, so don't be surprised if a few of the CIT's come out on their cabin peir and flirt - I remember stories every year about the "boys at the campground"
Edited by Sam Ubl 4/30/2009 2:29 PM
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| If your coming to Madison Mendota would be your best shot Muskie/Pike number are good. It also was Gov. Nelson Park on it look up there web site |
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Posts: 724
Location: Southern W.Va. | I second the Vilas County area, too many lakes to talk about, too many pike to catch. Beautiful country, plenty of wildlife, fish and lots of lakes with many different species of fish....lots!!! Love the Land of Lakes area , my favorite.
Mauser |
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Posts: 264
| pike are abuntant in most bodies of northern WI water. But for skies try the hayward area, or maybe bone or deer . |
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