Another unstable week of weather battered Lake Winnebago and surrounding areas, creating difficult conditions for anglers. In general each day featured rain, strong winds or flat calm conditions. Water temps are ranging from 68-73 degrees on the main lake. Water clarity is variable throughout the lake, with the southeast corner having the worst visibility, and the Northwest with the best clarity at about 2-3 feet. Algae blooms can be found system wide in pockets.
The inconsistent weather played havoc with fishermen, creating constant changing conditions all week. Walleyes were moving and were moody, creating small windows of feeding opportunities which would only last a few hours. Warming water played a critical role to the activity of the fish. Water temperatures below 70 degrees usually resulted in inactive walleyes.
The major walleye tournaments of the year have concluded. Otter Street was held this weekend out of Menomonie Park in Oshkosh. Based on the number of teams, this has grown to the largest team walleye tournament in the country. 39 pounds on 10 fish was the winning weight with most of the field having a tough Saturday and a strong Sunday.
The deep water trolling bite is in full swing. However, the bite is very inconsistent, and a lot of movement is occurring with the schools, possibly indicating limited food sources. When the bite fires, it is nonstop action, including some good sized walleyes. Anglers should not count on back to back days with dependable action. Be prepared to search, but once the schools are located, the rewards are handsome.
The north end was extremely quiet on Saturday from Brothertown to the North Shore Golf course. On Sunday, this was the active school. Water temperatures were approximately 68 degrees on Saturday, and the heavy winds blew the warm water north to spike the temperatures to 71 degrees.
This bite was driven by crankbaits run deep within the water column. Purple and reds were the best colors. Some of the wider wobble baits such as reef runners and Hot n Tots were working well. Crawler harnesses were productive, assuming you were on top of the school.
In the South, the mud bite fired on Saturday but not Sunday. Again, most anglers were targeting 18 feet of water with crankaits run behind the Off Shore Tackle Boards in the 13-15 foot running depth. There was a stick bait and large shad shaped profile preference.
The weed beds along the southwest shore have been holding good numbers of walleyes, especially in the shallow water. We found red beaded crawler harnesses working best. There is a solid mix of large and small fish in this area.
The River in Oshkosh has been holding larger walleyes. Little details are making huge impacts in the presentations. One day is a crawler bite, the next is a crank bait bite. Be ready to adapt if your plan is to fish the river and be willing to make small revisions to your presentation.
The Neenah river is weedy, but holding some small walleyes, and big sheephead.
The western reefs north of Oshkosh have had some gigantic sheephead. Don netted a master angler sheephead, going over 32 inches. Walleyes have been on the deepest breaks on the side of the reefs, usually on the wind-blown side. Green and yellow were the best colors to target these fish. Asylum Bay was relatively slow, as was Black Bird Island over the weekend. There are still crappies hanging around in these areas.
This weekend features the Bago Walleye Club event #3 out of Menomonie Park on Sunday. Many tournament guys will be taking a week off after two long weeks with the Mercury National and Otter Street.
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