I’m new to the area (Mt. Horeb). Can anyone point me in the direction of some safe early ice for crappie? I have the first week of January off and hope to get out for a few days of fishing in the area. Probably going to try Gov. Dodge in Dville and Stewart lake here in MH, that is if the ice is decent. Thanks!
Welcome to Madtown Matt. Hopefully by then we’ll have safe ice around here but I’m not counting on it. Monona Bay, Cherokee Marsh, the ditches in Stoughton, and lake Wingra are generally the first ice we’ll see around town. Every year seems different as to what type of fish you will find where-so I my best recommendation is that once (if) we get ice, start punching holes and see what you can dig up. Lake Stewart might be a dissapointment for a couple more years-it was recently drained and restocked. Gov dodge has a stunted population of panfish, but does carry a good amount of walleye.
While this is the best fishing forum i’ve been on, most of the reports are from either the Mississippi river or Minnesota/N. Wisconsin. There is another site (Lake Link) that has a lot more reports for this area-problem is that it is not very well regulated so you have to sort through a lot of crap to find decent reports, but would give you an idea of the bodies of water we have to fish and when people are fishing them. Shoot me a PM some time if you ever want to get out, I always seem to fish by myself.
BTW- your not that far from the Wisconsin River either. I was able to find some pretty good crappie action out there this year, but it is not really fishable on ice execpt in a handful of sloughs.
What about Blackhawk Lake… outside of Cobb ?
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What about Blackhawk Lake… outside of Cobb ?
My old stompin grounds, got many a sunburn on Blackhawk Lake and Govenor Dodge State Park. Stop off and fish a trout stream on the way home 
If you are looking for some good ice you can always come up to Menomonie! We have at least 6 if not 8 on the lake here. Good Luck 
Black Hawk lake is a decent place to pull a few crappies but it gets heavy pressure. The Madison Chain is where I’d go for crappies. Lake Waubesa is known for excellent crappie fishing. the community spot is a place called Rockford Heights. The Madison chain is a pretty good perch fishery. We concentrate on Monona, Mendota, and Waubesa for perch. There is nothing fishable yet for ice as of this morning.
Great, thanks for the information guys. Now we just need some $%#* ice!!!
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Shoot me a PM some time if you ever want to get out, I always seem to fish by myself.
Your beard scares people away.
The haircut is little off too and Bear fans don’t have any friends.
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Black Hawk lake is a decent place to pull a few crappies but it gets heavy pressure. The Madison Chain is where I’d go for crappies. Lake Waubesa is known for excellent crappie fishing. the community spot is a place called Rockford Heights. The Madison chain is a pretty good perch fishery. We concentrate on Monona, Mendota, and Waubesa for perch. There is nothing fishable yet for ice as of this morning.
X2
I’m really getting the itch… any good ice out there? Hoping the snow didn’t slow things down too much in the ice making department. Looks like we have some cooler weather coming next week.
Waubesa is fine and I see some folks fishing Monona in Turville bay. I don’t know if I would go deep yet but the bays have people fishing them right now.
WK
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