Rice Lake, Wisconsin's, Rice Lake & Montanis Lake Offer Top Fishing -- For Muskies and Other Species -- Practically At Your Door!

by Naomi K. Shapiro

Rice Lake, Wisconsin, only 395 miles north of Chicago and 100 miles west of the Twin Cities, has been a stop for Northwestern Wisconsin fishing enthusiasts since the early 20th century. Idyllic and very hospitable to outdoor-lovers, visitors often forget that there's some great fishing practically in the heart of town.

'With Rice Lake being surrounded by lakes and rivers, people seem to forget that they can do very well fishing within five minutes after having their pancakes, omelets and breakfast coffee at one of our local in-town restaurants' says avid fisherman, Doug Pitts, owner of the North Shore Resort on Rice Lake (715) 234-3488.

Rice Lake and Montanis Lake are connected by a non-navigable channel, and are located pretty-much through the entire center of town. These lakes connect up with additional lakes and rivers which form a continuous chain of lunker gamefish opportunities in the Rice Lake area -- but that's a story for another day. Today we're focusing on Rice Lake and Montanis Lake.

Doug is a low key person, but you can hear the quiet smile and excitement in his voice as he describes the fishing in these two fabulous in-town
lakes:

'First,' Doug says, 'all the fish are like chunky footballs. There's a fabulous forage base, and the fish grow huge girths. Lots of creeks, rivers and marshes empty into the two lakes, which provides lots of shiners, cisco, and white and black suckers. As an example of the way our fish are sized, you may get a 3/4 pound bluegill on another area lake which will go, maybe, 10 inches. That same 3/4 pound bluegill out of Rice Lake or Montanis Lake will go 8 3/4 inches. And that goes for musky, northern, largemouth and walleye, too. That's just the way the fish are 'shaped,' Doug says.

Doug recommends that visiting anglers buy a map of both Rice Lake and Montanis lake from one of the local sporting goods stores. 'And, if visitors or our guests bring those maps to me, I'll be happy to mark the various good fishing spots right on their maps for them,' Doug says.

RICE LAKE, WISCONSIN'S, RICE LAKE

Rice Lake is an impoundment consisting of 939 acres, and has SEVEN boat landings! Max water depth is 21 feet, with an average depth of 10 to 15 feet. The bottom changes from a gravel sand base, to sand and muck.
Rice
Lake is supplied by several different waterways, including the Red Cedar River, which flows into the lake and is controlled by a dam. Several other creeks and waterways empty into the lake. The water is tea stained, but not real dark.

Rice Lake has a variety of weed growth including cattails, eel grass, wild rice (yes -- that's why the town is called Rice Lake!); along with coontail, bulrushes and yellow and white water lilies. There are seven bays, which vary in size, and a couple of islands -- one called Fireworks Island (this is where the city of Rice Lake fires off its 4th of July fireworks displays). Fireworks Island is a perfect, well-groomed picnic and relaxation haven, perfectly maintained by the city. Boy Scout Island is a little more rustic, with picnic tables.

The whole shoreline of Rice Lake moves along the entire downtown area of Rice Lake, and is set up for people to stroll and fish. There is a wide range of docking facilities along the entire shoreline in town. Doug also says that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources maintains many fish habitat areas all along the shoreline of Rice Lake, which means there's a good interspacing of natural wilderness amidst the infrastructure. There are also 100 sets of cribs in water depths ranging from 10 to 15 feet throughout the lake.

'I laugh when I see people pulling good sized-fish out of Rice Lake from a pier right in the center of town, says Doug. They can't believe it, and the smiles and exclamations of happiness make Rice Lake's efforts to make our waters easily accessible well worth the cost,' he adds.

The prevalent gamefish in Rice Lake are northerns, largemouth, crappies, bluegills and perch. There are good and ever-increasing populations of musky and smallies.

'I love fishing for all species, but I admit I can't stay away from the musky action, especially in the first couple of weeks in June,' says Doug. 'I've got fifteen real good spots for musky on Rice Lake, which I'm happy to share with visitors and guests at our resort, but here are two of the very best for this time of year':

'About three-quarters of a mile southeast of our North Shore Resort, there's a deep water edge that moves out from an area called the 'green door,' which is in a bay,' Doug says. The water depth varies from 10 to 14 feet.

Doug suggests that, initially, anglers go out with a crappie rig to 'roil the water', as he puts it. Then, when you see that the musky are in town, toss any musky topwater bait like a High Fin Creeper or a Buchertail Top Raider, and, as Doug says, '...use any color as long as it's black!'

Time of day doesn't seem to make that much difference, either, although Doug says early morning in the month of June produces best.

According to Doug, musky bite for three reasons: One, something 'invades' their territory (which on Rice Lake averages about 300 feet of shoreline). Two, they're just feeding. Or, three, they strike as a natural reaction to movement and/or noise.' Doug says to 'radiate your bait out from the boat in ever-widening arcs and distance; I can promise you that I've gotten any number of 40-plus-inchers this way. Indeed, the musky in Rice Lake will go to 50 inches, and that's no exaggeration.'

Doug's second spot for musky is down around lower Rice Lake, in the Convent Island area. 'There's a steeper drop around Convent Island, which goes from 5 to 14 feet, quickly. Fish the area from Veteran's Park Landing, on Orchard Lane, all around the island into the next bay which is very shallow. There's slow moving water in this area. Use the same types of black topwaters, and you'll get action, and, you can fish early and late,' Doug says.

And, Doug adds with a chuckle, 'don't forget those are only two of fifteen good musky spots on Rice Lake.'

For northern, go to the mouth of the Red Cedar River where it enters Rice Lake. Fish the east shore directly across from the hospital. There'll be anywhere from one to four feet of water, which is densely vegetated.
Find
the definite channels between the weeds and toss a chartreuse spinner bait with a single Colorado blade. Fish all day in the adjacent channels to emerging weed edges at this time of year. And the northern are FABULOUS! Doug says the biggest northern he's taken out of Rice Lake went 17 1/2 pounds, and ONLY 34 inches! He says the largest northern he's seen taken out of Rice Lake in the past two years has been 25 pounds. Anglers should note that a 17 1/2 pound northern at only 34 inches means one heckuva 'fat football,' as Doug puts it.

Largemouth are great in Rice Lake, going up to 6-pounds-plus. If you fish post-spawn, you'll find the largemouth along any sandy shoreline that gets full sun during the day. Usually, that's a north shore. The largemouth are seeking a perfect situation which is weed-and-lily-pad-cover. Stumps and the cribs in Rice Lake in the 7 to 10 foot depths will produce, especially in the same areas as you'll find musky -- the 'green door' and Convent Island areas.

If it's a year when the largemouth are slow to spawn, go to what is called Clearwater Bay on the south end of Rice Lake. The water will be 3 to 5 feet deep and full of weeds, but the bottom is clear (Doug notes that the very healthy weed growth enhances water clarity, and helps to oxygenate the lake beautifully). The largemouth will be hunkered down in sandy bottom areas adjacent to the weeds, where they scoot into cover if they want to. The baits used will vary depending on which areas you fish. If you fish the 7 to 10 foot depths around the cribs and stumps, use a Texas Rig with a crawler. In the shallow weed edge areas, a 'jig and a pig' (jig tipped with pork rind) will work well, especially on real hot days.

There's another good spot to fish for largemouth, and that's under piers. 'If you're good at working a pier and can shoot a bait under a pier, you'll do well,' Doug says, adding, 'try a jig and pig, like you would around the shallow weed areas, or tip a Mama Bait jig (1/4 to 3/8 ounce) with a Salt Craw. Also, different-colored skirts like a Getsit will work. If you can't shoot under the pier, hit the edge and let your bait drop. The largemouth will spot it and instinctively move out to hit it.'

For smallies, you'll want to fish the weed edges in 10 to 12 feet of water, using a small, deepwater crankbait. Or, you can try the gravelly drops off the leeward side of windward points, which Doug says are always easily recognized. The smallies are consistently in the 3-pound size area, with the biggest Doug has seen going 4 3/4 pounds. 'The smallies are starting to come on big time in Rice Lake, and I figure you're going to get 5 pounders with some consistency over the next few years.'

There's good panfish action in Rice Lake, to boot. Crappies will spawn in 67-degree water, and are customarily into the shallow bays in mid-May.
If
there's a real late spawn, the crappie may be in these shallow bays into the month of June. Generally, however, the best spot to try for crappies in June would be around cribs in 7, to even 15 feet of water (Doug says you'll have to 'test' the various depths to find out where the crappies are on any particular day). Doug likes to use a tube jig, or crappie minnow on ultralite tackle for the crappie. Crappie will go up to just over 14 inches, although bigger ones have been taken on occasion. That's not the rule, however. Regardless, they're decent slabs and delicious eating.

In June, the bluegills will normally be on their second spawn (bluegills hold their eggs until they dissipate). During this second spawn, fish any sunswept shorelines where there's not a lot of wind. A waxie on an ice fishing rig will work, and, for fly anglers, use a Bimbo Bug on a #6 fly rod and line. This same fly rod action will also work for crappie.
There
are some nice bull gills in Rice Lake, which will go to 3/4 of a pound.

Real good-sized perch (jumbos going to 13 inches) will be caught over mudflats that have grassy weeds in 6 to 10 feet of water. Use minnows, worms, leeches -- most any live bait will work. (In our opinion, the most fantastic live bait ever, and particularly for jumbo perch, is the hellgrammite, which is the large, brown aquatic larva of the Dobson Fly. Anything that swims in fresh water will hit hellgrammites hard. Hellgrammites are extremely hard to find in any bait shop, extremely expensive, and worth it!)

RICE LAKE, WISCONSIN'S, MONTANIS LAKE

Montanis Lake consists of 1064 acres with a maximum depth of 22 feet.
It's
fed by two creeks (Spring Creek and Meadow Creek), and several marshes. There are two improved boat landings. Montanis Lake is not an impoundment, but is connected to Rice Lake by a non-navigable channel. The bottom is primarily muck; the creeks, fed by tamarack swamps and run-off from hardwoods, make the water tea-stained. Perimeter of the lake is weed heavy, and where the creeks egress into the lake, there are some great fishing opportunities. There are vast areas of bulrushes and lily pads. The water averages about 10 to 14 feet. The lake itself is made up of four bays, and there are no islands. There are no cribs, and Montanis Lake is not as built up as Rice Lake, so there's more 'wilderness' in the mix.

Doug Pitts says you'll get bluegills, crappie and walleye in Montanis Lake.

'In June,' Doug says, 'fish for walleye by trolling on the weed edges running a crankbait, such as a Rapala Husky Jerk, or, you can try (don't
laugh!!!) a deep-running Wally Diver, which you'll troll with a short line, so that it keeps the bait on top of the water. Great action, which attracts the walleye big-time. Best colors are blue and silver. If you don't want to troll, you can always use the classic jig-and-a-leech, with a slipbobber (note, Doug did not suggest a jig and a minnow); and work different depths from as shallow as 2 feet to 20 feet.

Overcast days or mornings at 7:00 a.m. (Doug says 'crack of dawn' walleye fishing is NOT needed on Montanis Lake for good production); or late
afternoon into early evenings are all good times.' The walleye will go
15
to 18 inches on average (and make wonderful eating), with a very occasional lunker.

Doug also notes that there are gills are all over in the weeds. Use a waxie, maybe a tube jig. The gills can go to 3/4 of a pound with regularity. The secret is to stay out of the wind and find sunny shorelines, with goodly amounts of weeds. Water depth will vary from 2 feet to 6 feet or so for the gills.

Tube jigs or a crappie minnow will work for the crappie. 'Make sure you use a SMALL bobber,' says Doug, 'and work the weed EDGES, anywhere from 16 inches of water (not a misprint!) out to 6 feet. A nice bonus, Doug adds, 'is that lots of anglers going for crappie In Montanis Lake hook into walleye all the time, and with ultralight tackle, it's a ball'

CONCLUSION

'I'm not a 'homer', when it comes to touting Rice Lake and Montanis Lake,'
notes Doug Pitts. 'I KNOW how good they are as fisheries, and, just
because these lakes are right in town, doesn't mean they don't produce great catches. They do, and more people are recognizing that they can enjoy all that our beautiful Rice Lake community has to offer and ALSO have great fishing right in the middle of town. I believe our situation is unique and special. We welcome everyone,' says Doug, adding, 'I have taught anglers everything THEY know about these two lakes, BUT I won't tell
them everything I know! For those extra secrets, you'll have to come
and
see me personally -- and then we'll talk about it,' he smiles.

For more information about fishing Rice Lake & Montanis Lake, contact Doug Pitts, North Shore Resort, and Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Tourism Committee, Phone: 715-234-3488; or Cellphone: 715-205-9006.

For more information about fishing in the Rice Lake area in general: J.C. Bear Paw Company, 824 Bear Paw Ave., Rice Lake, WI 54868; Phone: 715-236-7300; e-mail: bearpaw@chibardun.net; Kurt Krueger, General Manager; Gary Fankhauser, Fishing Dept. Manager; Aaron Havenor, Gun Dept. Manager.

For general information about the Rice Lake Area, contact the Rice Lake Tourism & Retail Development Commission, 37 South Main St., Rice Lake, Wis. 54868; phone: 800-523-6318; FAX: 715-234-2085; e-mail: info@ricelaketourism.com; web: www.ricelaketourism.com

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Naomi K. Shapiro is a Madison-based travel/outdoor writer.