Over 5,000 tournament anglers descended upon Lake Winnebago this weekend facing a smorgasbord of weather conditions.  Thursday’s rain was followed by violent winds on Friday, with Saturday being a cold bluebird high-sky day.  The rain on Thursday created heavy slush pockets on the ice’s surface. Friday’s winds covered those pockets with a layer of snow, hiding many of the pockets from vehicle drivers resulting in a lot of tows.  By Saturday, many of these areas were frozen solid again.  Ice depths remained around 32 inches.

After Battle on ‘Bago, very few secrets remain about the Winnebago System.  Eel Pout became the story over the weekend, and has become a topic of argument between area fishermen.

Traditionally, eel pout spawn in mid to late January on Lake Winnebago.  The cold winter has pushed their spawn to late Feb. in 2014.  These fish will move onto the shallowest reefs and points on the system during the spawn.  The area around the islands at Wendt’s is home to some of the best spawning grounds on the system. Hundreds of anglers moved into these areas and caught massive amounts of fish this week.

How do you catch a pout?  Well, there were a lot of methods being used.  Most common was a buckshot spoon, tipped with a minnow.  Jigging raps, loaded with spikes also worked.  I took some large shiners and cut them up into “cut bait” and fished them under a tip up.   Typically eelpout like a slow moving bait, especially with scent. They are lazy feeders.

White bass were common all week, especially near the Fox River in Oshkosh.    This bite also extended to a couple miles out of Merritt Street.  We had several reports of a good bite out of Quinney, WI (at three miles), but could not find these fish when we tested the area.   The hot spot for the past two weeks has been 3 miles out of Pipe, WI.  This bite has dried up, but a few fish remain in the area.

Crappies were common along the west shore. These fish were suspended in the water column, and the Fox River mouth was an ideal area to target the crappies.  Small jigs with a minnow head has been working well.

Walleyes are staging near the Fox River.  One area, was near the concrete wall of the old Pioneer Inn.  I would never fish this area during ice season, as it has too much current to consider it a safe option ever.  No fish is worth your life. But for those that did take the risk, some walleyes were biting.

Why are walleyes so tough to catch this winter?  One theory is that they gorged themselves so full in the late Fall that they are living on their stored fat and using very little energy to feed.  Every walleye we caught this winter has been FAT!

Lake Poygan’s ice surface was a mess after Thursday’s storm.  Crappies were plentiful; Walleyes are being seen with regularity under the ice, but they are reluctant to bite.  Anglers venturing out of Poygan had mixed results at the end of the day.

Battle on ‘Bago usually indicates spring is just around the corner.  It doesn’t look like it in 2014.  With 32 inches of ice and bitter cold on the way, the next week appears to be an “ice making week”.

This Friday, Saturday and Sunday will feature the Northeast Wisconsin Sports show at Player’s Choice in Appleton.  Fond du Lac plays host to the Sportsman Rummage Sale at the Fair Grounds on Saturday.  Lots of places to spend money this weekend!

I’ll be in Appleton this weekend, supporting Tommy Harris custom blades.  Tommy will have his custom painted Salmos, Flicker Shads, Husky Jerks and Musky lures available.  He will have a good stock of Spoon Deville available too and of course, his 2014 exclusive blades will be there also.  If you like purple……All I can say was wow!

[email protected] is my email.  Please feel free to drop me a line with your questions or fishing reports. Thanks for the support!