Oconomowoc Lake open water

With the warm weather hanging in, and musky season extended thru the end of the month in this part of WI, decided hit O lake targeting the toothy critters. With a small river leading from the dam spillway/chute to the lake, ice at the launch was no problem, and there was very little ice on the lake itself. had to bust thru a bit to access the smaller part of the lake, but no trouble doing that. we dragged 6 inch suckers and large shiners rigged on heavy mono leader/circle hooks. Had 4 good pick-ups, and ended up boating a 30 inch pike, lost a 40ish ski be3fore the net (unhooked and got a free meal), and had two other fish on that we fought for about 20 seconds or so and came unbuttoned. That’s one of the risks in using circle hooks when you try not to wait too long to sweep the hookset. Neither of those two suckers had any teeth gashes or even puncture marks, so must have been bass.
A very quiet afternoon on the water, with no jet skis, water skiers, and only one other boat….go figure. since we lacked more fish pictures, took a couple shots of the scenery.

Fun time of the year isn’t it. I have snuck out on Lake Geneva (SE WI) a couple times pan fishing, and done really well. No skim ice there yet, and it will be open for a while. Did see a couple guys working for bigger fish, but no idea how they did. It may not be Red Wing walleye fishing, but still good getting out.

Great pics Z-man. Been a long time since I have seen Oconomowoc Lake.
I do remember them older homes looking just as impressive from the front yard as they do the back

Nice fish, back in the day I seen the biggest musky of my life on this lake.

Nice to have a lake to yourself

Hey Z man nice pics. I was below Petenwell today and it was really slow. Maybe i’ll run into ya down there this winter again.

I was hoping to get over to the Pete before the holidays, but just didn’t work out. A bit too far for a one dayer, especially with short days. Maybe in January.