Seasonably cool weather made for some slower fishing conditions on Lake Winnebago, Lake Poygan and the rest of the Winnebago System. Water temperatures are at about 61 degrees in most areas. Water clarity is a hodgepodge system wide, with very clear conditions north of the mouth of the Fox River, and almost zero visibility in some locations in the southern portion of the lake. The lake fly hatch is dwindling, for the time being.
The late week cold front, whipped up the East winds, and brought some rain to the area. As the extended Holiday weekend moved forward, fishing picked back up, especially for walleyes and crappies. In many cases, limits of walleyes are common, most in the small to average size range.
There continues to be some excellent walleye action for those second and third year walleye classes. The big girls should be coming out of their post spawn slowdown, and could be active again soon. We did notice multiple areas of the “mud” holding large schools of fish. Our attempts to attract these fish failed miserably, but it appears some of the fish have started staging in deep water.
Here are reports and observations from selected areas of the Lake(s) and River(s):
Garlic Island area and North: Overall pretty slow (with limited walleyes present) compared to other areas of the lake.
Asylum Bay: There have been some excellent sized walleyes hanging around the fingers/points in north Asylum Bay. There also have been some jumbo sheephead mixed in here. Some of the anglers are reporting small mouths on the rock bars.
Millers Bay: Panfish are hanging in the emerging weed beds. The majority of the fish are crappies and bluegills. Perch continue to be fairly scarce to date.
American Legion Area (Oshkosh): There are solid concentrations of midsized walleyes in the region plus crappies, catfish, and perch. As the weekend progressed, the bite improved here.
Mouth of the Fox River: There have been some decent sized walleyes in limited number flushing out of the river. Catfish, sheephead and white bass continue to take baits here also. Overall, the size of the fish is very nice, with fewer fish present.
Stony Point/Roe’s Point: Loads of walleyes continue to inhabit this area. Nearly every walleye is 14 inches or less. As you travel south the same is true of the walleye trolling bite down to the Jesuit/Strietch’s.
Long Point/Kalibus: Get your 10-14” walleyes here. Crappies are common, and even an occasional bluegill. White bass are returning to this area.
Gladstone Beach area: Holy Crappies, Batman! Spawning crappies are everywhere in this region. We trolled Salmo hornets through the 8-11 foot depths looking for walleyes, and would have 5 to 6 lines full of crappies. Most of these crappies were in the 10-13 inch range. The crappies are also thick on the west shore south of the island near Wendt’s. Flicker shads were ignored for some reason.
Fisherman’s Road to Pipe WI: A trolling bite is present for walleyes. Many of the boats were working the 9-12 foot ranges, while we worked the 6-10 foot ranges. Both areas were producing walleyes. I also found a couple of nice small mouths willing to chase baits too.
Small Mouth Bass caught on a Salmo Hornet by Mark Schram.
Columbia Park: Big schools of fish are shown on the graphs in the mud. None have been active just yet, by our observations.
Brothertown: Very quiet from our trolling pass in shallow water.
HWY 41 Bridge: There remains a heavy concentration of white bass at the 41 bridge. Pulling flies is the preferred method.
Lake Butte Des Mortes: Sunset Point and Oakwood Point have a lot of walleyes moving through the lake. Slip Bobbers with leeches or crawlers have been working well while targeting 9 feet of water or less. Salmo Hornets trolled over the points is producing additional fish.
Tournaments: A lot of tournament anglers had no problems catching walleyes, but most could not find fish over 15”. We fished the Beer Run Tournament and finished 15th. Only three teams brought in a 5 fish limit. Winning weight was 16.14 pounds and big fish came in at a whopping 8.8 pounds. There was also another fish which topped 7 pounds.
Houges Bar (Oshkosh) also held their walleye tournament. This was a 4 fish tournament, and overall weights were higher than the Beer Run event. Winning weight was 16.5 pounds, with approximately 8 teams over 14 pounds.
Next weekend features a large group of tournaments. Stockbridge has their annual event scheduled for Saturday, along with the Van Dyne Lions event. Sunday will play host to a MWC event out of Oshkosh.
The coming week looks to feature warm and unstable weather. Once the water temps reach the mid to upper 60’s, I would expect the mud bite to start, assuming the thunderstorms remain minimal. I would also look for the walleyes to start moving out of the shallow water areas, seeking deeper water. The crappie bite should start to decline, as the spawn should be concluding. The bluegills should be on deck next.
Special thanks to Jay, Tony, Don, Josh, Coot, Chase, Mark, John, Mike and Jeff whom helped contributed to this report! [email protected] is the email. We hope you will contribute also! Now go get ‘em!
