Another week of cold temperatures continued to produce ice on Lake Winnebago and Lake Poygan. Fishing conditions deteriorated this week due to snow pack issues on the surface of the ice. At some locations, 2 to 3 foot drifts were observed. On Saturday, I helped pulled 3 low clearance vehicles out of snow drifts on Lake Winnebago. Ice conditions are excellent, and the bridges on Lake Winnebago are in place at many access points. Ice depths ranged from 11”-16” on Lake Winnebago, with some deeper ice depths on Lake Poygan. Water clarity is very clear.
Currently, there is a tree line running from Merritt Street to Quinney, WI (9 miles). There is a north road running from Merritt Street out to Garlic Island. Payne’s Point has a tree line out 5 miles. The tree line is in at Wendt’s (distance unknown). The Brothertown tree line is in excess of 3 miles. These roads and lengths can vary at a moment’s notice, so check with the local clubs/bait shops before hitting the ice. It is always advised to have a GPS positioning device when on the lake.
For the majority of the week, fishing was subpar. As the approaching warm front arrived on Saturday, a flurry of activity was seen on Lake Winnebago. This bite shut down as the arctic blast blew into town on Sunday afternoon.
Overall, Lake Poygan has been hit and miss at best. There continues to be too much traffic for this lake to be productive. Individuals having the best success are away from the crowds or they are fishing just after daybreak or before dusk. White bass, walleyes, crappie and perch are the most common catches.
Lake Winnebago saw a nice feeding period on Saturday, especially with white bass on the main lake. Perch have become more aggressive also, especially in the deep water. The shallow water bite has become weaker.
Merritt Street (Oshkosh): This is the main hub of activity from the western shore. We fished north of the main group (south of the northern road to Garlic). We found some active white bass with a mix of perch in the basket. (Please check out the video on the front page). For most of the day we hammered the holes with jigging raps or spoons without bait or tipped with a waxie. We saw numerous fish investigate our lures and swim away. We downsized to small pan fish jigs with minnow heads, and the white bass turned on immediately. For perch I used a prolonged pause/hold at about 3-4 feet off the bottom. Once a fish came into the Hummingbird’s cone, dropping the bait down the water column would cause the fish to strike the falling bait. This was a very unique presentation in my experience, as you generally entice the fish by moving up the water column.
On the bays (Millers, Asylum, Wendt’s, Cowling) the bite continues to be soft. There are still some smaller perch, walleyes, white bass and crappies residing here. Most have moved to deeper waters.
With the heavy layer of snow on the ice surface, this is causing the pan fish to change their physical locations. For the past month these fish have resided in shallow bays with weeds. The weeds provide cover and oxygen. The snow cover which now exists, has diminished the sunlight to these weeds, causing them to die off. As a result the oxygen levels and cover have decreased, moving the pan fish to deeper water. Look to the general areas adjacent to their previous staging locations, where the weed lines end in deeper water. This is a great starting point to reconnect with these pan fish.
The south end, near the BP gas Station in Fond du Lac, has a small group fishing the point to the east. There are plenty of fish showing up on the camera here (perch, small walleyes, and bluegills); however, they just are not feeding. This could be a hot bite after the arctic blast concludes.
From the East shore, there are some nice white bass schools located out of Brothertown, WI and Quinney, WI. Keeper sized walleyes have been rare in this area. Perch and crappies have been in the angler’s baskets on most days. Small jigging raps and spoons are the best choice, usually fished with no bait. Chrome colored Clown jigging raps were a hot bait.
The 2013 trawling study was released by the DNR. The study showed the third largest walleye class on record for the 2013 year class. This is great news for walleye enthusiast. The bad news; there was a nonexistent bluegill class in the study. Not a single age 0 bluegill was netted. In addition, the perch class was one of the smallest since 2000, along with a poor white bass, crappie and sheephead class.
Exciting News: Myfishingpartner.com now has a Master Angler program specific to the Winnebago System. Check the front page for further details.
Stay warm, and stay on top of the ice. [email protected] is my email. Feel free to drop me a report. We appreciate every visit you make to the site.
