Last week, my brother John, my father Bill, and I took a fishing trip up to Vilas County. This was our second of what will become an annual trip. Hopefully next year, my brother Tim will be able to make it.
Vilas County is filled with hundreds of lakes and just as many places to stay, but after a good amount of research, we decided to stay at the St. Germain Lodge (info linked here). Last year we stayed in a single room, which was nice enough, but this year we wanted all the conveniences that come with renting a cabin. All the cabins are privately owned then leased through the resort. We stayed in Cabin #7 and could not have been happier (photos are on the left). Everything was clean and comfortable.
While we consider ourselves good fishermen, and we own a fish locator with a Lakemaster Chip...there are so many lakes that it can be overwhelming trying to decide where to fish. We like to target walleyes and smallmouth bass while we are up there. Just like our first trip, we decided to hire a guide for a couple morning trips to show us a few lakes and some new techniques. Hiring a guide was not an easy decision for prideful fishermen like us, but I am super glad we did. 
We hired guide Rob Manthei (info linked here) and had a wonderful experience. I have taken a lot of guide trips over the years an I can say that Rob is the only one who has earned my repeat business. After an hour or two, you forget that you are fishing with a guide and it feels like you are fishing with one of your friends. There are a LOT of variables that go into fishing the smaller lakes in Vilas County, and hiring a guide like Rob will help make your entire trip more successful.
This trip, we focused our efforts on four different lakes and had success on each and every one of them. Two of the lakes we fished with Rob, and two of them we fished by ourselves. We finished the trip with a total catch of 72 walleyes, 56 smallmouth bass, 4 largemouth bass, and countless panfish (especially rock bass). Our largest fish are pictured on this blog. We did not keep any of our largest fish, and all of them posted here were released. We try to keep only smaller walleyes (below 18") and panfish. Had we chosen to stay closer to home and fish Lake Winnebago, we would have been legally able to keep many more walleyes than lakes in Vilas County permit, but I would not trade this experience for a full freezer. Not all fish need to be kept, so a daily limit of 2 walleyes per person on most Vilas County lakes is just fine with me.
Anyway, this concludes my longest blog post ever. If you are looking for a great fishing trip that is not too far from home (4 hours from Milwaukee)...I highly suggest giving Rob Manthei a call at the St. Germain Lodge. Even if you don't need or want a guide, the accommodations are worth checking out. And if nothing else, you can probably learn enough from people just hanging out at the lodge's bar, Fibbers, to get you on the right track.
Remember, if you want to see larger versions of the images posted, all you need to do is click on the picture.
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