Lake Monona

Went to put in at Olbrich this morning, creek was froze up so I went to Babcock instead. Landing was open but there was a sheet of ice running parallel to shore. So I went to Olin and it was fine (except for no pier). Water temp was 37.7°F. Was on Mendota two days ago and clarity sucked after you went below 40'. Monona however was decent all the way down to 60+ FOW. I marked HUGE schools of fish in that depth range, but they were on the move just off the bottom. I assumed they were Sheepshead because the bottom wasn't all stirred up like it would be if they were carp. Finally saw one Sheepshead move by the camera. This tracks with what I've seen other years this late in the year, visually verified large schools of Sheepshead out deep. 

Low-Tech, I responded to your clarity question on the Waubesa page so people wouldn't get confused looking at the Waubesa underwater photos thinking the were from Monona. Rick

How is water clarity on Waubesa? Its usually terrible this time of year but might try it this week.

Checked out Monona this morning but went to Waubesa instead because of the wind direction. Creek is all open now, the one pier at the main launch was still in, as were the two across the road by the ball diamonds. 

Most of the ice is off the creek this afternoon. Still some ice around the piers by the softball diamonds.

No peirs in at ollin

the first pier spot (closest to the lake when all piers are in) is mostly open. But lots of crap will be on your trailer if you try and use it. Guessing Parks will be pulling out the remaining piers next week.

Olbrich iced in, hopefully it'll open up again. Piers (one at main launch, two across the road) are still in but will probably be pulled soon. Assuming Olin is open but I didn't drive over there.

Found some cooperative gills Saturday afternoon.  They really went nuts the half hour before sunset.  Plastics tipped with waxies.  Tried without tipping and nothing bit.  Caught some at the end just using wax worms.  Too bad we couldn't have a week of these temps. There would be ice somewhere to fish by the weekend.  The 6-10 and 8-14 day outlook is for above normal temps.  Highs above freezing starting Wednesday already.  Good luck out there. Rat.

Been out.  Fishing going backward.  Rock bass and 13" walleye seem to be all I'm catching.  Crappie have moved on to other places.  Did much better last fall but that's the way it goes. Will keep trying until freeze up but not feeling overly optimistic.  Maybe if I cry and whine enough they'll prove me wrong.
Did some gill fishing as well during day light hours.  Best bite is on cloudy days and towards sunset.  Did notice a lot less weed pressure in the bay along the RR tracks.  Last year it was virtually unfishable.  North Triangle weed choked. Same with the South Triangle. 

It'll be another winter of searching for pockets within the weed beds looking for gills during the ice season.  Will only have from ice up to the end of January for ice fishing this year.  Going to warmer weather for February and March with wife.  If you don't get a report from me in April please come looking for me.  I'll leave it up to your imagination's to finish that story.  Lmao. Rat.

There's one pier in at the main Olbrich launch and two still in across the street, as of this afternoon. Don't know about Olin.

Does anyone know if the are still any launches with a dock that can be used this week?

Low-Tech, I've used all the main brands (and some of the knockoffs) over the years but the one that works best FOR WHAT I DO is the Aqua-Vu HD7i Pro, Gen 2. I emphasis "what I do" because most people just want to drop a camera down and see if there's fish hanging around. I also need water temp and depth displayed on the monitor. Most people also don't want to lug around a larger camera like the one I have is. I also abuse my cameras more than other people, since in poor water clarity I have to get very close to a target and end up banging into it on occasion. I also need an HDMI video output to record to. I think I've had this camera three years and have had it in the water hundreds of times. A weak point on all cameras is where the cable comes into the actual camera. This model has held up very well because of it's design. But I just started getting some signal degradation which I was able to resolve by rerouting the cable and tying off the suspect area. Customer service has been exceptional also! I will add I've also dealt with Marcum and Vexilar to resolve issues with their cameras and they were also good to deal with. So it really narrows down to what you personally want to do. Things to keep in mind is get IR lighting, on my old white LED lighting systems it would spook the fish when the lights were turned on. Keep in mind also that throughout most of our year there's so much algae and other particulates in the water the lights aren't much use. Turn them on and it's like driving through a blizzard. I use mine when fishing Walleyes on Monona through the ice, at least until the sun goes down, then it's worthless so it gets put away. Before that though it's cool to see them come through and how they react to your setup. One feature of the HD7i Pro is you can press the LIGHT button but turn off the IR LEDs completely. This lets more natural light come through (plus they have tuned their software) so you can see better. Make sure you get enough cable length for the deepest areas you plan on fishing. Having 50' of cable when you're fishing Perch on Monona of Mendota in 70 FOW isn't much use. Hopefully this helps! If you need further info shoot me message and I can answer them. Rick

rk, what camera setup do you run? I've been thinking of finally biting the bullet and getting a camera.  First order of business would be to recover a nice rubber bait I snapped off a couple weeks ago...

thanks- LT

Atwood Ave. is now back to the new "normal". The nasty hole at the entrance to the boat launch has been resolved. Out for a while this morning, surface temp at 49.1°F. Water clarity improving but at 30' tons of algae cutting down the horizontal clarity. At 40' I could see further than I could earlier, and that should improve as things continue to settle down after turnover. Only saw one SMB on the camera and didn't mark the normal amount of schools I normally see. Nothing new or exciting on the sonar today. Three other trailers at Olbrich when I got there, two still there when I left.