A week of contrast was the only way to describe the fishing scene on Lake Winnebago and Lake Poygan this week. The brutal “polar vortex” took air temperatures to 25 below zero, but by the weekend the air temperature rose to above freezing, creating a 50 degree swing. Ice depths continued to explode this week, with an average of 20” of ice on most of Lake Winnebago and Lake Poygan. Water clarity is clear.
The cold weather harden the snow on the top of the ice, and the rains later in the week shrunk those snow packs. There is little difficulty traveling on the ice surface, and some areas of the lake it would be advisable to have cleats or creepers for your boots to prevent slipping or failing while walking on the glare ice.
Many anglers avoided early week fishing trips due to the extreme cold. They made up for it over the weekend, as anglers were out in huge numbers. Success and failure was partial due to which part of the lake you were fishing.
By far, Merritt Street was the chosen location to access the lake in Oshkosh. The northern road had a large village several miles out onto the lake, as did the east/west road, to start on Saturday. As the day progressed many of the anglers started migrating south. The south road is where we started on Saturday morning, and we continued to move south of the main group. We were greatly rewarded with an unforgettable and memorable day on the ice. A video from Saturday is available for viewing on the main page of myfishingpartner.com.
The main white bass school was just south of the river, about 2 miles from shore. This school had a smorgasbord of other species contained within it. Walleyes and saugers were high in the water column. Crappies and white bass were contained in the mid-water column. Perch and additional white bass were near the bottom.
Jigging raps, size 3 in fire tiger, was the dominate bait for all species. Our hot bait of a chrome clown jigging rap, did not get touched this week. We were able to entice some crappies, perch and white bass in with small tungsten jigs, tipped with a minnow head. I would encourage anglers to get the tip ups out also, as they have been productive. I really think whatever was on the end of the line was a good bait this weekend in this area.
The southern portion of the lake was fairly quiet. The area near the BP gas station in Fond du Lac continues to hold perch and bluegill, and a common basket is about 5-8 fish. There have been some individuals venturing out north of the Third Reef (on atv) and reported seeing walleyes on the cameras, but they were not biting. The area near North Fond du Lac was described as a “dead sea.”
At Wendt’s (Van Dyne, WI), the east/west road is no longer viable, and access to the central basin is by taking the north road past the big island. Most of the anglers fishing this area have moved to Merritt Street and other locations. At T.J.’s pan fish and small walleyes are being caught. Many of these pan fish have solid size, but are limited in numbers. Largemouth bass show up here in a rare case.
The Stockbridge, Pipe and Quinney, WI areas still have schools of roaming white bass, crappies and perch. The catch rates are in the average ranges, but subpar compared with the Merritt Street baskets. I received very little information from this area this week.
Lake Poygan also heated up on Saturday and Sunday. Solid baskets of walleyes were reported, along with a reinvigorated white bass bite. Many of the walleyes were cruising in the top 5 feet of the water column. If you are targeting walleyes on Lake Poygan, be sure to work the top of the water column, especially with slender spoons or Kastmasters. Crappies are common.
With the thick ice this year, it is advisable to start looking for auger extensions. Many of the local stores are sold out, and it looks as if this will be a necessity later this winter. I ordered one direct from Jiffy this week, albeit a little more expensive than at the local retailers. Bass Pro and Cabela’s were sold out.
Some of the best ice fishing of the year was seen this weekend. There is no reason to believe this won’t continue to be the case over the next 7-10 days. We will have to endure the predicted snow storm, so travel may become a little tougher.
Please feel free to drop me a fishing report at [email protected]. Lake Winnebago and Lake Poygan are large bodies of water and we value your input to accurately compile this fishing report. Thank you for your visit to our site!
