What do you think?

My friend and I knew of a secluded lake with no access and a long walk from a parking spot that had us intrigued for many years.
Last weekend we walked 3/4 of a mile to the lake, up and down hills and through thick woods to get to the shore.
We drilled a couple holes for tip-ups not very far from shore and found a quick drop to 9 ft.
We set the tip-ups and then drilled many holes further out-the deepest spot found was around 15 ft.
It was about a half hour before we marked anything and then the flasher started to light up steady like a Christmas tree.
Man were we pumped.
My buddies hot hole was right over the school and his rod tip never stopped bouncing from the subtle bites from below. But try as we might we could not catch the elusive prey.
After a couple frustrating hours my buddy reels up to find a fat-head minnow on his hook-He snagged it!

So it seems this secluded lake (about 20 acres in Wisc.) is loaded with minnows but no fish?
Is that possible?
Should we try it again?

What do you think?

Is it possible? In Wisconsin? Nothing but minnows? You have the Packers…. doesn’t that say enough?

Tom Sawvell wrote:

Is it possible? In Wisconsin? Nothing but minnows? You have the Packers…. doesn’t that say enough?

Well said Tom!
Wish I had a better response or suggestion for the gent who posted this

I hate the Packers….

I grew up a Vikings fan and unfortunately they are a perennial embarrassment.
But what that has to do with fishing I still don’t know.

Was there debris under the ice at the holes? What was the surrounding topography like….hills, reeds, incoming creek?

If the lake was small and on relatively flat ground and only topped out at the 15 feet you found I can see it not yielding much but it would be strange to not find fish in the like sunfish or perch. With no access, and I am assuming no roads, no houses, just a lake sitting there, its is doubtful that the lake is used for minnow rearing, but not to say it isn’t. Still, fish other than minnow species should be present.

This early in the season if you were finding debris under the ice when you drilled it might indicate that the lake may be too fertile for a healthy fish population.

20 acres and 15 feet deep isn’t all that huge and it could be that because of its design it is prone to freezing out and only the minnow sized rough fish survive the freezing. I don’t think I would just not fish it, especially if you can access it without having a stroke hiking thru the snow. 20 acres is more water than you think and I guess maybe a couple subsequent trips could better answer the questions you have.

Any chance you can find a map in the WI dnr bowels to post?

With that much bait in the lake I think you would have to have a pretty good presentation to get a fish to bite. They are either full from eating minnows or they don’t have to chase very hard to catch one. Pretty tough to compete with the “real thing”. If you were able to catch them though I bet they are fat fish.

what type of setup were you fishing with. Did you have minnows as bait or waxworms?

The western shoreline is a steep hill descending to the shore.
The east shoreline is flat and level to the surrounding area.
South end-large steep hill/ north shore flat area.

I started out with a mini jig with waxi and my friend was using a jig and fat head minnow.
We both switched to tear drops and euro larvae after a while.
We could not see the bottom but didn’t notice any large quantity of debris under the ice.

I’ve been told by a WI guide friend that many of the potholes that are deep enough to not freeze out are full of fatheads. He traps them for bait — I couldn’t tell the difference between the wild fatheads and the bait store fatheads except that the sizes are more variable. In any case, it sounds like you found one of them! If there isn’t any good spawning habitat perhaps that’s why there isn’t much in the way of gamefish, but that’s just a guess. A little bucket biology may be in order!

Thanks john23.
What is bucket biology?

Not Legal in Wisconsin Could cost you $350.00 – $2200.00

???????

Be worth dropping a camera down ? Only 15 feet should have good visibility

A camera is a great idea.
I may have to buy or borrow one.