Nelson Lake
by Rick Buss of Badger Sportsman Magazine

John Olsen, Green Bay, with a nice crappie.

Nelson Lake, located in the northwestern part of Wisconsin, is a dammed river. The surrounding shorelines look similar to the shorelines in Canada - timber down to the water's edge and wildlife all around. In the middle of the lake is a large wilderness-like island. Add to all this the interesting wildlife to be seen; three bald eagles were spotted soaring above the lake on this trip.

A successful catch
The fishing on Nelson Lake in fall is fantastic. The major draw is the panfishing, namely the crappie fishing. When you get bluegill on Nelson Lake, they are good sized. The lake also boasts good walleye, largemouth bass and northern pike fishing. The key to catching numbers of fish on this lake is to fish any of the shoreline structure, or experiment with the many manmade fishing cribs the Nelson Lake Association has added.

Minnow Jim's bait shop, close to the lake.

Just to give you an idea of the quality and amount of panfish that are available on Nelson Lake, a group of five of us were fishing for just crappies and caught over a hundred crappies and bluegills in less than two hours. We kept 10 of the biggest crappies for a meal (some of the tastiest I have ever eaten there is nothing better than a plate of fresh crappies for a shore lunch!).

Proven methods
You can catch crappies on this lake with a few tried-and-true methods. You can use the traditional live bait rigs consisting of a 5 to 6 1 /2-foot light-action fishing rod, 4 to 6 pound test, a small float or bobber, and a fine-wire No. 6 hook tipped with minnow or wax worms. A variation of this rig is to put a small lead head jig with bait instead of the plain wire hook.

Typical shoreline structure

The second way to take these black slabs is to use a small feather jig with a float positioned at about 4 to 5 feet above the jig. You can use the rig with or without the bait. If the crappies are in an aggressive mood, you will not need any bait on the jig whatsoever.

The third method of catching Nelson Lake crappies is by fan-casting the shoreline structure or the manmade cribs scattered throughout the lake. Good choices for this type of presentation are Jig A Whopper Rocker Minnows, Red Neck Tec Crappie and Panfish Spinners, Thunderhawk Tackle Mean-e-Spins, Blakemore Road Runners, and Beatle Spins. The key to catching these fish is to stay on the structure or cribs.

Typical Nelson lake crappie

Activities for everyone
In addition to the great fishing, this area provides other activities for the whole family. A drive around the lake turns up many places to swim and picnic. And the sight-seeing is first-class; eagles, loons and Canadian geese were just a few of the many birds seen during our short stay.

When it comes time to take a break, Nelson Lake offers many restaurants that can be reached by boat, some with full menus and some serving late-night snacks. Because the the lake is 3,072 acres, it's not hard to get away from the crowds if you want to. There are 31 miles of shoreline and the deepest spot in the lake is only 33 feet. Because it's a river/flowage, the water is clean and constantly moving, which makes for good fishing almost all year.

Standard mode of transportation on the lake

How to get there
Take Highway 27 north from Highway 29. Travel north on Highway 27 to Hayward, Wis. Take Highway 63 north out of Hayward about five miles and turn left onto Nelson Lake Road. There are plenty of places to stay on Nelson Lake at reasonable prices. Log onto www.nelsonlake.net for a list of lake association members and area maps.