Hi Italo! I will be going up to Rice Lake this weekend. are there any good spots you would suggest I will be fishing from shore. What should i be fishing for and what lure and bait should i be using. Thanks for all your help!
Posted on July 24th, 2013Hi Ryan….Do you like to swim? When I was young (didn’t have my drivers licence yet), my parents would take me to Rice Lake, like at Gore’s Landing and I would fish off the concrete pier and catch some fish. After an hour or so I would pack my 2-piece spinning rod, tie it my waist, put on my plastic worm container on my belt, & I would than swim across to Sheep Island and fish the entire shoreline (from shore). I would catch a mix of bass and large panfish. The large panfish I would keep on a stringer for eating. I know it sounds “extreme”, but that’s how much I loved to fish and wanted to fish other areas than the pier, even though I did not have a boat! Today, if I wanted to swim to a fishing spot on Rice Lake to get away from the crowds, I would drive to the end of Front St., (where the old railway track meets the south-shore), I would fish the old railway track that sticks out from shore, and than I would swim across the short boat channel, climb up on the shallow rocks and fish several hundred yards on both sides of the old railway track for some serious bass fishing! Unfortunately there are not many areas where you can fish form shore that is public access. Gore’s Landing is one, that spit of rocks off of Front St., is another. You can also drive to the east side of the submerged railway tracks to Golden Beach Resort, pay for parking and fish off their shoreline for a variety of fish. Your best bet is to target large panfish using a float and piece of worm. Rice Lake has lot’s of jumbo rock bass, bluegill and crappie, and they like to feed just off the shorelines. You can also target largemouth bass either twitching a Rapala #10 X-Rap or #12 Husky Jerk, fish soft-plastic swim baits, especially those with “paddle-tails” just below the surface, topwater lures like the Rapala X-Rap Pop, and of course spinnerbaits…..God bless you, ttalo