(reload)Lake Winnebago and surrounding areas had variable weather over the past week, with multiple fronts moving through the area, making fishermen scramble to figure out the bite each day. Water clarity is variable throughout the system, with the southern portion of the lake holding the dirtiest water. In addition, the cottonwood trees have dropped their “cotton” which attaches to fishing lines and makes reeling your fish in difficult when it gets caught on the rods eyelets. Water temps yo-yoed all week, but maintained the 60 degree ranges (Sunday 67 degrees).
The weather played a major role in fishing successes this week. As a result, many of the walleyes have scattered and large schools are uncommon. Food sources continue to transition also, including several new fly hatches. It was a “change your method and change your location” type of week.
Lots to share…So here are the breakdowns by location:
Northshore: The far north shore has been very quiet. On Sunday morning only about 10 boats of the 300 boat field of the Mercury National were north of Haystack Reef from our observation. The trolling bite along the north shore was described to me as a “dead sea.”
Blackbird Island: There have been some larger walleyes hanging in the area, especially to the near north along with some excellent eaters along the 12 foot ranges to the east of the reef. Salmo’s run at 75 feet behind the Off Shore boards were working well. Flicker Shads in fire tiger worked well in deeper water. Additionally, large crappies are in this area. Pitching jigs at the island was producing walleyes and small mouths.
Garlic Island: Scattered walleyes are present when the wind is blowing. Otherwise, fairly quiet here.
Asylum Bay: On Thursday we ran the reefs in the area and caught excellent numbers of walleyes with Salmo hornets run 40 feet behind the Off Shore trolling boards (white was the key color). On Saturday and Sunday, we could not pull a single fish, including a sheephead, on our pass through the area.
Central Mud (from Garlic to the Fox River): There are larger walleyes roaming in these areas. Many of the fish range from 13-25”. There were over 125 boats in this area on Saturday and Sunday, with most pulling a few walleyes. These fish are scattered, and it is common to find a single fish, with no others hanging around. The walleyes were very high in the water column, most between 3-6 feet below the surface in 19 feet of water. We did very well with the Tommy Harris Spoon Deville’s this week. This is a trolling spoon with a slow death hook attached. We ran these at .7-.9 mphs for the best fish 4 feet below the surface. In addition, there are some walleyes tight to the bottom. Nearly every boat was running some form of a crawler harness in the area. This area could really heat up with some warm stable weather.
Mouth of the River/Fox River Oshkosh: The Merc National was won in the river. There are large walleyes within the river system, and are best targeted with jigs pitched into slack water areas. The mouth of the river was full of catfish, sheephead and white bass.
Lake Poygan: Pike and walleyes are in the cane. Horseshoe Hole is holding heavy concentrations of sheephead.
Stony Point to Jesuit/Kalibus: Scattered smaller walleyes are roaming these waters. These fish migrated from shallow water earlier in the week to deeper water by the end of the week. There has been a strong minnow population in the area, holding these fish for an extended period of time.
Long Point: Lots of traffic, lots of edible fish here. Small to midsized walleyes are common along with large crappies. In addition, bluegills have become more present. Sheephead are thick here also. Slip bobbers are the way to go, with either a half crawler or large leech.
Fraction Island (Van Dyne) to Supple’s Marsh (North Fond du Lac): Excellent walleye trolling exists here.
In the Fraction Island area, larger walleyes are common in the 14-20 inch ranges. Moving south to Supple’s will get slightly smaller eyes in the 12-16 inch ranges. Both crawler harness and crank baits are working here. There has been some weed debris in the area, so be vigilant to clean your trolling lines from weed fouls.
Third Reef area: Not a lot of activity here.
Southern East Shore: Cottonwood droppings are hindering fishing here. There are large concentrations of second year white bass, and adult sheephead in the area. The area continues to hold large and active crappies. Small mouth bass can be found on the rock piles, along with a stray walleyes.
Tournaments: the Mercury National Walleye tournament was held this week with a winning weight over 49 pounds. The top 3 teams indicated they were fishing the river in Oshkosh. The majority of the field was in the mud. Although the winning weight was one of the all time highest weights registered, overall weights and numbers were down versus 2012. Personally, my Walleye Weekend jinx continued, breaking off two large fish just outside the reach of the net on day one, with day two having an electrical problem with my kicker. We managed 197th place finish on 4 fish, all about 19-21 inches. That’s an 8 year monkey on my back, that’s starting to feel like a gorilla. Next week: Otter Street/Summer Battle on Bago.
I will need your help in the next two weeks. I’ll be on the West Coast for work, and will not be on the water. I will rely on your reports to build the weekly fishing report. Please send your reports to [email protected]. I will compile a report if we have enough viable data. Enjoy the first summerlike temperatures of the year this week.
