fresh water fishing hall of fame

I visited here in September 2014. I thought the museum had a lot of interesting displays, but it does help to be interested in fishing. There are walls of lures, reels, rods, boats, motors, and more. The walls are decorated with stuffed fish. Some of the labels on the displays were done on a type writer. It would be nice if they re-did the labels.The large pike is interesting as there is also a display of equipment on the stairs. The fishing pond could use some work. Overall, this is an interesting museum, you can see the world's largest small mouth and large mouth bass, pike, and a few other lunkers. I would make a return visit. Give yourself about two hours or so to take it all in. Parking is free and on sight.

This museum is dedicated to fresh water fishing. There are old boats, motors, hand crank trolling motors, lures, rods, reels, and more. There are also a large number of mounted fish on the walls, to include the world record large mouth and small mouth bass, and a lot of pike and musky.If you are not into fishing as a sport, this is not a stop for you, but if you love the hit of a bass, pike, musky, even a bluegill on your line, then stop in, there is a lot of things to see. Parking is near the site and is free. There is an admission fee, cannot remember the cost. Give yourself about 2 hours or so to see everything, and be sure to walk inside the giant pike.

I went here a few years ago & if you're at all interested in old boats, motors, snowmobiles, you don't want to miss this place. Climb up the steps inside the big fish & you get an awesome view of Hayward. Worth the trip!

This place is great if you like huge fish, tons of old tackle, and old outboards! The giant muskie is a must see... those teeth are huge!

I've never seen so many boat motors in one place. It was very cool to see the 75hp Evinrude engine that I grew up skiing behind on our 18 foot Lonestar boat. Oh, and the Angler's on the spot weather report was too funny.

A little pricey, but assume the upkeep is expensive due to Hayward's harsh climate. Almost more stuff to look at than your brain can handle. I'm sure fisherman love the place. I really liked the large models of every fish you can imagine.

This place has several outdoor fish art that is great for photo opportunities. Buildings are filled with tons of photos of great catches, historical scenes, boats, lures, rods, reels, etc. Even as a non-fisher...I found this place very interesting. Reasonable admission price @ $7 per adult.

Very disappointed when we arrived at 3:34 and they wouldn't allow us to enter to take a photo of the fish even though they are open until 4 pm.

1st off I will start by stating I despise fishing but I wanted to see the huge muskie so we bit the bullet and shelled out the $ to enter. It wasn't all that bad and I was actually entertained and even amused for awhile. The fish is cool to walk up thru and stand in it's mouth while taking a few pictures. The grounds are nice and there is a small playground for children. The museum filled with motors and mounts and lures smells like a basement or a dusty antique shop. Was somewhat interested looking at the motors to see the various manufacturers, dates, styles, etc. And the fish mounts were decent as well, the collection of lures I could not possibly have cared less about and the "primitive fishing man" which looks like a Yeti has to be an inside joke.Not much else in Hayward so if you are there may as well set aside and hr or so to check this place out.

If you love fishing, and all that entails, then this is the place for you. It's touristy, but what the heck, where else are you going to see such a wide collection of fish, rods, reels, lures, boat motors (even one of my Dad's!), pictures, etc. Great place to go on a rainy day.

This fishing hall of fame is well advertised so since my husband was an avid fisherman at one time in his life, we decided to stop in here on a rainy day. We had fun looking at the mounted fish on the walls as well as the antique motors, rods and reels. Took some pictures of the giant fish outdoors on display for the kids. There are discount coupons to go to this place, be sure to pull one from the local visitors' guide.

Took my daughter-in-law and two young grandsons here last week which was my second visit, the first being quite a few years ago. The grounds are lovely, but several of the large fish statues weren't marked as to what they were. I did notice that a large impressive did tell us about what a certain bush was and who donated it. There is WAY too much emphasis on WHO donated WHAT and not enough on labeling the displays. What's with having the displays inside the fish way way over our heads and what we can see is dozens of names of donors? When we got to the stocked pond for the little guys to fish there were tiny pellets - not sure how you were supposed to get those on the hook - and there was no supervision or assistance available. I would admit that this visit wasn't quite as disappointing as the first time, but probably won't bother to pay the price to go again.

A fun little place to check out fishing gear and history. The mounts and records were very popular with the kids, as was all of the old fishing gear and giant fish replicas (including the big Northern Pike). Worth checking out, but not a destination like other Hall of Fame's.

If you like fishing, you'll love this place. Cost is $7 per person. The fiberglass sculptors are interesting as well as the taxidermy. They have the largest collection of boat motors I have seen. Lots of tackle and bait too. Fun for the whole family.

This museum was far more fun and fascinating than I expected. Various exhibits show the development of fishing and its related tools around the country, not just Wisconsin. Numerous mounted fish are throughout the museum, including many record setters. I personally loved the boat section inside, with some early motors and beautiful wooden boats.