It almost feels like spring around Eastern Wisconsin. Fishermen are out in large numbers, water temperatures are on the rise, and Lake Winnebago is progressing nicely toward normal Spring transitions. Water temps this week have ranged in the mid to upper 50’s on most parts of the system. Water clarity remains stained with about 1-2 feet of visibility system wide.
Fish are transitioning quickly with multiple spawns occurring. The sturgeons have nearly completed their spawning dance, and the carp are getting ready for their ritual. The white bass run is underway, but has not peaked. Perch are beginning to stage. Overall, walleyes are scattered throughout the entire system and are in post spawn mode.
The Wolf River is loaded full of white bass, and this week could be the pinnacle of the spawn. Buckets full of white bass are being taken from New London to Lake Poygan. There are still solid numbers of post spawn male and female walleyes in the Wolf River, but have been tougher to locate with the aggressive nature of the white bass. Pumping flies seems to be the most effective method to deliver white bass and walleye. The pike have become extremely aggressive in the Wolf currently; some with excellent size (35 inch plus).
Lake Poygan and Lake Winneconne have solid sized female and male walleyes. Most of these fish remain scattered, and it can be tough to pull limits in these lakes. Clark’s Point was holding an abundance of white bass and sheephead.
The Fox River, just south of the Winneconne Bridge has a ton of first and second year class white bass in the mix. The vast majorities of anglers are pulling flies, and are having no problem filling the live wells. Stray walleyes continue to be caught. An interesting observation was that the Winneconne Bridge has been producing some larger female walleyes. One thought was that was the only place the fish were not being pressured (under the bridge) and may be why there seems to be some concentrations in the area (other than the current break).
Lake Butte Des Mortes has been a mystery to me. There are people pulling larger female walleyes in this lake, but we have not experienced this action. Some days I hear north shore, while the next day we hear south shore. By far, these fish want slip bobbers with leeches.
The Fox River in Oshkosh has larger white bass moving in from Lake Winnebago. The 41 bridge was holding larger walleyes, until the white bass moved in about mid-week. The southwest side of the bridge had a huge bait fish school present on Friday through Sunday. Outside the bait fish school were large numbers of feeding white bass. Occasional catfish are found here also. The best white bass fishing was in front of Fratello’s Restaurant in Oshkosh or on the south side of the river past Sawyer Creek. Perch are starting to show up in the river also, preparing for the spawn.
The mouth of the Fox River has large numbers of white bass. There seems to be some larger concentrations of walleyes and sheepheads too. Once out from the mouth there are fewer white bass, and the walleyes can be found easier.
Lake Winnebago has a lot of immature males flushing out of the river. The west side reefs are heating up. Many of these walleyes are 11-14 inches with some mature fish in the mix. Surprisingly this week we had several pre spawn female walleyes on the western reefs, assumed to be resident lake fish. With water temps in the mid 50’s I’m not sure what they are holding off for? The same reports of un-spawned females are coming in from the Neenah area.
We found the Roe’s Point and Stony Point are producing walleyes at a solid clip when there is an east or north wind. Slip bobbers with jumbo leeches were the golden ticket. We also found a solid walleye (and sheep head bite) to the south of Roe’s point. This was a Salmo hornet bite only, run at 33 feet behind the Off Shore board in 7-9 feet of water. Flicker shads and Shad raps would not produce fish. Custom colored Tommy Harris Salmos did well, with green being a primary color.
Small Mouth and Large mouth have been common on the reefs near Menomonie Park in Oshkosh, along with Asylum Bay.
Chase and I fished the first leg of the ‘Bago Walleye Club/Boat Doc series this week and placed in the top 10. Slip bobbers were critical early, with a trolling bite kicking into gear after noon. Nearly 24 pounds won the tourney (5 fish), and the victors were rumored to be in the upper lakes. Details are in a separate article on the front page.
The Fond Du Lac River has white bass entering into the river, and the run should start in the next couple of days. Perch are staging, with some strong reports coming from the bridges throughout Fond du Lac.
Next weekend will feature the Critters/Woodeye tournament in Winneconne. Cody and I will team up for this one. In addition, the first Women’s Walleye Weekend will premier out of Winneconne. To date, about 15-20 women only teams are scheduled to partake in the tournament.
Whew…..that’s a lot of info. Happy Mother’s Day to those who qualify! Please keep the reports coming, so we can provide the best, most up to date report on the web. [email protected] is my email.
