Egg Harbor Wisconsin, Door County, 2025

[DavidB]

My buddy Phil and I just returned from a week at Egg Harbor, Wisconsin.  This was our third trip to the Sturgeon Bay area, and our wives accompanied us this year.  We had a great time, ate far too much, and look forward to a fourth trip.

We used Mark Jackson as our guide, as we had on both previous trips.  He guides with Dale Stroschein, whom some of you may know as a veteran bass and walleye guide.  Dale owns Sand Bay Beach Resort, near Sturgeon Bay, where we stayed for our last trip.  He also runs the Wacky Walleye Guide Service.

We fished three 6 hour excursions with Mark, and it was tough.  They love "fishing the wind" for smallmouth, and there was plenty of it--3 to 5 foot swells, consistently the first two days, and for much of our third trip after the first couple of hours of a nice chop.  We fished out of Ephraim harbor on Green Bay the first morning, fishing humps with scattered grass that seemed perfect, but yielded nothing.  We then trailered to Rowley's Bay North of Bailey's Harbor, on Lake Michigan, to fish a windblown point where we had loaded up on prior trips.  We switched up between swim baits, a square bill, and The Ned, and caught a beautiful 4 lb 12 oz smallie on The Ned, but that was it.

The next morning we returned to Ephraim, but fished an exposed reef (did I say windblown?) North of Sister Bay.  This is a "community hole" but we only caught three--coincidentally, another 4 lb 12 oz smallie on The Ned.  We were very disappointed, to say the least, since the fishing our first two days didn't begin to compare with our two prior trips.  We chalked it up to "fishing, instead of catching."

The first two days it was unseasonably hot (80 degrees at 6:00 AM) for Sturgeon Bay.  A little front came through overnight and we fished in a light rain the third morning, with temps in the 60's.  We returned to the same exposed reef and caught a 3 lb smallie on the first cast.  We caught a total of 35 the third morning, almost 30 in a small area at that reef, mostly 3 to over 4 lbs, all on The Ned.  We returned to Ephraim Harbor, where we had launched, and ended our trip cruising its flat and catching a few nice ones on the square bill.  Needless to say, our spirits were revived!

We made use of Bill's recommendation of Mink River Bay Basin, at Ellison Bay, Sunday night after our first outing.  They accommodated us as we watched our LSU Tigers win their 8th College World Series National Championship!  The second in three years!  The beer battered onion rings were as tasty as Bill mentioned, and the whitefish were delicious.  They made us feel welcome throughout the game--the service was terrific!

There are a number of fine restaurants in the area.  The best we experienced were Chop at Fish Creek and the Nightingale Supper Club in Sturgeon Bay, open since 1916.  Both offer wide ranging menus including steaks and seafood (including walleye, of course).  We enjoyed excellent meals at both, and the service was great.  Both are a little pricey, but worth it.

Our ladies had a nice time exploring the villages of Egg Harbor, Fish Creek, and Sister Bay, while we were fishing.  Door County is a popular resort area for Chicago, Milwaukee, Green Bay, and surrounding areas.  It's a laid back, comfortable area that I know you and your families will enjoy.  We stayed at Landmark Resort at Egg Harbor, this trip, and it was very nice.  We hope to try one of the resorts at Fish Creek next trip.

Attached are just a few pics from an enjoyable vacation.  Tight lines🎣!

[Quillback]

Thanks for the write-up.  I want to make a smallmouth trip on one of the great lakes one of these days.  

[DavidB]

26 minutes ago, Quillback said:

Thanks for the write-up.  I want to make a smallmouth trip on one of the great lakes one of these days.  

Thanks, Quill.  It's great fishing for really stout smallmouth; but as we were reminded this trip, on our first two days, there are few guarantees.  We were fortunate to be in a 21' Nitro bass and walleye boat--a big, heavy boat with a 300 hp Merc 4 stroke.  Much of the time, it would have been dangerous in a bass boat.

[Bill Babler]

Nightingale Supper club was fantastic. Their signature dish is prime rib. 
I got mine blackened with buttered mushrooms. Fork tender and Becky kept helping me with it. 
For a while I thought she was a baby bird as she had her beak open looking at my plate. 
She had the fish and said it was good, but not in the same universe as the PR. 

Glad ya’ll had a good trip. Did u go to Renards Cheese. Good gosh their Cherry preserves are amazing. 

[Bill Babler]

That’s the thing as far as wind up there, as there are more non-fishing days than fishing days. 
Buddy has started going to the St.Lawrence and no problem fishing everyday.
The problem is the 1300 Mile drive. 

Said they also caught more and bigger than Green Bay.   He said, not nearly the amount of fishermen.  He has fished Door Co. for years. 

We’ll try Chop on our next visit. 

 

[DavidB]

9 minutes ago, Bill Babler said:

Nightingale Supper club was fantastic. Their signature dish is prime rib. 
I got mine blackened with buttered mushrooms. Fork tender and Becky kept helping me with it. 
For a while I thought she was a baby bird as she had her beak open looking at my plate. 
She had the fish and said it was good, but not in the same universe as the PR. 

Glad ya’ll had a good trip. Did u go to Renards Cheese. Good gosh their Cherry preserves are amazing. 

We did not make it to Renard's.  I cited your recommendation several times, but the ladies were insistent on touring lighthouses and exploring the small villages beyond Sturgeon Bay (hence the goats on the roof at Sister Bay).  My buddy Phil and I lost a close two to two vote on Renard's :-), but the ladies had their way when we were off the water.  You were certainly right about the prime rib at Nightingale--delicious!

Phil and I enjoyed Old Fashioneds at every dinner stop, intending to compare but they were all outstanding, as good as we've had.  It was our first experience with sweet or sour Old Fashioneds.  I guess we need to get out more!

 

[Terrierman]

Love Door County.  But you'll not find me on that lake in any small craft.  Just don't enjoy that rough treatment anymore.  An out of the way exceptionally good place to eat up there is Prince of Pierogi.  Two Czech brother who can really cook.  Just ask Griz

[Champ188]

I was greatly enjoying this post until I got to the unfortunate part about you being LSU fans. 
Feel free to jump in anytime, Bill. 😁