Places to fish, southern Wisc

I don't need any secret spots, but would appreciate a few places to fish from shore, a tube, or an 8' inflatable (Not sure what I'll be taking). Will be in southern Wisc mid-May, touring w/ an RV. I have all the gear for bluegills to muskie, but am more interested in the smaller fish. Basically catch and release, but may eat a couple. I can walk through brush if need be but can't be gone 24 hrs. I may just Google for lakes as another new person suggested. Thank you. j

Good luck hope you get your info and let us know how your trip goes.

Best of luck to you!
Have a great trip.

SP Dan <“))><

Thanks for the cheers, folks. Hope somebody gives me a tip to get started. If not, not.

jklingel wrote:Thanks for the cheers, folks. Hope somebody gives me a tip to get started. If not, not.

You mean down by Madison?

My friends are from the Appleton/Outagamie County area but whenever we go fishing & camping we always go up to the northern border, past Iron Mountain.

Of course that doesn't help.

My friends are basically non-fishermen but when they do fish back home (Appleton area) they fish for walleye.

All I know is that I really, really hate fishing with leeches, but they work.

I'd Google Map the area you're interested in, there are a million little lakes and ponds (no not 10,000 lakes) and many of them are in people's front yards (go figure, you can tell when someone has family visiting when they water down the pond in their front yard so that the ice is smooth) so just be aware that a lot of the water is private.

It's pretty obvious on the map when you're looking at public water.

I think the smaller ponds get stocked by the birds and perch usually end up in them or bluegill. If there's bass it seems to be planted by people.

My friends always talked about water in the quarries, but no one ever mentioned fishing it. And I imagine the water might be a little toxic.

There is a girl (who's probably a woman by now) who hunts musky along with her dad and I think she's caught over 200 musky by now.

If you find her on the internet, I'm pretty sure she only fishes public water.

I have a friend from Madison but he doesn't fish either.

Oh and when the weather warms up, people from Wisconsin seem to go outside activity crazy, but the bugs are out... Bug juice is your friend.

If you're tubing I definitely always wear your waiters, and pay attention to what's crawling on you. Did I say that I really really dislike leeches?

Oh and don't get caught fishing with frogs.

Oh and if the lightning is hitting the ground really close like within a quarter mile, don't be that guy that shelters underneath the tallest tree next to the water, waving a graphite rod with metal in the air... Don't be like my friends.

I've really only been in Wisconsin late winter and fall but like I said everyone seems to go outdoor crazy as soon as the ice melts, and sometimes even before then.

I expect in May it'll probably be hot and humid and wet.

It freaks me out when there's a layer of water on only 10 inches of ice and people are making rooster tails driving out onto the lake to go fish.

My friends south of Oshkosh lived in Black Wolf and the standard plot there was six acres, and everyone had a pond in their front yard.

Good luck and post pictures.

Thanks, Ray. I'll check around. Bugs are a given; we have a few in Fairbanks, too, probably 14.3287 trillion. Never go into the bush w/out bug dope on bare skin. I have fished private lakes many times and caught some nice bluegills and bass, but that was always on very dark nights....