SEWI Tie-Ups, sandbars, etc??!!

[Blackhawk309]

Hello all,

New poster here and new to the boating family.

We recently purchased a pontoon and live in SEWI (near the Milwaukee area)

We are a younger 30’s couple looking to experience the more lively things surrounding boating.

Tie-Ups, sand bars, just overall good times with groups of people.

Would love some recommendations regarding which lakes to hit during the summer, how the boat launches are at that location, if they have a sandbar, etc.

Thanks again!
J

 

[WiskyDan]

Welcome to the forum.

I created this thread but it’s more east central - the Oshkosh area:

Thread 'Lake Winnebago (WI) chain - Coves/Sandbars/Restaurants/Bars'

Mar 28, 2021

** ORIGINAL LIST OF SANDBARS/COVES WAS OUTDATED - SCROLL DOWN TO REPLY #17 FOR AN UPDATED LIST **​

• WiskyDan
• Replies: 54
• Forum: Wisconsin & Minnesota Region

• 

The only lake I’ve spent time on locally (I live in Jackson) is Big Cedar in West Bend - water is fairly clear but it’s small compared to the Lake Winnebago chain. There’s one bar/restaurant that you can reach by boat in the southwest corner (can’t remember the name) and the sandbar in the east central part of the lake is pretty festive. The trailer parking at the main boat ramp (west central part of lake) fills up fast on nice days so you need to get their early.

We did rent a slip at McKinley Marina in Milwaukee over the Labor Day weekend a couple of seasons and cruised the inner harbor and visited many of the bars/restaurants on the Milwaukee river.

 

[Van_in_wisco]

Welcome!

I agree w/Dan that Milwaukee inside the breakwater and up the river, especially around holidays. Lots of people and likely fireworks too! I'll also plug our home lake @ Okauchee. 4 different restaurants on the water w/public docking, two coves where people will be anchored all weekend, and an awesome atmosphere around the holidays. Boat launch options are tough with a small public launch that fills up fast or higher prices and very tight quarters at the Golden Mast launch.

 

[Blackhawk309]

Welcome!

I agree w/Dan that Milwaukee inside the breakwater and up the river, especially around holidays. Lots of people and likely fireworks too! I'll also plug our home lake @ Okauchee. 4 different restaurants on the water w/public docking, two coves where people will be anchored all weekend, and an awesome atmosphere around the holidays. Boat launch options are tough with a small public launch that fills up fast or higher prices and very tight quarters at the Golden Mast launch.

Thank you for the reply I appreciate it!! Few follow up questions if you don’t mind:

-For Okauchee, let’s assume the busiest weekend of the year, how early do you have to get to the public launch to essentially guarantee yourself a spot? If you show up and there are no spots left, can you still launch and say park elsewhere and have another car pick you up?
-How about Pewaukee? Lac La Belle, Little Muskego? I haven’t heard too much about them regarding my intended environments.

 

[Blackhawk309]

Welcome to the forum.

I created this thread but it’s more east central - the Oshkosh area:

Thread 'Lake Winnebago (WI) chain - Coves/Sandbars/Restaurants/Bars'

Mar 28, 2021

** ORIGINAL LIST OF SANDBARS/COVES WAS OUTDATED - SCROLL DOWN TO REPLY #17 FOR AN UPDATED LIST **​

• WiskyDan
• Replies: 54
• Forum: Wisconsin & Minnesota Region

• 

The only lake I’ve spent time on locally (I live in Jackson) is Big Cedar in West Bend - water is fairly clear but it’s small compared to the Lake Winnebago chain. There’s one bar/restaurant that you can reach by boat in the southwest corner (can’t remember the name) and the sandbar in the east central part of the lake is pretty festive. The trailer parking at the main boat ramp (west central part of lake) fills up fast on nice days so you need to get their early.

We did rent a slip at McKinley Marina in Milwaukee over the Labor Day weekend a couple of seasons and cruised the inner harbor and visited many of the bars/restaurants on the Milwaukee river.

Thank you for your comments! I responded below to another comment, if you have anything to add regarding my questions I’d appreciate your feedback!

 

[Van_in_wisco]

Thank you for the reply I appreciate it!! Few follow up questions if you don’t mind:

-For Okauchee, let’s assume the busiest weekend of the year, how early do you have to get to the public launch to essentially guarantee yourself a spot? If you show up and there are no spots left, can you still launch and say park elsewhere and have another car pick you up?
-How about Pewaukee? Lac La Belle, Little Muskego? I haven’t heard too much about them regarding my intended environments.

I have a slip at Okauchee so we don't deal with the launch very often, but I'd say from friends experience it'll need to be 9/10am or earlier on a busy weekend for public launch. Small amount of trailer parking and once it fills up they will often times have a security guard that won't allow anyone else to launch. You can come later but will probably need to launch at Golden Mast. More parking there but as I mentioned more expensive and it's a very tight launch to get in/out.

Pewaukee has a large launch on the west end. Some good spots but I tend to stay away as it gets very busy and for us jet boaters it's quite weedy. Little Muskego has an awesome sandbar right out in the middle you'll see everyone at during weekends. Smaller launch there so go earlier.