I am relocating to Madison, WI this summer. Just trying to find out some of the staple lures and fishing techniques used for the fish in Lake Mendota, Monona, Wingra, and Waubesa. Maybe some locations on these lakes if possible (Hard to get fishermen/women to give up their secrets!) I will be fishing from a 17' Nitro bass boat. Also are there many local tournaments, love to do em just for fun! Thank you all!

Qduke - welcome to the area and to NAFC. Where are you relocating from? I'm assuming that you are a bass fisherman if you are fishing out of a Nitro and asking about tournaments. I've never fished soft water on the Madison chain, just hard water. From what I have seen ice fishing, Mendota has some structure, Monona Bay and Lake Monona have good populations of just about every species of fish, and Waubesa has good populations of huge gills, crappies and a lot of bass. You will be fighting crowds a lot if you plan on fishing weekends, so plan accordingly. For baits, southern WI bass fisherman will use a lot of Senkos, swim baits, wacky rigs, drop shots and after the water temperature drops in the fall mostly cranks.

My best tip for you is to create an account on lake-link.com and check the fishing reports for the lakes you mentioned. Unfortunately there aren't many fishing reports on NAFC. Good Luck!

Thank you for the info...I am in CA right now, not sure if I want to try the ice fishing! Tried it when I was younger in Idaho, and got wet. Not a fun day. Originally grew up fishing trout, cats, panfish, currently fish bass. Never fished for pike or muskie or walleye, did hook into a pike by accident on the east coast once. That was fun! I honestly just love to catch fish. It sounds like I will have to make sure I get some fishing done on the weekdays, I truly hate crowds....especially people cruising around the lake at mach nine churning up huge wakes. How many months of the year are lakes frozen over out that way? Thank you for the info!

The ice is just going out on the Madison lakes this week. A buddy and I were on Waubesa this past Saturday and it would be what I considered the last truly "safe" ice, but we did need to hop from shore out to the ice to get on it. On our way back in that night, the shoreline had opened up to about 5', so the waterproof boots got a test. The lakes in southern WI will generally freeze up in mid to late November and will stay frozen until mid to late March. The game fish season on most inland WI lakes closes at 11:59 pm on the first Sunday in March and doesn't open again until the first Saturday in May. There are some river systems that are open year round, but you will need to check your regulations book that you get when you purchase your license. If you decide to keep a bass, pike or musky (most around here cpr), make sure that you know the local lake size and bag limits. One other thing to keep in mind if you fish tourneys; I don't believe WI allows culling of fish.

Per the WI regulations...
* Lake Mendota including Sixmile Creek (downstream from Hwy. 19 in Section 8) Pheasant Branch Creek (downstream from Hwy. M), Yahara River (downstream from Hwy. 19), Cherokee Lake, and Warner Park Lagoons: The minimum length limit on largemouth and smallmouth bass is 18" with a daily bag limit of 1. The minimum length limit on northern pike is 40" with a daily bag limit of 1. The minimum length limit on walleye and sauger is 18" with a daily bag limit of 3.
* Lake Monona (including Starkweather Creek): The minimum length limit on muskellunge is 45".
* Mud Lake (NW corner of Dane Co., west of Fish Lake; S3&4,T9N,R7E): The minimum length limit on largemouth and smallmouth bass is 18" with a daily bag limit of 1.
* Lake Waubesa (including Nine Springs Creek, Swan Creek, and Upper Mud Lake): The minimum length limit on muskellunge is 45".
* Lake Wingra (including Wingra Creek): The minimum length limit on muskellunge is 45".
• Wisconsin River: The open season includes tributaries upstream to the first highway bridge. The season for catfish is open all year except from the Prairie du Sac Dam downstream to the railroad bridge at Sauk City, where the open season for catfish is May 1 through November 30. The minimum length limit on walleye is 18"and on sauger or hybrids is 15" with a daily bag limit of 3 in total.
* Yahara River (from Tenney Locks downstream to Babcock Dam): The minimum length limit on muskellunge is 45".

Thank you, looks like I will have some studying to do on size limits. I appreciate the info!

Welcome to the Forums...and to WI too.

If you can...consider getting one of these...

http://www.sportsmansconnection.com...oors/wi/s/

Mind you...it only covers the lower half of the state...but it's the best map of the area you will find.

The same company makes fishing map guides...and these are prety decent too...

http://www.sportsmansconnection.com...hingbooks/

And here's a link to the Wisconsin DNR main fishing webpage. You can download free lake maps and there's a lot of good info on the site. My personal opinion is that the only state with a better DNR website fishing section is Minnesota.

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/fish/

In the summer...the best way to avoid the crowds is to fish early morning or late evening...or even consider night fishing.

At which point I hope you tangle with bass instead of a big muskie   

qduke,
When you are ready to get on the watergive me a shout. I fish Mendota, Waubesa and a bunch of lakes to the east of here. I would show you what I know about these lakes. I plan on fishing Monona much more this year. Here in Madison you can purchase a season launch sticker. It is good for any Dane Co. launch. The cost is $30 unless you are disabled and then it is $18. I fish these lakes during the week and there is hardly any traffic on the water. I live very close to the Warner Park launch and would love to have someone to fish with and that way you get a guided tour. Have a great day.

lnelson1,
Thank you, I will let you know when I get out there and get the boat up and running. Unfortunately as I was prepping my boat for the long haul, my trim went out on the motor. It looks like I will have to rebuild some of the hydraulics and replace the trim motor. Looked up the parts and its not going to be cheap! Such a bummer. I may even try to find an honest boat mechanic out there to do it for me. Really just don't have time to think about it because we start the drive this weekend, stop a few places, and get there at the end of the month. I will be in touch.
Duke

Duke: First welcome to the site and welcome to Wisconsin, second just fair warning there are some Huge Toothie Critters in the lakes ya mentioned so be prepaired to be bit off on occassion!!!

Now for Baits, Senko type baits work well, Tubes and also Sweet Beaver type Baits rigged Texas style are also good producers. Crank Baits would be Rat-L-Trap type Baits, Crank Baits w/and with out rattles just to name a few oh ya also Jigs work well. This I know because a friend and I fish some Tourneys in those lakes, I live down by LaCrosse area so when ya get settled and if ya want to fish this area let me know will be glad to take ya out!!. There is a NAFC meet at Goose Island (LaCrosse area) next Month if your interested, would be good to meet ya and there's a bunch of Nafc members there. Also there is a Marina right on the chain of lakes there that does Quality work so ya might want to look em up (will try and find out their Name and number. Lou (retired-psg) Oh ya I won't hold it against ya that your a Marine LOL!!!

Duke: Here's a the name and phone number of the folks my friend uses in Madison, He has nothing but good things to say about them.      
    
 Inland Boat works
608-221-6191
ask for Randy or Jason


Good luck on getting the Boat fixed!! Lou