Lake Winnebago and Lake Poygan are nearly ice free with a few “cubes” still floating in the water to remind us that Spring has not quite arrived to date. Unfortunately the extended cold spring has done nothing to help anglers get their boats on to the river. Average temperatures are below freezing most evenings, with daily temps in the low 40’s. Water temps on the lakes remains in the upper 30’s, with visible mud lines near the rivers and creeks from the rain/snow water runoff.
The rivers continue to have minimal ice flows working downstream. With Lake Poygan and Lake Winneconne giving up it’s ice sheet earlier in the week, those flows have been moving down stream.
By contrast, water temps last year this week was at 57 degrees and the spawn was long over. This year, water temps have not broken 40 degrees on Lake Winnebago.
The Wolf River has seen a large migration of spawning ready walleyes moving north of Shiocton, WI. Several reports have indicated a few of the walleyes are post spawn. I find this unusual, given the current water temps in Shiocton; however, further north in the New London area, water temps had hit the low 40’s over the week, so these could be fish returning to the Lake Poygan area.
Reports coming from this area are weak. Males can be occasionally caught on jigs and minnows. Green, white and orange are the best colors currently. Females have their minds on spawning, and have been infrequently caught.
Reports from Lake Winnebago are that the pan fish are moving into the shallow bays and feeder creeks. This bite should fire up with a few warm days.
With Ice out occurring this week, it is just too early to have any predictable sustained bites by any species. The water levels are favorable for a strong spawn, but until we have some near normal temperatures the system remains status quo. The main spawn for walleyes could happen very quickly this year, so stay tuned to the weather to maximize the opportunities.
River Haus in Fond du Lac now has flats of crawlers available. Half flats are also available.
The Fox River in Depere– the walleye spawn has nearly completed. There continues to be decent numbers of fish near the Dam and Island, but each day that goes by shows a bigger mix of males rather than females. Look for the females to be working their way back to the bay, while resting in the shallows to recover.
C’mon spring! Please send your reports to [email protected]. Major tournaments start in two weeks, so we hope all the ice cubes are gone by then!
