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Ice fishing
California Fishing
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Feb 18, 2024 15:39:35   #
Dogman68 Loc: Merced California (centralvalley)
 
I was born and raised in central Wisconsin 75 yrs ago. I now live in California and would love to see some fishing reports on ice fishing in that area. As a kid we would Ice skate on the river to the mouth of the river on lake Winnebago,chop a hole in the ice and catch yellow perch,walleyes and white bass. Anyone Ice fishing around there these days?

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Feb 18, 2024 15:46:12   #
ranger632 Loc: Near Yosemite Park Ca.
 
Dogman68 wrote:
I was born and raised in central Wisconsin 75 yrs ago. I now live in California and would love to see some fishing reports on ice fishing in that area. As a kid we would Ice skate on the river to the mouth of the river on lake Winnebago,chop a hole in the ice and catch yellow perch,walleyes and white bass. Anyone Ice fishing around there these days?



Merced is a long way from any ice fishing,

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Feb 18, 2024 16:26:35   #
Dogman68 Loc: Merced California (centralvalley)
 
ranger632 wrote:
Merced is a long way from any ice fishing,


Yes it sure is ranger. I do enjoy hearing reports of others adventures on the ice! Winnebago had a sturgeon spear season about this time every winter.You would see small villages pop up on the ice just off shore from a place I remember called Wendts? They would cut a square hole thru the ice and just sit there and watch and wait for the surgeon to swim by and try to spear them. Decoys were sometimes used to draw fish to your hole! Don't know if they still do that or if it's still legal?

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Feb 18, 2024 17:55:16   #
ranger632 Loc: Near Yosemite Park Ca.
 
Dogman68 wrote:
Yes it sure is ranger. I do enjoy hearing reports of others adventures on the ice! Winnebago had a sturgeon spear season about this time every winter.You would see small villages pop up on the ice just off shore from a place I remember called Wendts? They would cut a square hole thru the ice and just sit there and watch and wait for the surgeon to swim by and try to spear them. Decoys were sometimes used to draw fish to your hole! Don't know if they still do that or if it's still legal?


My cousin lives in Montana and he ice fishes. Hope to get up there some day and try it. Here in Calif they ice fish up around Cables Lake off of HWY 88 but never try it

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Feb 18, 2024 18:13:50   #
Dogman68 Loc: Merced California (centralvalley)
 
ranger632 wrote:
My cousin lives in Montana and he ice fishes. Hope to get up there some day and try it. Here in Calif they ice fish up around Cables Lake off of HWY 88 but never try it


Did you mean Caples lake? I have driven by there on my way to Carson city and have seen people fishing on the ice by the highway.

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Feb 18, 2024 19:26:54   #
ranger632 Loc: Near Yosemite Park Ca.
 
Dogman68 wrote:
Did you mean Caples lake? I have driven by there on my way to Carson city and have seen people fishing on the ice by the highway.



Yes Caples Lake,

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Feb 18, 2024 22:36:03   #
jeffbyrne Loc: San Francisco, Ca
 
I'd like to tell you that Prosser and Boca resorvoirs are good ice fishing spots . We used to fish before work and after work for trout. be careful of thin ice . Best of luck.

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Feb 19, 2024 10:06:07   #
WiBob Loc: NE Wisconsin
 
Dogman68 wrote:
Yes it sure is ranger. I do enjoy hearing reports of others adventures on the ice! Winnebago had a sturgeon spear season about this time every winter.You would see small villages pop up on the ice just off shore from a place I remember called Wendts? They would cut a square hole thru the ice and just sit there and watch and wait for the surgeon to swim by and try to spear them. Decoys were sometimes used to draw fish to your hole! Don't know if they still do that or if it's still legal?


Sturgeon spearing is still very much a thing on Winnebago Dog, and it's going on right now. Extremely bad conditions this year though, so I haven't been hearing anything other than the occasional comment. I thought I heard part of a report mentioning a 100+ pounder, but all I know is that I wouldn't consider going out there. I enjoyed your reference to skating out on the Fox to get to your fishing spot, but we really didn't see any ice on the river this year.

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Feb 19, 2024 10:07:56   #
WiBob Loc: NE Wisconsin
 
Just looked this up for you:

https://fox11online.com/sports/outdoors/48-lake-sturgeon-winnebago-system-poygan-winneconne-butte-des-morts-wisconsin-dnr-daily-report-february-16-2024

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Feb 19, 2024 15:23:00   #
Dogman68 Loc: Merced California (centralvalley)
 
WiBob wrote:
Sturgeon spearing is still very much a thing on Winnebago Dog, and it's going on right now. Extremely bad conditions this year though, so I haven't been hearing anything other than the occasional comment. I thought I heard part of a report mentioning a 100+ pounder, but all I know is that I wouldn't consider going out there. I enjoyed your reference to skating out on the Fox to get to your fishing spot, but we really didn't see any ice on the river this year.


Thanks for the info Wibob. The river I was referring to was not the Fox but the FondduLac river. I was born and raised there in the town of FondduLac in 1948 I have many memories of fishing Lake Winnebago. Wendt's was a bar/restaurant along the lake between FonduLac and Oshkosh where you would see the sturgeon hanging,much like the picture you sent. Don't know if ice is safe enough now?

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Feb 19, 2024 15:51:04   #
florida Loc: Southwest Florida/ Virginia
 
ARE sturgeon good to eat? Or just speared for sport or caviar -eggs.

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Feb 19, 2024 16:09:55   #
Ted A Loc: Eastern Washington
 
florida wrote:
ARE sturgeon good to eat? Or just speared for sport or caviar -eggs.


The white meat is good but you need to remove the fat and dark meat.

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Feb 19, 2024 16:12:40   #
Dogman68 Loc: Merced California (centralvalley)
 
florida wrote:
ARE sturgeon good to eat? Or just speared for sport or caviar -eggs.


So I think the fish is smoked and of course the eggs are also eaten,don't know if they are prepared in some way first?

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Feb 19, 2024 17:08:54   #
WiBob Loc: NE Wisconsin
 
Dogman68 wrote:
Thanks for the info Wibob. The river I was referring to was not the Fox but the FondduLac river. I was born and raised there in the town of FondduLac in 1948 I have many memories of fishing Lake Winnebago. Wendt's was a bar/restaurant along the lake between FonduLac and Oshkosh where you would see the sturgeon hanging,much like the picture you sent. Don't know if ice is safe enough now?


Apparently there is still enough ice and some are brave(?) enough to get out there and give it a try. Numbers (participants and fish) are way down, as you would expect. My understanding is that Wendt's is still one of, if not THE, headquarters of the sturgeon experience for this week or so - but I've never been a part of this community. We're supposed to see high temps around 50 for the next few days, so I'm hoping we don't hear any unfortunate stories from out there.

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Feb 19, 2024 17:37:22   #
Dogman68 Loc: Merced California (centralvalley)
 
Yes, there is always the brave (or stupid) few that will take the chance and venture out on the ice to get that prize! Winnebago can be a scary lake to be on even in the summer. In 1970 while home on leave from my Vietnam tour,my little brother and I got caught in a crazy storm while out there in my dad's boat.The wind blew us across the lake and almost completely swamped the boat.We were lucky that day,some others drowned that day.

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