The Winnebagoland area enjoyed a nice week of weather, with slightly below normal temperatures and occasional windy spells. Water temps remain in the mid 70 degree range, and water clarity is partially stained to clear. There is a lack of algae in the water which is atypically of this time of the year.
Most walleye fishermen have been spoiled this season with an aggressive walleye bite for most of the open water season. Last week’s cold front brought an abrupt change to the system, and it took some time to have the system recover. The beginning of the week was very slow, but improved day by day as the weekend concluded. Speaking to several of the top pros in town for the FLW walleye tournament this week, they have struggled to establish consistent patterns currently on the main lake.
Now that the water has a little more stain to it, some of the reefs have had mild success. Crawlers dragged across the bottom or pitched to the top of the reef and worked down to the base are netting walleyes on some of the most popular reefs including Stevens, Long Point and the Third reef. Leeches continue to produce also.
Trolling has been very hit n miss. The walleyes seem to be more active on the north end (especially near Stockbridge) in the mud than in the center third of the lake. Deep running crankbaits in larger sizes did well. We tried the mud outside of Oshkosh several times this week without much success. The white bass and sheephead in this area will provide some steady action, but quality walleyes were not common in the mud. We did have some excellent action just north of Paukotuc Reef in the 10-11 foot depths. Bright colored Reef Runners at 45 feet behind the board picked up 7 nice “eater eyes” in under an hour on Sunday (1.9 mph’s). There were a lot of the 6” walleyes in this area also, which is a good sign for the future.
Another good location was near Clarence’s in Fond du Lac. Solid sized eyes were reported trolling crawler harnesses (with an ounce in line weight) at about 10 feet behind the board. These eyes were consistently in the 18-22 inch range and can be found in or around the weed lines.
If you are currently struggling while trolling I would suggest using the crank baits as a search tool until you find a school of active fish. Once found, try running harnesses through the same area to pick up additional fish.
Subway road had a good perch bite observed, with an occasional walleye or bluegill in the mix on slip bobbers. I did not receive any other email perch reports this week. Pike are very active on Lake Poygan.
We also worked the river this week. Overall it was slow. A few walleyes were near the Hwy 41 Bridge on a vertical jigging presentation. Catfish are active near the bridges. White bass and sheephead can be found everywhere. The break wall by the mouth of the Fox River was producing a few small eyes, but nothing spectacular.
I will be competing in The FLW event this week. I plan to pick up some new locations and tactics during the week. If you are at the weigh in(s) at Oshkosh, please stop and say hello. Have a great week on the pond this week. Please forward your reports to [email protected], it makes this report possible! Thanks for your support.
