A stretch of consistent weather finally arrived to the Lake Winnebago region, enticing area anglers to hit the water this week. Water temperature continue to climb slowly with 73 degree temps being the system wide average. Water clarity remains stained, and continues to clear up slightly each day. Floating weed debris has become more problematic, as boat motors are starting to trim the growing weed beds.
Fishing trends have started to materialize, as the system starts to stabilize with stable weather. Weed walleyes are plentiful, along with some hungry walleyes in the mud. The peak of the walleye season may be upon us. Outside of Saturday, Lake Winnebago was giving up walleyes all week long with regularity.
There is an excellent mud bite to the north, especially near High Cliff and the North Shore Golf Course. The fish have been present for several weeks now, but vary their depths daily. These walleyes have been at the bottom some days, and within 5 feet of the surface on other days. Live bait rigs are working well, but be sure to run them throughout the water column to find the active fish. The BWC event was won in this region of the lake, trolling harnesses with LEECHES.
There is a minor mud bite working directly in front of the Fox River in Oshkosh. Oversized baits such as deep diving husky jerks, especially size 12, have been producing bigger fish. Don’t be afraid to upsize your baits this time of year, even in shallow water. The forage base is maturing, and the fish have bigger appetites, so larger profile baits become more appealing.
The south end has a fabulous weed walleye bite along the west shore. There are some excellent walleyes holding in the weeds, and can be triggered with crawler harnesses trolled just above the weed tops. White based blades were the best color this week.
The Third Reef had some nice eater type walleyes along the edges of the reef. These can be targeted with slip bobbers, or pitched jigs. A few larger walleyes were also roaming just off of the reef. Chase Eberly picked up a nice 26 incher on Saturday there.
We found some excellent walleyes along Murdock Street in Oshkosh, along with the point on north Asylum Bay. Salmo Hornets #4 and the new Rattling Wasps were very productive. Huge sheephead are prevalent here. Take the kids here for a thrill of a big fish!
The Rattling Wasps are a new introduction from Coots Lures out of the Black Wolf, WI area. They are an exclusive to the Reel Shot currently. A quality product with huge potential on the Winnebago system. Great paint jobs on these lure!
Catfish are in the Fox River in large numbers. White bass are concentrated near the bridges and in the deep holes.
Some big bags were seen this weekend in the tournament world. 22 pounds plus won the Dale Blank Memorial tournament. The BWC recorded approximately 19.2 pounds for a winning weight on Sunday (Mark had the second largest walleye of the tournament with a nice 27 incher). Other tournaments didn’t fare so well. Three Sheets (Fond du Lac) held their first tournament with a winning weight of 9.75 pounds. Chase helped with the Wounded Warrior event this week, where 20 boats produced less than 10 walleyes.
Have a happy and safe Fourth of July. Expect plenty of friends on the water, especially with the excellent forecast heading into the weekend. [email protected] is my email foe feedback and fishing reports.
