Petenwell Flowage

I’ve been accessing the lake on the east side from Monroe Park on foot the last couple days. Ice is still around 11” but top is getting slushy and makes pulling the sled a lot tougher. 

The ice is getting soft. Easily seen just by driving past the lake on Z. Nobody should be telling anyone that the lake is ATV safe. If you've been out every day for the past two weeks and understand what's happening, that's one thing. I would not suggest going out for your first time on a machine any time soon. 

Anyone got an ice report? Atv use still ok? Have land in the area and am headed up for the weekend. Any info is much appreciated. Thank you

Took off from Monroe this morning in search of panfish. After only a few holes we landed on some perch and crappies. It only took about 2 minutes and the first crappie came up. We set tip downs and jigged and landed some more crappies and a couple perch before the party crashers showed up. Walleyes. After they showed up the panfish bite vanished so we moved around a few more times and only caught one more crappie with a bunch more short eyes. I broke off a giant walleye on 4lb mono because I didn't set the drag loose enough. Most of the walleyes and panfish all came jigging a #4 tungsten tipped with a single spike. Troy took home enough fish for a meal and is coming back with a bigger group in a few weeks if the ice holds. All in all, it was a good morning on Petenwell! 

The ice out of Monroe seemed OK. The cracks that were posted about yesterday looked too have ice in them as far as I could see. Driving over them wasn't a big issue with the UTV. I won't be back out again until Friday. 

Was out today with Butch and Corey. We had an OK bite today. The guys were busy in the shack jigging up some eyes, crappies, and white bass. Corey got tired of chasing flags with dropped or stripped baits so i took over for a little while. They ended up catching two slots and Corey broke his PB TWICE today. Orange tiger 1/8th ounce jigs tipped with full fatheads jigging and chubs on tipups caught everything. 22-29 fow.

The ice from the east side county park didn't get any worse from yesterday. The cracks that were open yesterday had healed up with a couple inches of ice built in them. The open water spot from in front of Halls Point going south is about a mile long and 30 yards wide. It was nice not hearing the ice cracking and popping all day long. I'm going to run trips and taking it day by day. Right now, the area I'm fishing is pretty consistent and the path out and around is good. I did a little driving around and checking areas and it looks the same as yesterday. I'm going out tomorrow and I'll reevaluate each day. I'm not expecting to be on Petenwell much past this Saturday. We'll see what happens with the ice. I may be switching over to some smaller bodies of water for multi-species trips for (gills, crappies, walleyes, pike, bass, and trout). 

If the river in Wisconsin Dells opens up and this warm weather sticks around I may be open to some early pre-spawn walleye fishing in the boat! I have fished the Dells during the winter in the past and it can be fantastic!

Thanks, Whiskey River. Sounds terrible! My wife and I have a trip planned to fish here for the first time. (we bought property nearby last year) Sounds like the west side of the lake is a no go. ​

Food on the line, The lake opened wide yesterday. Theres open water for miles in the middle of the lake and by wilderness. The cracks on the edges of the lake are now opening because the open water created relief cracks. Whats happening out there right now is unprecedented and it should be treated as such. Im not saying you cant fish it, but its the most dangerous it has ever been before. I also fell through myself.

Thomas, what are the ice conditions you are seeing around the lake? 

Agrimm11, at the rate we're going, we might not even have ice in a few weeks. Ice conditions aside, Petenwell is probably not the best place to bring kids fishing for action. Might want to try another smaller body of water in the area. 

Yes had 3 new heaves on way back  Sunday  6am--11:00am  ice was definitely moving. 
5 guys 1 shorty
2 slots