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wisc. camping/spearfishing trip

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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BaerClaw

Carp Killa
Jun 16, 2007
50
5
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i'm looking for a place in wisc not too far north that my girlfriend and i can go to and camp and do some freediving and spearfishing. open for options looking for a campground that i can get into without making reservations too far in advance. any ideas would be greatly appreciated. a smaller place off the beaten path would be nice unlike devils lake. a campground directly on a lake would be awesome, exactly what i'm looking for. just lake suggestions would help and then i could look for campgrounds that are close. let me know, anything would help. thanks. james
 
Check out Pearl lake by Red Granite Quarry. the lake is excellent for spearing and I just saw a website for a campground that looked really nice. I was contemplating taking my family there.

I think that you could also camp by either Pike lake or Lake Nagawicka. Spearing should be allowed at either one. If you get too far north spearfishing is illegal. There are only like 6 counties in the state where you can't fish, but some of those have the best lakes in the state.

I was just looking at combining some camping and diving with my family, as the kids are old enough to camp now, but the places we're looking at have no options for spearing- just diving.

Let us know what you find and where you end up going.

Jon
 
pearl lake sounds cool but i think it's a little too resort like for me if i'm looking at the right place. how is the visibility this time of year on pike lake and lake nagawicka? i haven't done much searching on these two yet. also wondering if you know which counties it's illegal to spear in. i have a friend who has a cabin on a lake and there is a campground on the other side. we did some snorkling and the lake was amazingly clear and we saw a lot of big crappies. so clear that when you were fishing from a boat you could see your jig 15 ft. down and watch the fish look at it and turn away. there were fish everywhere but bad fishing because the lake was so clear. i'm contemplating going and giving this lake a try, but it might be in the counties you mentioned. have you ever speared in pike or nagawicka lakes? thanks again. james
 
Which lake is that?

Check here for legalities: http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/regulations/2006/documents/Spearing06web.pdf

I've dove, and ice dove, Nagawicka many times over the years. She went from being one of the darkest lakes around to being very clear since the introduction of zebra mussels. There are tons of fish to spear in her.

I've never dove Pike lake, just mountain biked around her. She is said to be a very nice lake.

Devil's Lake used to be good for spearing, but they made it illegal about 3 years ago so now we just go there to take pictures and camp with the family.

Jon
 
i've looked up nagawicka and it's right on my way back to school in minnesota so i think this is probably my best choice. i've been out to pikes lake mant times fishing, when i was young and don't really remember it too well. i called my friend about his cabin on that lake and sure enough it's in the far west side of oconto county on boot lake, definately a good freedive lake, i guess it just won't be enjoyed with a spear in hand. very close to nagawicka, just west about two miles there is a lake on the map called the lower nashotah lake, that i was also contemplating, it's said to have trout in it which normall means to me that the lake is pretty clear, but is it legal to spear in a lake that has trout...obviously not the trout. i really appreciate the help, if you know of any other good freediving/spearing lakes in waukesha co. let me know. thanks again. james. this forum rocks!
 
Just South of Sheboygan is a State Park right on Lake Michigan. I have not dove there, but should be great vis. Also, near the chain of lakes in Waupacka Co. is a State Park...begins with an "H", but don't remember the name off hand. Water is clear there as well.

Gene
 
Forget Nagawicka. A friend of mine was out teaching scuba classes there last weekend and said that the vis was less than 2'.

Boot Lake is VERY pretty to dive, but your right that you can't spear there.

The park south of Sheboygan that has the quarry in it is a "no diving" allowed place- which is too bad because the quarry is usually crystal clear. The only people allowed to dive it are members of the local dive team when they are doing their training exercises.

Nashota, both upper and lower, are very nice to dive and I would recommend either one. If you have some type of boat I would highly recommend Moose lake, Pine lake, or Beaver lake. They are all in Waukesha county. Otherwise, I would head up to Waushura country as there are a number of great diving lakes that you can spear in and some campgrounds to stay in.

Jon
 
Kohler-Andrae state park must be the one by sheboygan! i've never dove in lake michigan, how is the clarity this time of year? is there any structure to dive around? or is it just all flat sand? and what about fish, do you see any? thanks pinggene for the help ps the others name is Hartman good call on the H
 
Forget Nagawicka ok thats to bad but im glad to know ahead of time.

so you have been in nashota!! was there a good fish pop.? does the vis change like Nagawicka?
 
Last edited:
Vis is all over the place on Lake Michigan. It goes from 20' to 120'. My father-in-law ran a charter out to the #6 dredge last night, off of South Milwaukee, and they had about 25' of vis.

There are any number of small shipwrecks just off shore all along the coast. The shallower they are the more broken up they seem to be. You could head south a bit and dive off of Atwater beach. There are at least 2 shipwrecks off of there. One is 99' long and the other is 320' long. They range in depth from 7' to 23'.

Surface temp is running about 64F right now- so dress accordingly.

Jon
 
i appreciate all the help wouldn't have been able to do anything without it, i found a campground in naga-waukee park which has camping and is located on the shore of nagawicka lake that has 33 non-reservable camp-sites (first come first serve) and there is a lot of promising lakes in the area. some of the lakes i plan on trying are the upper and lower nashotah lakes, upper, mid, and lower genesee lakes and crooked lake, and possibly others if time permits. because i don't want to bring out a boat i'm going to stick with the smaller lakes. i will try to get pictures and detailed discriptions of each when i get back. i'm looking at being there the first through the third, so if anyone is looking to do some spearing in the area and wants to go out on those days give me a call 414-807-2523 james. thanks again guys!
 
Jon- I'm camping up in Waushura Co on Fish Lake the weekend of the 30th. What other lakes are good for diving? We are planing on checking out Crystal Lake just south of there and maybe Pleasure Lake if there aren't too many boats. Just picking your brain for Ideas

Thanks, Scott
 
Not sure about structure off Kohler-Andre. Off Sheboygan, the breakwater provides plenty of structure for fish.

Hartman Creak State Park (thanks for the help on that one) has a number of lakes around it that are fairly clear.

Gene
 
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