Following a winter with record snowfall and cold temperatures, the lakes of southern Wisconsin are starting to produce.

Seeking panfish? Now is the time to start hitting the water -- and there's no place better than Madison's chain of lakes.

Surrounding Wisconsin's capital city, which borders three of the lakes and is connected to the other two by the Yahara River, the lakes in the chain include Mendota, Monona, Wingra, Waubesa and Kegonsa.

With the exception of Lake Wingra, all are known for very good to excellent crappie and bluegill fishing.

The crappie and bluegill hits have been periodic the past few weeks -- the continual arrival of frontal systems has prevented any consistent pattern, making it rather difficult to catch fish regularly.
 
But the forecast looks good.

Come spring, or what we recognize as such, crappies and bluegills actively seek out the warmest water. All species of panfish prefer stable weather and water warming into the mid 50s for crappies to spawn and into the mid- to upper 60s for bluegill spawning.

Ideally, crappies and bluegills will look for warm and slack or quiet water in out-of-the way locations. Back bays with dark bottoms of mud or muck warm quicker and get the food chain in motion earlier -- which is why anglers should try to fish smaller lakes early in the season. That means some time on lakes Waubesa and Kegonsa before switching to the larger and colder lakes Mendota and Monona.
 
* As an aside, I was on Lake Kegonsa a few weeks ago with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The state agency was hauling in  fyke nets. The DNR had 17 nets scattered around the lake as part of a fishing survey conducted on each lake every five years. Check out the video at www.garyengbergoutdoors.com for a peek of what appeared to be good size and populations of all fish species from walleyes and muskies to panfish. The panfish were in the shallow water feeding on the eggs of the spawning walleyes.

Getting back to the discussion of panfish, cold fronts will push them to deeper water and make any fishing more difficult.

But rarely in the spring do you have to be on the water at sunrise for panfish. Wait until the sun rises and warms the water before going fishing. Noon can be the best time.

STRUCTURE -- Crappies love wood of any kind, be it fallen trees, brush, stumps or wooden piers (which holds warmth longer and gets the food chain in motion.) Find an area with a dark, muddy bottom.

Other locations for spring crappies and bluegills include canals that lead to the main lake; backwaters; fish cribs; shorelines that receive a lot of sunlight; and any area that has new and emerging green weeds. All of these factors help warm the water more quickly and bring in food -- bugs, micro-organisms and plankton. So, to make things simple, warm water plus food and stable weather means good fishing. While crappies prefer wood, bluegills prefer emerging green weeds and submerged brush in the spring, but both species will overlap in the shallows.

LOCATIONS -- For crappies and bluegills on Lake Wabesa, find the weedy south end; the Hog Island area; the channels off Upper Mud Lake; near the Bible Camp; and the southern shoreline out from Jordan Drive.

Lake Kegonsa's best offerings are the areas of new weed growth in Atkinson Bay, Colladay Bay, Lunds Point and all along the north shoreline near the Fish Camp State Park. Lake Kegonsa has little for structure except a few points and its huge weed beds. Be mobile and keep moving till you find active fish. A good pair of polarized glasses can help you find the fish and their beds during the spawning periods.

EQUIPMENT -- Use ultra-light gear in both your rod (G. Loomis, Shimano, Fenwick) and reel (Shimano, Daiwa). Four-pound test monofilament (Berkley Trilene) is best for bluegills and 6-pound test mono seems to work better for crappies, especially if you're fishing wood and brush.

The keys are light line (use green colored line for the fertile water), small ice fishing jigs, small jigs (1/32nd ), plain hooks with a long shank, a small and sensitive float and live bait.

Sometimes the new plastics by Berkley work well, but always have wax worms, red worms and small minnows because what the fish want can change. If something isn't working, then try something else until you find the bait of the day. Always have a good assortment of ice jigs and round head jigs in all colors and sizes. I've found days when all the fish wanted was a plain hook, a red worm hooked in the collar and a float fished around the weeds or brush. This time of year, you also want to fish very slowly because the fish aren't going to chase a bait in chilly water.

A final recommendation: Use a longer rod, about 7 to 7� feet, so that you can make long casts to the shallow crappies and bluegills. Don't come roaring up to your spot and cut the main motor and expect to start catching fish. Stop your motor at least 50 yards away from your fishing area and approach the fish using your trolling motor (Minn Kota) be it a bow-mount or transom model. Make long casts to the fish and try to be as quiet and stealth as possible, so that you don't spook the fish. When crappies and bluegills are this shallow, it's easy to scare them away and to deeper water.

The limit or any combination of panfish in Wisconsin is 25. But, you don't have to keep a limit every time that you go fishing. The Madison Chain of Lakes has a great reproducing population of bluegills and crappies, but don't take their numbers and size for granted because any body of water can be fished-out.