This is a beautiful location! Not far from Chippewa Falls, we thoroughly enjoyed this scenic drive…read more A few windy roads, some interesting homes on one side of the road & beautiful water on the other side. They do charge for parking passes. We were prepared to pay $16 for our non- resident vehicle ( they do have the prices on their website). To our delight, since we were attending a family reunion at the only covered pavilion on the island, our parking was just $5! Plenty of parking, bathrooms aren't a far walk fe the pavilion (& they're clean!). Playground is adequate. The water area for play seemed a lot bigger when I was younger & attended reunions here. Water was calm but gorgeous!

Such a cool state park! The campsites almost all have water access so you can canoe or kayak right…read moreto your site! If you don't bring canoes or kayaks, you can rent some from the park office for a minimal fee. Highly recommend exploring the island from the water. Way cool. The campsites are all pretty flat (perfect for pitching tents) and all have fire pits with good moveable cooking grates. Both nights we were there had a good breeze so the bugs were non-existent which was amazing considering we camped right next to the water. The park also has several short well-maintained trails to explore . Will definitely be returning.

Easily in the top 7 of fishing guides this side of Chippewa valley. These guys really sort of know…read moretheir stuff sometimes. They'll put you on fish without guarantee for sure. The egg headed one is a little testy at times, and the melon headed one might be a little bit...ya know, but get em out on a frozen lake in the dead of winter and you're sure to have maybe a swell time, or maybe even not.

My son was coming up from Texas for his 30th birthday. He loves to fish so I looked for a guided…read morefishing trip all over Wisconsin and from Saint Paul to Michigan. Everything was way expensive and booked way in advance. I Stumbled onto www.smallcraftoutfitters.com . Guided Kayak Fishing. Incredibly inexpensive and addictively fun! Tyler (the owner/guide) is based on a small ~150 acre home lake, Eau Galle Reservoir but he guides on other lakes as well. Beautiful Lake Eau Galle (Spring Valley, Wi) is east of St Paul roughly 40 minutes A four hour fully furnished excursion aboard a personal custom fishing kayak waiting for you already in the water. Poles already fitted with lures ready to cast. Ice chest with water in the guide's boat and bring your own snacks. The rates for us that day was $75 for the 1st person and $25 for each additional person with their own Kayak. WOW! If we weren't to catch a fish at all it would still be worth it for just the guided tour around beautiful Lake Eau Galle. I have to add up front, I broke my foot a few weeks before and wearing a boot. Tyler was super accommodating making sure there was no trouble getting me into the Kayak. Also, handicap parking just 20 feet from the dock. I had never been in a kayak before but these were very stable and a very comfy seat. You are also fitted with life jackets. We got there around 630a, Tyler wasted no time getting underway. We headed straight for the dam and worked our way around the lake. I don't want to spoil anything for you but he will give you all kinds of interesting information about your surroundings and always quick to point out the eagles flying about. You can bring your own rods and tackle but his selection for you is all you need. I wasn't quite used to the open face spin reel and only a couple of times had to fix a minor tangle. That was mostly me and my lack of talent. Just to make it easy next time I'll bring a closed face spin/cast combo like a Zebco 33 or 808. The artificial lure he will likely select for you is a weedless top water frog. It's a light lure but his rod/line setup delivers casting distance. You can pretty much cast it anywhere.... Over logs, on top of water growth or up on land and jig is back towards you like a little frog swimming from the bank. I'm sure part of the reason for using the weedless lures was to promote more fishing and less toil of trying to get unsnagged from a bad cast. The trick with the frog lure is when the bass takes it under you have to wait a full 3 seconds before you set the hook or you will jerk it out of his mouth and not catch him. I had trouble forcing myself to wait but after I caught on I could make the catch. My son was a natural catching more than a half dozen decent sized ones from the morning and into the heat of noon. Opportunity was always there, I'd say we had 30 strikes between us. My son hooked a pike but it threw the lure before it could be landed. That's the way it goes sometimes. All in all a very pleasant outing, I'll do again. Bugs weren't bad at all but don't forget sunscreen, hat and sunglasses. Tyler is very humble and loves to talk. A few occasions I pulled my Kayak up to his and talked about everything under the sun while we watched my son catch fish. Bonus: Tyler will take lots of pictures for you and send up to a share drive so can view and download. Oh and did I mention how beautiful Lake Eau Galle is? One more thing to think about. So you could go and buy yourself a Kayak with every thing you need to do this and it would cost a good bit as well as having to store it, load it, haul it. Rather you might consider www.smallcraftoutfitters.com guided trip once a month for the short summers we have up here and it would cost you a lot less than owning your own fishing Kayak. Not to mention the space you'll save in your garage.

From the owner: A family owned business passionate about kayak fishing!read more

Went here on Independence Day weekend due to recommendations I've received from locals. The actual…read moreviewing area for the animals is a little bit longer of a drive once you enter the park winding through the forest. Parking and admission is free but they do accept donations. They were a decent amount of animals to look at from birds to bears. The only downside is that the animal exhibits were only a few which isn't bad if you're three for picnics or exploring the forest/play on one of their various playgrounds. They do have a concession stand in their welcome center but doesn't look like much. All in all, a good place to spend a summer afternoon if you way to plan a picnic or do something outdoors as well as spend some time petting animals!

This is one of the best parks in the Midwest…read more The zoo is fun during the summer, with peacocks that are free to roam around the avian area. We spent a good couple of hours just watching them doing bird things, including ostentatious displays of power and mating ability. This year, we went in fall and the birds were away. We did see some bison behind a fence. It's quite amazing to be three feet away from them, something which you wouldn't be able to do safely in the wild. Further down the road, there are a couple of donated buildings: an early 20th century area school and a 19th century pioneer log home. The school is a particularly fine piece of architecture. Scattered through the park are many pavilions and covered picnic tables. It's a great park and zoo!

Upon calling to reserve the pontoon, Tammie was very pleasant and informative however when the boat…read morewas delivered it was older with ripped seats and multiple non-working gauges. That being said, the boat did work fine and provided a lot of fun for our family. We had rented the boat for 4 days at a cost of 200.00/day plus 65.00 delivery fee with pick up of the boat on a Wed morning at 9am. Saturday they came to pick the boat up at 9am, in our estimation that is only 3 days. Not wanting to argue with them in front of kids and family we agreed to pay an extra 150.00 for what they called "an extra day." Needless to say we did not have a good experience and we informed the owner of the house we rented as he recommends MBM. When we told him what had occured he agreed this was not the way he thought this company treated people and stated he would not be sending his rental customers to them considering our experience.

From the owner: MBM Guide Service & Pontoon provides Boat Rentals, Ski Rentals, Docks, Lifts and Guiding to…read moreBarronett, WI area.

I literally had the entire state park to myself yesterday, Tuesday, in the middle of summer. I was…read morehiking and there were no other cars there. The night before it was me and one other camper in 10 sites. We have 10 walk in tent sites. You need a reservation. It's $15 a night for up to six people per campsite. There's a picnic table in a fire at each site. There are pit toilets. There is no electricity anywhere in the park including no lights even in the parking lot. It's awesome. Great to see the night sky. On the east side of the park there is a picnic pavilion and several picnic tables with a charcoal grill On rainbow lake. Straight Lake has a boat access so does rainbow lake, but you have to carry the boat from the parking lot. Non-motorized boats only Like canoes and kayaks. Several miles of singletrack hiking trails as well as the Ice Age national scenic Trail which transects the park. I had trouble finding firewood in the area so I could not have a campfire. You're supposed to bring it in from only 10 miles away and the gas station in Frederick and Luck did not have any and I didn't see any roadside stand selling wood. If you want tranquility this is your place

Beautiful state park. Enjoyed a picnic by the lake, hiking on two trails, and seeing a variety of…read morewildlife. It was so quiet with only a few other people at the park. We plan to go back again and do some more hiking on the same and other trails.

Chris was on time and put us on fish. He had a nice, comfortable boat and all the latest equipment…read more He stayed out longer than he needed to and we were able to bring some walleye home. He's a fun guy to spend some time with in a boat and knows the lake well.

Went out on a Friday afternoon for a half day trip on Lake Wissota. Our guide said his boat was…read moredamaged and had borrowed a friends boat that had been left out in the rain for quite awhile, so the seats and carpets were moldy and it was filled dead leaves. The guy honestly almost flipped the boat on the way out, he was going well over 60 and the water was choppy and the boat was bouncing too high and the wind was catching the bottom and tossing us around, we were soaking wet before we even crossed the lake. We have been out with guides many times before and never felt the slightest bit nervous in a boat or had to worry about where the life jackets were. He took us to our first spot to fish for walleye, but the trolling motor didn't work so we drifted around a lot and couldn't stay on the fish. Actually we never really got put on the fish. He also didn't have the right bait for walleyes, we had small crappie minnows. Then we went to the second spot, we drifted in that area for about two hours without much luck so he took us back to the first spot we fished which didn't improve since our first visit. Then on the way back he almost flipped the boat again. All for the low price of $175. I would not recommend this yahoo for anything.

Great selection of baits and well rounded options for Bass and Musky as well amazing costumer…read moreservice extremely polite and very respectful also very knowledgeable.

Ever since Pastika's closed, this is where I get bait and tackle in Hayward. Friendly employees,…read morelotsa stock of tackle, maps, etc. I have not tried the bottle shoppe which is entered by another door. My bait bought here has never disappointed.

Paradise Park was a great pit stop for our family in Chisago City on our way to northern…read moreWisconsin. It is a spacious park with tons of space. The highlight was the huge metal slides. The kids also liked the zip lines and the playground.

The name says it all. I didn't expect such a cool park hidden away in the back of Chisago City…read more Hidden across from the skating park by highway 8 is this awesome park. Upon reaching the playground from the parking lot, I first noticed a huge black hole at the end of a wooden bridge and a sign. I thought it was some kind of sewage hole but boy was I wrong! It's the entryway to a huge covered slide!!!! And a few feet away is a wide wavy double slide! Even better, next to the slides is another course - a zip line swing!! Oh man, in all my years I've never seen such cool playground courses in a park. Then you also have a complete playground course with many different slides, climbing Bridges, tunnels, rock climbing, money bars and a swivel bar with swings alongside. This park was definitely a paradise kind of park. Even I had to experience the slides & zip line for myself. Need a little adrenaline? This is where. Take a walk on the path down the dock to the fishing pier or alongside a small beach. It was a great small park filled with fun playgrounds for kids. Dogs are welcome here