"That is one of the winter hotspots," he said. "There are a lot of big bluegills caught from that hole.

"Clear Lake has got some really huge bluegills in it. If you start catching 10-inchers, people don't get too excited about it here. But they're not just 10-inchers, they are 1 1/4 inches thick, too! They are huge!"

One of the drawbacks to Clear Lake's big bluegills, however, is that they are often finicky and won't bite. Some anglers go to great lengths to stay quiet and fish in shanties to minimize unnatural light or shadows around their ice holes.

In addition to bluegill fishermen, there are some panfish aficionados who prefer to fish for yellow perch. "The big flat between the island and the peninsula on the east shoreline is a popular area for perch fishermen," LaVigne said.

The flat is only about 6 feet deep, but it is surrounded by very steep dropoffs. One hole just to the south of it is 90 feet deep, and another is over 100 feet. Sometimes the perch fishermen are harassed by marauding rainbow trout that devour their perch minnows, and then escape by breaking the light line!

Other fishermen will target walleyes and northern pike. Walleyes are abundant, since the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) regularly stocks the lake with them. These fish are averaging about 17 inches long. "There are a fair number of anglers who will jig deep for walleyes," LaVigne said. "They might fish as deep as 40 feet, using small jigging lures."

Pike, on the other hand, are neither abundant nor small. Their numbers are not large, but some of the individual fish can be huge. Most pike anglers will use large minnows set under tip-ups spaced along the edge of dropoffs. Clear Lake usually gives up at least one pike every winter in the 20-pound class. As a matter of fact, the state-record northern pike was caught here in 1992. It weighed a whopping 30 pounds, 2 ounces.

J.C. MURPHEY LAKE
Ice-fishermen in the northwest part of the state should experience fantastic panfish action this season in the newly renovated J.C. Murphey Lake near Morocco. The lake, also known as Willow Slough, is a shallow 1,200- acre impoundment inside the Willow Slough Fish and Wildlife Area (FWA).

J.C. Murphey Lake was recently drained and renovated to remove undesirable rough fish such as carp and shad. In the fall of 2004, the lake was allowed to refill, and it was re-stocked with several species of game fish, including bluegills, redear sunfish, black crappies and largemouth bass. Additional stockings of northern pike and channel catfish (and more of the same panfish) were completed in 2005.