Does anyone here fish?

 

Fresh water? Salt water?

 

Where?

I used to vacation every summer at the headwaters of the Wisconsin River, a lake called Lac Vieux Desert (prounounced Loch View Dizeer). Beautiful lake, on one side is the resorts and the other side is a Native reservation. We havent gone back in since my second year of college(1997) because we thought it was being overfished, but my stepdad's buddy still goes every year and said the fish have come back really strong in the past 3 years. I think they started heavily regulating the lake because of all of the non-native species attacking the lake.

When I was living in Illinois, I was 2 blocks from Gages Lake. That was my after work, for a couple hours spot. It was also easy to trailer my boat to the Chain and fish the channels for bass and heading up to the northern lakes for walleye. I also started doing some musky fishing on the chain when that started heating up. The spring is a great time to grab some small minnows and fish the southern facing, protected, bays for crappie to fill the freezer.

 

I also enjoyed wading the Fox River for small mouth near Geneva. Ultralight tackle and Rapalas or spinners worked very nice. It's funny to see people dining at a couple of the restaurants and people walking the rails along the river, while catching fish. Use very light line and the west bank. The fish are pretty wary with all the people afraid to get in the water and pounding the east bank.

 

Vacations were up in Hayward/Minoqua/Eagle River area. We would make at least three trips. One in the spring for the opening of walleye season with a few guys from work. A week in the summer with my extended family, and again late in the season for the last of the open water musky fishing with anyone hardy and foolish enough. This end of the season trip was brutal weather wise. A few times we would be fishing with snow flurries all around us. We would have to rent aluminum boats because of skim ice forming near shore. It was worth it, most years we would land at least one over 20 pounds on live suckers. My largest was just under 33 pounds. BTW, we fished the Lac Vieux Desert for hybrids one fall. Fast action, 2-3 per day, but never much size to them.

 

The warm water discharge at Zion Nuclear Plant is also a great time with spawn sacks for trout and salmon.

 

I use to write for Midwest Outdoors News Magazine.

My family used to spend our Summers in Ely, Minnesota, fishing on the Canadian side of the border.

 

We stopped going there when they outlawed the use of motor boats in Canadian waters (in that region).

 

We last went to Crow Duck Lake near Kenora (Winnepeg), the fishing was outstanding, most of the anglers "catch-and-release" so the lakes stay plentiful.

 

This year...Bimidji, Minnesota in the Spring.

WOOWOO! Fishing! We go fishing in Wolf Lake here in Chicago often. I go fly-fishing in Wisconsin. I got fishing for catfish on the Rock River, Fox River, Kankakee, Illinois River, Vermillion River, and Mississippi River's often. What else....I go to Fay Lake/Long Lake in Wisconsin often. Never gone salt-water fishing yet but I will be going in April when I go to Alaska. Biggest fish caught yet: 57 lb Flathead Catfish