Early Ice Fishing Favorites

For years I used to drive to the Mississippi River every weekend to go ice fishing. Many times my friends and I came home with a pail full of fish, and many times we came home with very few fish. After a while I decided to try fishing the local river bottoms and was pleasantly surprised. There are lots of fish right here and I don’t have to drive an hour to fish for them.

Wisconsin River Ice Fishing
In the early days we caught many fish and most were too small to keep. But then more and more people began fishing here as the gas prices rose and soon a Saturday would have 30 fishermen on Gutweilers or Puffenrots. Those increased numbers of fishermen took out more fish and in a few years the size began to increase. The smaller numbers of fish left behind had more food and grew bigger faster.

There are sloughs from Spring Green to Boscobel and every one of them has fish in them. Of course some are better than others but they are all worth exploring. Crusin Slough is near Lone Rock and always a favorite. It has some good bluegill fishing and plenty of northerns.

Avoca lake is the only slough in the area that has not only bluegills, perch, crappies, northerns and bass, but it also has an occasional walleye in it. Avoca is right off the river and in times of high water, a few walleyes stray in and stay there.

The best early slough in the Muscoda area is Postels, or The Camp as it is known locally. It’s located about 3 miles west of Muscoda and always an early favorite. It produces nice bluegills and often some nice crappies up until about the New Year and then seems to quiet down. Nearly every year there is a northern in the 15# range caught there also.

I’m sure there are many favorites out there and we’ve only covered a few, but don’t overlook the ice fishing in the Wisconsin River bottoms. There are plenty of fish and lots of places to try out.

post by: Dan Bomkamp