A relatively stable week of spring type weather greeted anglers this week on the Winnebago system. The majority of the system is ice covered with many of the rivers and tributaries now featuring open water.
As we enter the transition period of the year from ice to open water, conditions change rapidly. Reports are very few currently, as many fishermen are focused on the Wisconsin River, Eureka or Depere right now. The Fox River in Oshkosh is completely fishable from both a boat or from shore. Water temps have hovered at the 33 degree mark most of the week. The bridges have had some light action this week with male walleyes. Females are scattered, but not here in big numbers yet. Shore fishing has been best near the old Pioneer Inn on live bait. A nice school of perch is in this area also, and were being taken with small minnows from boat.
The Winneconne Bridge is seeing big numbers of fisherman, with few fish to show for their efforts. There are some fish moving thru, and timing is the key to your success. Typically, dusk has had the best success this week. Eureka is reporting some solid walleye action, with the fish are running in the 14-16 inch range currently. Purple jig and a minnow was the preferred bait. Fremont was reporting some limits of walleyes taken over the weekend on Wolf River Rigs and a 1/8th ounce jigs tipped with a fathead minnow. This action is coming off docks, and not from boats.
Depere is starting to heat up. The catches have been a bit larger this week, but it is not full throttle yet. Water temps here have been hovering around the 40 degree mark. Green is the key color here, especially with jigs. Don’t leave home without it. Large females are common in this body of water currently, with some exceeding 30 inches.
We need the rain to infuse some warm run-off water into the system. This will also get the flow going which in turn will get those fish moving up river. It looks like the early part of this week will give us that rain. Keep the reports coming from your fishing experiences. [email protected]. Also check out the daily updates on water temperatures found on the front page from NE Wisconsin’s hottest fishing locations.
