Not a lot of sauger shots on this thread. I’m extremely jealous of the big walleye, but was very happy with this 21″ sauger caught on Lake Wisconsin in October. First day I ever caught a sauger. Caught a 8″, 15.5″, 17″ and this 21″. I have to say, it looked bigger in real life than it did in this photo.

Anyone familiar with the Lone Rock area? I was talking with my neighbor and he knows someone who launches his boat from there and goes up and down river from there. Too risky for a 20″ draft?

PS – Thanks Joel Ballweg for leading me to this site. It’s nice.

I’ve never caught a channel cat before this year. First one was 18.5″ inches on Lake Mendota in Madison, WI. Since then, I’ve caught many more cats on Mendota while fishing for bluegill and walleye. The smaller one I caught on my bluegill rig – 4lb test mono, 5’6″ light rod with a slip float. My fishing buddy heard the drag screaming and just went back to fishing and said, “Let me know when you see your bobber again.” The larger one, I caught on Lake Wisconsin with a 4″ chub on a jig while fishing for walleye and sauger on 6# mono and a 5’9″ St Croix Avid medium light rod. Just a tip for any catfishermen in Southern Wisconsin – Lake Mendota is teaming with huge channel cats. I’m mainly a panfish guy, walleye second, but I have to admit, the cats I caught this year were the true highlight. I’m hooked – I love catching cats.

Oh yea! Mendota holds some monster bluegill. If you get in the right spot, I’ve had days where most of the gills caught were over 10″. Some were pushing 11″.

I suspected that it was pretty shallow over there just from looking at the satellite images on Google maps. I think I will study up on areas closer to the Sauk area based on the feedback so far. It looks like there’s a launch off of Hwy Y North of Mazomanie.

Overall, I don’t mind other fishermen as long as they use a little common sense and courtesy. What I’ve had enough of is the constant stream of cabin cruisers on the Madison lakes that drive by right next to my anchored boat leaving me dealing with a four foot wake. I know Lake Wisconsin gets very busy on the weekends in summer, which is when I have time to go fishing, so the river seems like the best option. I realize I’m not going to find TFF-level solitude anywhere near Madison, but a tolerable level of recreational boaters would be nice. I’m not giving up on the Madison lakes especially on the after work fishing trips, but I think I will avoid them on the weekends. Waubesa is a great bluegill lake, so I’ll still be hitting it once in a while.