The first signs of spring emerged on to the Lake Winnebago region, as warmer weather and rain arrived by the weekend. Lake Winnebago’s ice fishing season is coming to end, as bridges were pulled on Sunday by the local clubs. On Sunday, multiple vehicles went through the ice at Merritt Street in Oshkosh, Jim and Linda’s in Pipe, and near the BP in Fond du Lac. The expectation is that the ice will start to pull away from the shorelines in the near future, leaving a big sheet of ice without access.
Very few anglers hit the ice, as many are now opting for boats on the area river systems.
The only report I received on Winnebago, was that perch were active in the Black Wolf area. It is interesting to note that some of the female perch were already dropping eggs as they were handled.
The Lower Fox and Wolf Rivers are opening up, and a hand full of boats hit the water. There are some serious ice flows moving through the area, so if you do hit the water have an exit strategy.
The Fox River in De Pere was very busy this weekend, as a backhoe was brought into the launch to move the ice sheet away from the launch. Boats started launching out of the Fox Point launch on Friday night, utilizing the remaining ice sheets to board their vessels. Docks are due to be placed within the next week.
On Friday night, several gates were opened at the dam, creating a water column which resembled chocolate milk. Visibility was reduced to about 2 inches. Friday, prior to the dam opening, anglers were catching solid numbers of male walleyes in lightly stained water. By Saturday those numbers dwindled down drastically. We also tried as far north as the Mason Street Bridge, and water clarity was consistently dirty all the way to the Bay of Green Bay. There are a lot of staging walleyes from the Hwy 172 Bridge to the Bay.
Vertical jigging was producing fish, especially on minnows. However, once the water became dirty, angler were producing most walleyes on jigs and plastics with a slow horizontal dragging technique, incorporating an occasional slow pop. Yellow/chartreuse jigs were dominant. 3/8 ounce is the recommended size jig.
DePere should really heat up in the next 10 days, especially for numbers on the male walleyes. The decent current flow is present, along with rising water temperatures which are two key ingredients. We may be about 10 days plus away from the female run, in my estimation, based on the weather forecast. Once the water temperatures reach 43-46 degrees, watch out. Current water temperature is 40 degrees.
It’s trophy time in Wisconsin for walleyes. The conditions will change quickly, so continue to monitor myfishingpartner.com and the My Fishing Partner Facebook page for updates. We will have extensive coverage of the walleye run in DePere, as we have a large network of anglers reporting back updates on this system almost daily. Stay Tuned.
[email protected] is my email for questions and reports. Be sure to check out the Winnebago Master Angler program on the front page. Thanks for coming to the site, we appreciate it!
