One of the most substantial cold fronts of the season hit the area in the beginning of the week, dropping Lake Winnebago’s water temperatures significantly. Water temps now are in the 70’s, and the stain of the water is now darker due to rain run-off from early in the week.
Perch fishing has slowed down but pockets of active fish are still present. The areas near weed lines and transitional zones are doing best. Both the Southeast and Southwest corners of the lake have had strong catch rates. The school of perch near Fisherman’s road has moved into deeper water, and can now be found in 12-14 feet of water. We found crawler chunks working better than red worm, waxies or hellgrammites. The presentation must be tight to the bottom. This is also true of the bluegill bite. The weed lines near Kalubus Point, Deadwood Point and near the Third Reef are most productive for those dandy sized gills.
There is a very aggressive school of White bass near Columbia Park in the mud. In four hours of fishing I picked up 61 large white bass on crank baits in the 80-95 foot range behind the board at 1.8 mph. There were some sizable walleyes in the mix. In addition, a few smallmouth were tossed in too.
Sheephead are on the reefs– big time. The result is that the walleyes are not. The walleyes were staging reef side vs. reef top last week. The trolling bite was completely a crank bait bite. Walleyes caught on harnesses totaled zero in the mud.
I hit the harbor in Sheboygan on Monday. We finished with 5 King Salmon and a large pike. Most of the fish were inside the break wall on the outside (faster side) of the boat at 2.5 mphs. Watermelon color was most productive. What a Blast.
