I'm fairly lucky in that for the city lakes nearest me, you can get an annual pass for fishing and boating for about $60.  Then you can fish all of the bodies of water in the city (about a dozen) as much as you want.  There are also some lakes owned by electric companies that are free to use. 

There are some other lakes around me with a fee.  But it's usually between $10-20 a day for fishing and boating.  That's not ridiculous to me.  And, to be honest, it's almost always a pay box system.  So no one really knows if you paid or not.  Especially since most of these lakes don't have people around to monitor them or anything.  So if you were the type to get angry about the lake fees, you could probably not pay them and never face the consequences.  But I like to pay them.  I like to believe that money I pay goes towards the upkeep of the things and places I love. 

Most ramps in Illinois are run privately and charge launch fees. There are also numerous lakes that charge for a usage sticker normally based on the length and hp of the boat/motor. There are ramps in WI that do not have usage fees but charge different $$$ amounts based on the length of the boats. Makes zero sense. The only logic I can figure is they think if you can afford a 20ft boat then you can afford an extra $5 for the launch