Green Bay isn’t like Canadian lakes where myriad islands all hold the potential for attracting fish. This makes waters around protected harbors, offshore reefs, tributaries and inlets like Sawyer Harbor and Little Sturgeon Bay places to prospect for muskies. We are just beginning to write the book on muskie fishing on these waters. Right now, trolling is the most efficient way to put lures in front of Green Bay fish.

If there is an epicenter of muskie activity on this system, it has to be the water out from the Fort Howard paper plant on the Fox River. This is where many anglers trolling for walleyes find themselves hooked up with a muskie.

One area I have always wanted to fish seriously for toothers but haven’t yet because of both time and logistics are the waters up in Door County out from Peninsula State Park. An added bonus is that Chambers Island, the Strawberry Islands and several adjacent reefs hold huge walleyes in July and August. I only got up there once last summer. The biggest walleye to come into Pat Cavins’ boat was only 10 pounds. Two things have nagged at me since that trip. We lost two walleyes that would have probably weighed in the mid-teens, and I got bit off twice. This latter infliction could have only been caused by a fish of the Esox persuasion.

Since I am more of a walleye guy by design and the timing of this bite offers the highest potential for landing a whopper, summer ‘eye efforts here for the foreseeable future will be spent dragging Rapala Husky Jerks. But if you are a muskie fanatic, you could become the next Wisconsin fishing legend by trying this water.

Contact: Door County Chamber of Commerce, (920) 743-4456.

MADISON CHAIN
Maybe it’s just old-timers disease setting in, but I can’t ever remember the boat launches on this chain of natural lakes in the shadow of the Mad City ever being this crowded. After Memorial Day, it seems like every animal has escaped the Henry Vilas Zoo, mounted a personal watercraft and headed out to terrorize anglers.

A good place to see if this phenomenon will actually occur is from tiny Lake Wingra, which borders the zoo property. Wingra has more muskies per surface acre than any other Madison lake. It is also the easiest to fish because it is essentially just a big soup bowl. Lake Kegonsa doesn’t have much more structure than Wingra. On both lakes, casting topwaters and bucktails along the weeds is good strategy.

Structure and offshore weeds are more common on Waubesa just up the chain from Kegonsa. Fish over 40 inches are in the lake but seldom seen. However, if you just want to see your youngster catch a muskie, this is the best Madison lake to tangle with a mid-30-inch fish. Weeds around Hog Island at the north end hold fish essentially year ‘round, and ditto on the south end out from Goodland Park. The key is several springs that create open pockets in otherwise dense weed growth that appears about mid-June. These are muskie magnets!