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Too add a little to my original response, I went out with a guide (Nathan Alexander) on December 20. He put us on some very nice perch and crappies. We went out the following two days and didn't fare as well doing it alone. I have made a few trips to the backwaters and now have a better understanding of areas to fish. As others have stated there are a ton of spots to fish. There are Facebook groups that share a good amount of info on the subject. I think if it was my first time it would be worth spending the money on a guide for a day. Have the guide put you on some fish, learn the area and then go explore. It is a huge area and very scenic. There are also some very nice fish to be caught there. Best of luck let us know how it goesP.S. I fished the area this past weekend. Bite overall was slow. Gold seemed to be the best color. I am using plastics more so than live bait recently and am coming to like them.I thought I was told something about needing to use a blade or bead on a tip up as so it constituted a lure? Maybe this had to do with how many lines a guy could have out? I do not know the actual legal statue on that tho.
No guide - over 100 fish in 3.5 days between 3 of us. Airport Lights on Lake Onalaska. This is two years in a row we have gone 100+ fish in less than 4 daysRattling Kastmasters tipped with minnow heads and tipdowns will whole minnows - rosey reds work better than fat heads 5:1. When the bite gets tough use tungsten with minnow head(Image removed from quote.)There are less weeds this year vs last, so its a little harder to eliminate areas that aren't holding fish....they're much more spread out over the flat. I would highly recommend using 2 tip downs and a single jigging rod to track the school movements. Drill lots of holes and keep on them.
We drive 4 hours each way to get there and so far its been worth the trip!
I'd rather go to work than fish all day for 10 panfish.