Waubesa Lake

If anyone lost an auger near Bible camp today, please PM me with the details so I can get it back to you! 

Fished from 1-8 and not a touch. Fished from 15-26 feet. Tip ups and jigging. 

Has anyone ventured out from Lake Farm on ATV heading South around Hog Island and Western half of the lake? I know to go nowhere near North end towards trestle. Planning to get out this weekend. Otherwise I will plan to launch off Goodland. Thank you in advance for any ice condition reports. 

First fish finally this ice season! 17" eye jigging 18ft of water. 7 inches of ice.  Nothing on tip ups so far. Gonna be tough til this coldsnap  eases up. Only have marked a few.

Made it out on waubesa this afternoon. Large shiners for pike just south of green lantern. 1 flag no fish. 5 inches of ice in 5ft of water. It's go time. 

LowTech, regarding your question on water clarity, I've attached three photos from two days ago on Waubesa. These photos are frame grabs from some videos I shot that day. The first one is a larger sized metal box of some kind in 13 FOW. The front part of the box looks decent since I'm close to the object. Towards the back it begins to degrade. The second shot is the same object just a bit further away so you can see how it's degraded even more. The third one is in 33 FOW and is an object that looks like a piece of vinyl fence with what may be part of a crib behind it (there's a couple tent shaped cribs close by). You can see how it's getting more hazy the further it is from the camera. Part of the problem is all the carp and sheepshead in that area (of the third shot), stirring things up. Clarity wouldn't stop me from fishing at this point, but for what I do with a good wind and poorer clarity it makes it tough.

Finally got back on the water today! Surface temp was 36.6°F, at depth the bottom was 39°F. Note they had posted signs that they'd be closing the ramp on Dec. 4th, spoke with the Parks guy there today that was changing out the old signs with new ones. They'll keep the ramp open as long as they can, if the ramp area ices up (or the lake) they'll call it a year. Was hoping things at depth had cleared up, nope, still useable close to a target, but not much horizontal clarity. As the last trip out there, marked lots of fish out there deep, didn't try to identify them but probably still carp stirring things up (due to size on side scan). Little breezy out there today, few other boats out fishing. 

BadgerRedd - thanks again for helping me out the pictures. Very much appreciated the assistance!  Pics turned out really good. 

Decided to DVR the Packers game and spent the afternoon slow trolling with jigs/fatheads hoping for a walleye. Several Muskie fishermen out and I actually saw 1 guy catch a 43” Muskie. He asked me if I could take a picture and I came across to oblige. Hope they turned out OK, congrats again on the nice fish !! I only had one bite and it too was a musky but only 34”. Water temp was 46 degrees and a warning for those using the Babcock launch, water level is down to the point I was reading 1.4’ going out of the channel. Be careful !!

Out on Waubesa this morning, very nice early then that south wind kicked up making it difficult to video smaller objects using spotlock. Water temp 45.7°, little warmer in 35 FOW. Marked lots of fish in the deep basin, mostly Sheepshead seen on the camera. Crappies on some deep water structure as well as a bluegill and walleye. As before, up close you can see pretty decent, but a few feet out you can't see much. In shallower saw some SMB on structure there. 91st trip out this open water season, last year it was 101 trips. Hoping to exceed that this year!

The docks stay in year-round at Babcock Park.  You can launch there as long as the entrance into the boat launch area is open.  They close it in the winter with a gate.