Madison, Wisconsin, USA - part 2

So, having paid my 4 dollars for bait, I headed to Lake Monona, which was relatively close to my hotel. Both lakes are home to various fish, like wild carp, perch, zander, pike, and kinds of bream that the locals call bluegill.

I cast my rig a bit further out from the shore. Nothing bit. I switched to "close combat". Right by the shore the bites started. These were those very bluegill that Americans themselves really love and say are very tasty. By the way, you can find info about bluegill on Wikipedia by typing in bluegill.

Even though my license allowed me to take 25 of these fish with me, I still released the fish I caught back into the water, since I had nowhere to take them. I didn't even have a keepnet because I didn't want to spend extra money on a 4-day fishing trip. Then a few perch bit.

To catch big pike or zander you had to go out to the middle of the lake in a boat or a motorboat. Unfortunately I didn't have that opportunity. But I watched with envy as local old guys, taking just their spinning rods and a couple of cans of beer, would launch their snow-white boats into the water and race off over the horizon in search of trophy fish.

As I already said, besides the fish mentioned above, the lake is home to the wild carp we all know. Although the locals call it carp, it wasn't the carp we mean. The carp, as we know, is famous for its "belly", while the wild carp has a more elongated body. So while strolling along the shore I filmed one of the big ones on video. They wander among the rocks right by the shore without being afraid of anything.

(By the way, can someone tell me how I can post a 12 MB video file? I want to share it with you)

I asked the locals why nobody goes after the carp. They told me they're not popular here because they dig around in the silt.

All in all, both lakes are beautiful in their scenery and in the life that lives in them.