Monroe county check-in

[intp4life]

Sparta checkin in!

[Sledgod]

Same here!  I work at the State Patrol HQ in Tomah and a bunch of us go Ice Fishing also.  I wanted to go fishing today but I just couldn't pull myself away from my couch (in other words it was too cold  )!   I have noticed someone has semi permanently setup a shelter out on Perch Lake...I wonder if their catching anything.   Have you ever fished it?

[intp4life]

Yeah, I've fished it a bit.  I usually fly fish it in the summer and do alright.  I've also ice fished the past couple years and it has been hit and miss.  I just got a new marcum this year so hopefully I'll be able to scout it out a little better!  I actually work with the guy who put that shanty out there.  He usually just puts up flags for northerns.  We'll probably head out this week a few times (probably be out there all day on Friday!)  Just look for the 3-wheeler on friday or check at the blue shanty if you happen to drop by!

[Sledgod]

Sounds good.  However I will probably be down in around the Janesville area for Xmas...not sure if I'll be back on friday or not...but if I am I'll stop by I only live a few houses away from Perch lake and usually end up down there with either the 4 wheeler or snowmobile.

[intp4life]

Sounds good.  However I will probably be down in around the Janesville area for Xmas...not sure if I'll be back on friday or not...but if I am I'll stop by I only live a few houses away from Perch lake and usually end up down there with either the 4 wheeler or snowmobile.

Sounds good, hope to see you out there!

[jesse63b]

I use to fish it once in a while but has been many years now that i live in lacrosse. i drive by it all the time since i work at ft. mccoy. I dont see many people fishing it alot like many years ago. has the quality of the lake gone down?

[Sledgod]

It is shallower than it was in the past...I've seen lake maps that tell you just about everywhere is 7' but everywhere I've been on that lake it is 5' or less

[intp4life]

I use to fish it once in a while but has been many years now that i live in lacrosse. i drive by it all the time since i work at ft. mccoy. I dont see many people fishing it alot like many years ago. has the quality of the lake gone down?

It's really nothing special, but if you live in Sparta and don't want to travel far to fish, it does the trick.  If I had my druthers, I'd be down at Stoddard every day but it's just to far to go.  Therefore, I settle for Perch.  It's actually not too bad in the summer if you like fly fishing for bluegills

[Sledgod]

It's really nothing special, but if you live in Sparta and don't want to travel far to fish, it does the trick.  If I had my druthers, I'd be down at Stoddard every day but it's just to far to go.  Therefore, I settle for Perch.  It's actually not too bad in the summer if you like fly fishing for bluegills

Did you know about the fishing tournament at Stoddard in late January?  I guess it's a $25 entry fee but there are some good prizes you can win...I am tentatively planning on going to it.

[intp4life]

Is it a tournament or a derby?  I'm not a big fan of the derbies where they give a certain hole you fish in and that's it.  Unless they're raising money for a good cause or something.

[Sledgod]

Well I guess I'm not too sure myself...A guy I work with knows about it pretty good I'll ask him what he knows and get back to you.

[intp4life]

We fished Perch from 6:30 to 12:30 today and did horrible.  I caught one 10" crappie within the first 10 minutes and after that it was over!!  No tip-ups, no perch, not even dinker bluegills.  We were marking fish right on the bottom but they just wouldn't respond.  Frustrating, but we'll try it again!    We'll probably do neshonoc tomorrow.  Hopefully it's not more of the same.

[jesse63b]

so your gunna try the dead sea tomorrow? good luck. ton of fish down by stoddard big gills and big slab crappies PM me and ill tell you where I dont want everyone and thier cousin reading where the exact spot is
we had the marcum cameras on and let me tell you you would crap your pants. only managed 11 fish though they are tough to bite.

[intp4life]

so your gunna try the dead sea tomorrow? good luck. ton of fish down by stoddard big gills and big slab crappies PM me and ill tell you where I dont want everyone and thier cousin reading where the exact spot is
we had the marcum cameras on and let me tell you you would crap your pants. only managed 11 fish though they are tough to bite.

We actually did pretty well on the 'dead sea' today although anything would seem good after Perch!  I was surprised at the size of some of the crappies.  They weren't a ton of them, enough to keep us busy though.  Yeah, if I lived in La Crosse, I'd be at Stoddard as much as I could.  The wife doesn't like being stuck at home with the kids all day so she keeps me on a short leash!   Oh well, I'll take what I can get.

[icehouse]

Just checking in,  I saw some questions about Perch Lake,  I work as the Parks and Rec. Director for Sparta and the DNR did a fish study this past summer if you want to see the results let me know.  I have the print out, OK panfish and some large pike in the lake.  I fish a lot on Neshonoc and Lake Onalaska if anyone is heading out this week let me know I took the week off and will most likely be out Tues. and Wed. I'd like to get out to some other lakes if anyone is going,  just not too familiar with area lakes and don't like to ventur onto a lake I don't know, would rather not be swimming in some cold water...

hard water and tight lines!

[sw98]

Tomah checking in! 

First post.   Hope everyone has good luck out there!

A few friends and I had 6 tip ups and 6 jigging rods out this morning at Rezin's cranberry marsh outside of Tomah.   VERY, VERY slow.  We had lines in the water at 7A.M. and by noon we'd only caught a dozen bluegills and one perch.  We had two flags; one false alarm and a second got off the hook before we got it out of the hole.

Fishing was good there at first ice but has dramatically slowed recently.  Guys out there today had an underwater camera...bass and various panfish took a look at thier jigs and swam off without biting.

Any clues as to what we're doing wrong?

[intp4life]

Don't know, haven't ice fished the bogs much.  The only real action I've been having has been on the Mississippi, so I'll stick with that 8)