The last seven days can be summed up in one word: Windy. Constant late spring winds challenged many fishermen this week on the Winnebago System. Water temperatures were steady in the mid 60 degree range for the week.
The sheephead returned to “active status” this week. During the weeks leading up to Memorial Day weekend, Sheephead were few and far between. This week they put the feedbag on, and were the most commonly caught fish on the system this week. Typically, sheephead spawning occurs when water temperatures range from 65- 70 degree range. We are at the low end of this range currently, which means this trend should continue for several weeks.
Walleye activity waned this week over most of the main lake. The southern end of the week remains hot with walleyes located in emerging weed beds. The best method to take these fish was to troll mid range water depths (5-9 feet) with crank baits (flicker shads, shad raps or reef runners) on very short leads behind the board. Typical lengths behind the board were 10-20 feet. Many of these fish are looking for easy meals of perch, shad or other small fish, while using the weeds as protection as they finish recovering from the spawn. Crawler harnesses are starting to be used with regularity, but are producing many more sheep head and white bass than walleyes.
The northeast corner of the lake from Stockbridge down to Pipe has also had some steady action for walleyes, in deeper waters. Depths from 9 feet to 14 feet were productive in select pockets. In heavy winds these fish moved in to the 5-8 foot areas. Thunder sticks, Flicker shads, and Reef runners in perch patterns seemed to be best. Many of the fish were deeper, so lures run from 35-75 feet behind the planner board had the best success. They are also numerous reports of Sauger being taken in this same area. Cleo’s cast into shallow water of 5 feet or less is also picking up walleyes regularly. Overall, most anglers were picking up several walleyes on a trip, but not a full limit in this area.
On the Northwest shore, several reefs have been producing limits of eyes by pitching a half a crawler (or leech) on the reef top and working it toward the bottom of the structure with a light jig. Orange jigs were working well.
The white bass run on the Wolf River has been very inconsistent. On some days just a handful of fish can be found and other days 100 plus fish days are reported. Water levels are starting to drop in this area. The upper Lakes of Poygan and Winneconne have had the same inconsistencies as the river. The walleye bite has been best on the western side of the Lake Poygan in the morning hours on harnesses or flicker shads in orange or Hollywood color.
Perch are starting to show up on several of the reefs on the west shore near the Long Point Complex. They have not arrived in any great numbers just yet, but it sure is nice to see these critters active again. Green colored beads above the hook or green jigs were producing the majority of the perch reported.
We want to welcome our new sponsor to this report– Drop-N-Stay Anchor Systems. This is a local company out of Berlin WI. I started using this product in March, with tremendous success. No need to use 100 foot of rope to get the anchor to stick anymore! By removing the shock, the tension is greatly reduced allowing your anchor to hold on any type of bottom. The revolutionary product will increase your anchors ability to grab the bottom, while reducing the beating your body takes in rough water conditions. Their web site is http://www.drop-n-stay.com/. Welcome aboard.
The Fish for Kids event will occur this Saturday May 30th— Lakeside Park (Oven Island) in Fond du Lac, WI at 9 am, and Abe Rochlin Park in Oshkosh at 2 pm. If you have not signed up your Kindergarten to 5th grade fisherman as of yet….what are you waiting for? Each child will walk away with some new fishing gear just for attending. There are a limited number of openings, so don’t miss out. We encourage Grandparents, parents, Aunts or Uncles to come along too. For current information and registration status: http://www.fishforkids.org/.
Please keep the reports coming. I have a new batch of hats coming in soon, and I just might reward some of our frequent contributors. [email protected].
