Rush Lake is a big but shallow body of water, so when the lake
freezes up in the winter all the fish do what they can to get
oxygen. This means that they will typically head towards the
channels where the fresh spring fed water enters the lake. So when
dipnet fishing was allowed on the lake it was a mecca for anglers
from all around.
There have been newspaper articles from years ago that talked
about Rush Lake having as many as 1,500 people out on its ice
dipnetting bullheads, perch, pickerel, and even the occasional
northern pike. The county used to have to assign a traffic officer
to the area because of all the vehicles trying to find parking
nearby. Cars would literally be parked three deep along the roads.
On the ice and along the creek leading up to the lake it was just
as jammed since everyone crowded in to get their 25 lbs. daily
limit of fish.
One newspaper article quoted a man as saying "The fish were so
thick you could almost walk across the creek on top of them. All
sizes were packed in so tight they could hardly move." For some of
the big ones, men would strip off their gloves and just reach in
and grab them.
Unfortunately after years of this type of over-harvesting and
problems with the lake itself, the fishing slowed and dipnetting
wasn't allowed anymore. Originally it was allowed because in a
shallow lake like this, winter kills were common.
