A heat wave blasted across the Winnebagoland region, creating a summerlike environment for the Fourth of July.  With very little rain during the week, the water clarity on Lake Winnebago had a chance to recover to about 3 feet of visibility.  Water temps ranged in the low to mid 70 degree range.  An algae bloom is very noticeable on the north shore; partially due to the south winds blowing the surface water toward that area of the lake.   The south end of the lake continues to battle weed debris from heavy boat traffic.

Fishing trends were inconsistent during the week and anglers would be prosperous one day and poor the next day.

The perch bite kicked into gear this week.  Some of you called me out last week when I told you it was heating up…..Just say’in!

Fisherman’s Road was the hot perch area this week, but cooled off on Sunday.  From Deadwood Point to the south up to Columbia Park in the north, the area was packed with fishermen seeking the tasty critters.  There have been some large perch reported in the area, up to 14” in some cases.  (Biggest I had went 12”).  Although the perch have showed up, 25 fish limits were uncommon.  A normal bag was approximately 5-10 fish per angler.

To the south (Fond du Lac), the area north of the BP gas station (Schmitty’s Bar region) had some excellent fishing for bluegills and walleyes in the weed beds.  Perch were also present.  Nearly Supple’s Marsh (on the old railroad wall) mixes of perch, bluegill, crappie and walleye have been taken on slip bobbers.

Along the west shore, small walleyes can be found from the Big Island (Wendt’s) to Long Point in the 12 foot ranges.  To the east of Long Point, a mini mud bite has been occurring with larger walleyes.  This bite is high unpredictable, with sporadic action.

The Fox River in Oshkosh has a large number of flathead and channel catfish near the bridges.  Some of the cats we caught this week were excellent in size.  Those cats put up a fight like no other fish.  Pitch a jig into the shaded areas of the bridges and let it tumble down the river current.

With the constant south wind, Horseshoe Reef was active with small and medium walleyes.  The same was true with North Asylum Point. We found a ton of bass in the weed beds.  Large mouth, small mouth and rock bass can be found in the pockets of the weed beds.

The northern basin mud bite is nonexistent.  On Saturday, we observed maybe a half dozen boats trolling the north shore from Garlic Island and north.  There were some boats working the shallows, and we did find a stray walleye in these areas.  Also strange, we caught no sheephead or white bass in this region.  In the southern regions, more active fish can be found, but they remain inconsistent.  Larger schools of fish are on the electronics along with some baitfish schools, unlike the northern portions of Lake Winnebago we traveled through.

The mud walleyes are very scattered.  We found some bigger walleyes, but they were roaming fish, and not schooled. We used cranks, to cover more water.  The dominate colors were anything purple or pink.  You just can’t count on a consistent mud bite right now.

 

Fun info:  The Omro Sheephead tournament was won with approximately 80 pounds of sheephead on a ten fish limit.

The National Weather Service has added a Lake Winnebago page, which give approximate wave heights through out the lake.  The link is here….http://www.crh.noaa.gov/grb/?n=lk_winnebago

Have a great week.  [email protected] my email.  Thanks to Brian, Tony, Jeff, Chase, Tom and Josh for reports! You guys rock!