Survey: Castle Rock, Petenwell WI – New forum??

Castle Rock / Petenwell Flowage consists of almost 40,000 acres of extremely fishable waters. There is no specific forum for this system on IDO. Before James wastes his time creating a new forum, I was wondering if we have members of this site who fish it often and are willing to help keep the forum active.

I don’t fish it often so I wouldn’t be much help keeping it active – but I would love to see reports from those bodies of water, and try to get down there more frequently.

Mike

***EDIT***

I probably Should have only included one response to the survey… The number of “yes” votes will tell us much, but the number of “no” votes really don’t tell us anything.

Maybe I should ask people to vote YES or don’t vote at all since the “NO” vote is pretty worthless for the purposes of this post.

I guide on Petenwell occaisionally and get over there a few times per year, and would love to have a specific forum for those two bodies of water.

Good idea.

I probably Should have only included one response to the survey… The number of “yes” votes will tell us much, but the number of “no” votes really don’t tell us anything.

Maybe I should ask people to vote yes or no vote at all since the “NO” vote is pretty worthless.

These are a couple of the biggest and most popular waters in the state. Would only make sense to have a thread for them. Castle Rock is awesome!

whitsend:

I know that my brother and I will be hooking up on both bodies of water during the Memorial Day weekend fishing the Pete on Sunday and CR on Monday a.m. before heading back to Minocqua. I know that there are a few other guys that get over there to fish from the western as well as SEastern parts of the state as they have posted about it on the WI River forum.

Mark

I cant believe they are not there now, I never fished them much but I would think the sight would be better for it….

if there was ever two bodies of water that actually needed EURASIAN MILFOIL its these two bodies.. for one it would clean the water and the fish wouldn’t taste like paper mill. two, these two lakes should be the bass and musky bonanza of the state..

but years ago, I fished a major tourny and out of close to 100 boats 3 bass were caught.

I have been associated with these lakes since the early 1970’s as I own a place in Adams..

and no, not until this place ever gets stable, do I support a forum..

these bodies of water should be the CENTERPIECE OF THE STATE.. THE PLACE TO GO.. and I mean the PRIME, KEY, FAMOUS PLACE TO GO.. these two bodies should be WORLD CLASS fisheries.. and not places where only the super informed can catch a decent fish.

these lakes are big enough to hold a bass master classic, but who would come to see no fish caught.. NOT THE NUMBERS THAT SHOULD BE CAUGHT for lakes with this potential.

they are two giant shames.. instead of two of the biggest money makers that the state of Wisconsin could offer..

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and no, not until this place ever gets stable, do I support a forum..

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Just curious, but I find myself wondering what you meant by that… Stable water flows?? Cleaned up pollution??

Do you think a forum about the lakes would harm the system? Is it possible that it might be a way to disseminate information to enact change if change is sorely needed?

I don’t know very much at all about the system, I just know they are very large bodies of water and I thought it was odd there wasn’t a forum for them. Petenwell is the state’s second biggest lake by itself, and when you add Castle Rock, its quite a significant system.

I know it gets a lot of recreational pressure during the summer, but I know there is fantastic fishing there at times (not so much for me, but hey – thats fairly normal ). Although ice fishing for catfish has been fun in the past. Very good panfish, walleye and musky populations from what I understand. Lots of white bass I believe, but I know little about the bass status.

If any of the above sounded at all critical, that certainly is not my intent. I would love to hear your opinions about the lake(s)!

Mike

i try to ice fish there as much as possible and after i tag along with wimwuen a few times hope to summer fish it more im in

I only get on there once or twice a year. But naturally I would contribute to it! I have a buddy with a cabin on there. That was a turn off to him about this site that there was little to no information on Castle Rock.

I also have a buddy with a cabin on the lake. We fished it last fall and did quite well on panfish and the muskys were really starting to get going. I think we picked up a number of small walleye, and a bunch of white bass. Seems like a great fishery to me, but again, I know very little about it. I hope to get down there more in the upcoming year. I know we caught some real nice white crappies — Not too many lakes in WI that host a population of white crappies, but castle rock is one of them.

Mike

let me say this.. stable.. no drawdowns in the fall.. you look at a ton of those back bays and the ice is caved in almost every year.. meaning that there is no water below it..

two.. SOME WEED GROWTH. any weed growth. SOMETHING TO TAKE THE TRASH OUT OF THE WATER by naturally filtering it. weed growth will allow more young fish.. and clean the water. and then remove the paper taste from the water. and perpetuate bigger fish. and bigger numbers of fish.

WEEDS ARE GOOD. very good.

again.. if these were the two major bodies of fishing in the state, there wouldn’t be a need to start a thread.. it would have been started YEARS AGO. why? because all you would hear is did you hear that so and so tore them up on Castle Rock.. Gees Let’s go there..

again the two giant bodies of water that should be THE CENTERPIECE OF FISHING IN THE STATE. 2 and half hours from Milwaukee. 3 and a half hours from the north side of Chicago.. less then two hours from LaCrosse, Oshkosh, Three from Green Bay.. Its in the center of the state, there are good roads to get there..

it SHOULD BE FISHING MECCA.. but its not.

look at Lake Wausau .. same river.. but this lake has WEEDS..

and it has it all. its like four different lakes. anyone can catch a northern there.. BIG MUSKIES… smallies. BIG LARGEMOUTHS.. every type of fishing imaginable. but its above the Nekoosa paper mills. not below it.

Its a place where you can take your wife and kid and THEY WILL CATCH A FISH.. some sort of fish..

go there in the summer take a spinnerbait.. do a straight retrieve on almost any shore line and half way back to the boat stop the lure.. I had northerns JUMP INTO THE BOAT..

Wausau shows you the potential that these two lakes have..

with the exception that they are bigger and probably would be even BETTER THEN WAUSAU..

sorry. but its a shame that we allow these prime MONEY MAKERS lay dormant for all these years. and the DNR does nothing to improve them.. of course MONEY TALKS..

Thanks for your input!

Pardon my ignorance on the system… What can be done to improve the situation from your viewpoint? What should people be looking for, whom should they be in contact with to invoke change, and which changes would bring about satisfactory results?? You mentioned that there are problems, but what can be done about it?

Is it mostly dam and water level issues causing most of the problems in your opinion, or is there more? Is the weed issue you brought up mostly due to the water level changes? Are there fisheries biologists for these bodies of water that will voice thier opinions and who share common concerns as many of the fishermen? Is the water level fluctuation primarily related to the recreational summer pressure/tourist economics on the lake, ecological reasons, or is there more to it?

Why is a forum for these lakes a bad thing? These forums are generally about helping people fine-tune techniques, tactics, and presentations, and sometimes just to BS a little. I don’t ever recall anyone posting GPS coordinates or exact location descriptions of favorite holes. I tend to view these posts as much for entertainment as gaining general fishing knowledge – and the knowledge I gain is generally somewhat generic, applicable to many situations, not particular lakes. I would also contend that the average angler on this site probably is more involved in CPR than anglers who might not visit this site. (Just a guess, I could be wrong).

I would think the more interest that is generated by such a forum, the more some of these issues might be brought to light. If nothing else, concerns could be voiced and discussed, paving the way for more constructive communications with legislators, biologists, etc… I can’t imagine that adding this forum on IDO would be detrimental to the lake — especially considering that each problem addressed here could potentially be a step in the right direction.

Again, I could be wrong, I have been known to say a stupid thing or two. I appreciate you posts and input! Maybe this could be a step towards a solution?

Thanks for you input!

Mike

this is one of the poorest areas of the state of Wisconsin.. no major cities are located here.. so money talks and bs walks..

I am sure that you have DNR guys who are “scratching their heads” in wonder.. what can be done.. well nothing without money.. or influence..

the big influence is the WISCONSIN DELLS.. meaning if they don’t have water to float their boats in the winter, where do you think it comes from? you bet.. these lakes..

two, there is little the “lake association ” can fight against.. they can’t fight the paper mills. because of lack of money and job loss.

so its like.. Hmmm, what can we do.. what can we do..

I am not saying that there are no fish here.. there are.. but its limited fishing. if you are in the ultra know.. it can be great.. But it’s not the type of fishing that it should be.. or could be..

honest, I am not kidding, you actually put eurasian milfoil in these lakes and you have GUNTERSVILLE NORTH..

bodies of water that guys travel from all over the country to fish.. much less just the state. and there is plenty of deep water there to limit the amount of weeds..

But with water that DARK, and dirty, you need weeds to filter it.

I took the paper mill tour at Nekoosa.. there the tour guide told us that the river water came out cleaner then what it was going into the plant.. and every who believes that stand on your head..

again I site Lake Wausau.. or Lake Wisconsin. both on the same river.. Both have weeds in them.. although Wausau has more weeds.

when you fish Wisconsin, its a scramble to get to the weed beds.. and again.. 40,000 acres of NO WEEDS..

remember that some weeds and clearing beget other weeds and clearing. which begets other original weeds and clearing. more weeds brings more weeds.. but when you fish something that if you put your hand in the water and cant see it.. well that’s dark..

I am sure that you could go on Lake Links and there will be guys there that will tell you that, these are two “underfished” bodies of water.. and while that may be so.. You want to go to a place where a BIG STRING IS POSSIBLE on any day, as opposed to a limit is possible once in a while.

and that’s the end of my rant..

I know that I should stop.. but there are 19 pages of ice fishing reports on Castle Rock and 6 or less pages of open water fishing. for a year on Lake Link.. and no one talks about a limit of bass.. or shows a “big fish” its all white bass and pan fish. and really small walleyes..for open water.

and that not what 40,000 acres of prime water should produce…

Keep going, I would love to hear all of the issues. I can only imagine it would potentially help the situation…. ??? Getting the problems out in the open, I mean.

Thanks for all of the input. Anyone else have ideas about this body of water?

I guess I still believe a forum would be very nice to have on this site, potentially in part to talk about issues such as those listed. I don’t fish the lake a lot, but I would like to learn more about it!!

Mike

http://www.idofishing.com/forum/postlist.php/Board/castle/castle-rock-petenwell-forum

I added this forum to the WI category. If it ends up not getting used the solution is as close as the delete key. From the looks of the poll there’s at least 25 guys that are interested. That’s enough for me to put it out there and test the waters.

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and no one talks about a limit of bass.. or shows a “big fish”

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I guess part of it is people like me that don’t post as much as we should. I very much enjoy Castle Rock and I am learning more about Petenwell every year. The downfall with Castle Rock is it gets pretty bumpy even on calm days as it is very recreational with all the bars. As for Bass, it is an amazing SmallMouth fishery. A limit of 15″+ smallies is easily obtainable. If I don’t pop 20+ over 15″ in a day it was pretty slow. I have caught a good number exceeding 19″ as well. I will see abou getting some pictures this year now that there is a section devoted to the lakes

Like I mentioned before, I only get out there once or twice a year. I agree that a few massive weed beds would do the lake a lot of good. I think a place to start with is some of the WI Bass Federation clubs looking to host enviromental projects. A case could easily be made, and many of these clubs will jion forces to donate a lot of labor.

As for quality of fish (and a 65# beaver), here are a few pics form Castle

Nice Musky I have been catching more and more of those teethy critters in the last couple years on the Rock.

By the way, “Gracious Beaver Shot”. Sorry, I couldn’t resist!