Need Help Finding Fishing Spots In Wisconsin.

[youngangler274]

I have recently been bitten by the bass bug and I now have the uncontrollable desire to go bass fishing every second of every moment of my life... I think you all know what I'm talking about. I have gone about 4 times in the past 2 weeks but have been for the most part unsuccessful. I am relatively new to bass fishing, I have all the equipment, but not a whole lot of experience or knowledge to go along with it. I am currently boat-less and I am restricted to fishing off the shore. I live on the east side of Madison, about 10 minutes away from lake Mendota and lake Monona, and all the other small ponds and lakes in that area. I guess what I am asking you guys is does anyone know of any good spots anywhere near me that have good shore fishing. I am willing to drive 30 minutes or more, if there are any lakes or bodies of water that are worth the drive. Or if anyone has any advice on what I should be throwing to try to find these bass? Thanks for all the help guys

[CDobber]

Welcome to my quandary!  I am on the other side of Madison.

 

Good:

Mendota County Park off of M in Middleton...mouth of the channel

Marshall Park (lagoon)

Verona Fireman's Park

Lake Wingra (though not this year for me)....at Wingra Boats or just east of Edgewood, down by the zoo, the creek leading away from Wingra and towards Monona

Picnic Point (though its probably a long walk)...especially near University Bay

Tenney breakwall (though I haven't caught anything there yet)

John Nolen causeway (either side)

Monona Terrace "The Wall"

Governor's Island

Babcock Park

Lake Farm boat launch and pier by shelter #1

 

Not as impressed (but could still produce):

Olbrich Park

Warner Beach/boat launch area

Spring Harbor

Tonyawatha Trail boat launch

Lottes Park

Law Park

BB Clarke Park

Goodland Park/boat launch

 

There's plenty of other places, especially if you decide to multi-species.  For me, the most consistent has been the Verona quarry, but I live 7 min from it and finally found the 'other' side of the banks that had better structure.  They're currently on lock jaw and only will look at live crawlers if anything at all.  In general, look for places that have weeds shallow, submerged timber or overhanging branches, weed mats on the surface (or lily pads), anything that can provide shade coverage as well as camoflauge from bigger fish.  Largemouth are MUCH easier to find than smallmouth from shore, especially this time of year.

[youngangler274]

Welcome to my quandary!  I am on the other side of Madison.

 

Good:

Mendota County Park off of M in Middleton...mouth of the channel

Marshall Park (lagoon)

Verona Fireman's Park

Lake Wingra (though not this year for me)....at Wingra Boats or just east of Edgewood, down by the zoo, the creek leading away from Wingra and towards Monona

Picnic Point (though its probably a long walk)...especially near University Bay

Tenney breakwall (though I haven't caught anything there yet)

John Nolen causeway (either side)

Monona Terrace "The Wall"

Governor's Island

Babcock Park

Lake Farm boat launch and pier by shelter #1

 

Not as impressed (but could still produce):

Olbrich Park

Warner Beach/boat launch area

Spring Harbor

Tonyawatha Trail boat launch

Lottes Park

Law Park

BB Clarke Park

Goodland Park/boat launch

 

There's plenty of other places, especially if you decide to multi-species.  For me, the most consistent has been the Verona quarry, but I live 7 min from it and finally found the 'other' side of the banks that had better structure.  They're currently on lock jaw and only will look at live crawlers if anything at all.  In general, look for places that have weeds shallow, submerged timber or overhanging branches, weed mats on the surface (or lily pads), anything that can provide shade coverage as well as camoflauge from bigger fish.  Largemouth are MUCH easier to find than smallmouth from shore, especially this time of year.

WOW!!! thanks for all that information!!! I will get out a bunch this week and check out some of those spots! I have tried the locks at tenney park and haven't been successful, I will check out Verona quarry also.

[CDobber]

Glad to help....keep me posted on any success you have or good spots I haven't mentioned.  You'll find on other, more local sites, that there really aren't many that share information on the Madison lakes for bass for some reason, maybe because of the number of bass tournaments held in the area.  We came off of Waubesa on Sunday (after I couldn't find a single bass) to see that a tournament ended at 2 and they were releasing some great fish.  While I do have a boat, I have yet to put much success together on that....and spend far more time on shore than in boat anyway with logistics.

 

My three biggest bass have been from shore...21" (profile/avatar) from Wingra by lily pads/Edgewood, 20" at Verona on opening weekend this year and 16"/2 lb last Monday at Mendota Cty Park.  All 3 came via topwater lures.

[Shockwave]

You'll find on other, more local sites, that there really aren't many that share information on the Madison lakes for bass for some reason, maybe because of the number of bass tournaments held in the area.  

 

This is the case in the MIlwaukee area too.  People aren't really willing to share info for some reason.  Could be tournament related reasons.  

[THE_Vue's]

Throw a lure call Fat Ika from Gary Yamamoto.  Heavy and cast a mile, great for bank fishing and the bass loves them.  Or a frog, basically when I bank fish I want to cast lure as far as I can.  To cover as much cover you can get.  And use braid 30LBS you want that no stretch when casting a long ways.  I guarantee you that Ika will not let you down.  If you like using the senko then you'll like the ika even better

[CDobber]

I have recently been bitten by the bass bug and I now have the uncontrollable desire to go bass fishing every second of every moment of my life... I think you all know what I'm talking about. I have gone about 4 times in the past 2 weeks but have been for the most part unsuccessful. I am relatively new to bass fishing, I have all the equipment, but not a whole lot of experience or knowledge to go along with it. I am currently boat-less and I am restricted to fishing off the shore. I live on the east side of Madison, about 10 minutes away from lake Mendota and lake Monona, and all the other small ponds and lakes in that area. I guess what I am asking you guys is does anyone know of any good spots anywhere near me that have good shore fishing. I am willing to drive 30 minutes or more, if there are any lakes or bodies of water that are worth the drive. Or if anyone has any advice on what I should be throwing to try to find these bass? Thanks for all the help guys

Have you had any luck?  I am not one that takes physical notes on my fishing trips, but commit the basics to memory.  I recall last year at this time I had a 6 week skunk, all of August and some on either end.  This year hasn't been much different, though I've resorted to using more live bait (crawlers) to prevent as many skunks....but even that hasn't helped for bass lately.  Did get my first bullhead out of the Quarry last night (in 3 yrs) and a nice gill today...both on drop shot from shore/pier.  Friend's son caught a LMB from same pier this morning, only 10.5" but his first bass ever and was excited.  I taught him the jaw hold and got one picture snapped for him.

[tipptruck1]

As for info. Hit lake-link.com. There will be more info there. Then any other places on the web.

[youngangler274]

Have you had any luck?  I am not one that takes physical notes on my fishing trips, but commit the basics to memory.  I recall last year at this time I had a 6 week skunk, all of August and some on either end.  This year hasn't been much different, though I've resorted to using more live bait (crawlers) to prevent as many skunks....but even that hasn't helped for bass lately.  Did get my first bullhead out of the Quarry last night (in 3 yrs) and a nice gill today...both on drop shot from shore/pier.  Friend's son caught a LMB from same pier this morning, only 10.5" but his first bass ever and was excited.  I taught him the jaw hold and got one picture snapped for him

I just recently got a fishing kayak, so that has helped a lot. I have been getting good results on lake Monona, and Rock lake in Jefferson. That's nice, its always fun when young kids get something on their line and get excited.

[CDobber]

Hope to check out Rock Lake at some point....my parents just moved to Johnson Creek...we scoped out the launches for bringing my pontoon down, but wasn't terribly impressed.  I think M/D found a better one since.  Dad and I fished from shore for about an hour but found absolutely no good structure (shallow, barren for weeds/structure, rocks) and didn't like the other choices we found any better.  Happened to be a few hours before they found that kid's body in the pond somewhere on the other side of Bartel's Beach, and I thought about throwing a frog over there but never did.

 

The channel of the Yahara from Monona to Waubesa should be a good place for you to check out via kayak, especially mid week.  Can't imagine there's a lot of boat traffic and would think there's a ton of bass in there, under boats/piers, etc.  

[youngangler274]

Hope to check out Rock Lake at some point....my parents just moved to Johnson Creek...we scoped out the launches for bringing my pontoon down, but wasn't terribly impressed.  I think M/D found a better one since.  Dad and I fished from shore for about an hour but found absolutely no good structure (shallow, barren for weeds/structure, rocks) and didn't like the other choices we found any better.  Happened to be a few hours before they found that kid's body in the pond somewhere on the other side of Bartel's Beach, and I thought about throwing a frog over there but never did.

 

The channel of the Yahara from Monona to Waubesa should be a good place for you to check out via kayak, especially mid week.  Can't imagine there's a lot of boat traffic and would think there's a ton of bass in there, under boats/piers, etc.  

the boat launch over on sandy beach is a decent one, haven't seen any of the others yet. There isn't much for structure on rock lake, nor is there much for weeds. I have actually been going shallow towards the shore, and sight fishing with wacky rigged stick baits and other such things. the water is crystal clear once you get away from the swimming areas and you can see fish as deep as probably 8 feet down. I caught probably 8 or 9 nice sized large mouth using this tactic. It might now work for someone in a boat, but because of the kayak I can glide almost right on top of the fish and they never spook, it makes it near impossible for me to miss a hook set  because I can watch the fish eat the worm haha. Right off of rock lake is a place called marsh lake, and in there there is an abundance of Lillie pads and such, and I have been told it is great for frogging and top water presentations. There are a lot of fish in rock lake, it is just kind of difficult to find them because there isn't much for the conventional "find the weeds or trees" approach to locating the bass.

[Jolly Green]

Spring and fall are great times for shore fishing a good-sized backwater of the Yahara affectionately known around Stoughton as "The Ditches."  It's official name is Viking County Park, about 4.5 mi south of the Interstate right on County N; there's a dog park area and then there's the rest of it for anglers.  Complete waste of time right now, but once the weather cools and the scum dissipates there will be a few weeks of good bass and pike action.  If you bring the yak there you will have the best of both worlds; if there's no action in the backwater area you can slip out to the main river and the abundance of lily pads to be found there. 

 

Cdobber, where is the access to all that awesome structure-laden water at Fireman's Park?  I've yet to catch a thing from the park side!

[CDobber]

Cdobber, where is the access to all that awesome structure-laden water at Fireman's Park?  I've yet to catch a thing from the park side!

Jolly Green.....as you're driving down Paoli towards the park, look for the bench on the east side of the road.  There's a stone staircase immediately in front of it that leads to a few nice spots with a fairly easy to walk path in between them.  Also, there's a path cut into the woods down by TDS on the same side of the road, little harder to walk but not bad, that leads to a secluded lagoon area and 2 other spots.  I haven't caught much out of the lagoon yet but know it will produce at the right time, but the next spot to the right (south) on the little path has produced nicely.

[Jolly Green]

Many thanks! I'll have to check it out next time I'm in the neighborhood.

[CDobber]

If you see my red Acadia parked along Paoli, stop down for a visit.  I'm there many late afternoons a week usually, balanced around my kids after school activities.

[Jolly Green]

I'm usually close by at least once a month; I'll keep an eye out for you!

[kickyour_bass]

Milwaukee river in Grafton/Saukville area.