By Mark Schram, myfishingpartner.com
Unstable and warm weather greeted anglers for the week leading into the Memorial day weekend on Lake Winnebago. Daily storms, multiple wind shifts, and varying degrees of sunshine typified each day. Water temperatures have risen greatly to about 73 degrees, and water clarity has been gin clear for most of the week. Heavy winds did stir the water column reducing visibility slightly on Saturday and Sunday.
Water clarity has been a major topic of conversation this week. Early in the week there were 12 foot visibilities on the north shore. The rest of the lake had between 6-10 feet of visibility. Many speculate this is a cause and effect of the zebra mussel infestation on Lake Winnebago, which is partial likely.
Another contributing factor is the lack of water moving through the dams near Neenah and Menasha. Typically, this causes the water column to become stained when the gates are open. With the gates closed, the water has become “clean” and water levels have remained low on the system. Be sure to be careful coming out of all of the launches right now, as some have reduced water depths especially at the entrance/exit points of the harbor.
This week I fished every region of the system, in preparation for the National Walleye Tour. I estimate I netted well over 200 walleyes this week (all but 2 were released), so yes….the walleyes are biting. There is so much to talk about it might be difficult to get it all in this report.
The key area on Lake Winnebago is the area outside of the Mouth of the Fox River. The walleyes have been pouring out of the river and staging just outside of the mouth, especially outside of Oshkosh Reef (also referred to as Gehrke’s Reef). 
Attached is a screen shot from Contour Elite software for reference. If interested in purchasing this software use code MFP10 for a 10% discount at Contour Elites’ website.
The vast majority of active walleyes have been in the 12-14 inch range system wide. These fish can be found shallow or deep, and anywhere within the water column. While trolling Off Shore planer boards, be sure to cover all of the water depths with your choice of baits. There have been some days where walleye have been taken 10 feet behind the boards in 16 feet of water. Other days, dragging bottom was key. Your electronics should direct you to the current staging depth of the active fish.
With the variable weather patterns, there have been windows of feeding. It is critical to double back on fish once found, as the patterns have been short lived. 3 days this week we had wind coming out of three different directions during the day.
Larger walleyes are being found in multiple locations. The bridges in Oshkosh are holding a few females each day. Many of the shallow water areas are weed free to date, but areas which have weeds are targets for larger walleyes especially on Salmo hornets in Dalmatian colors. Additionally, the mud is starting to fire up for larger walleyes on crawler harnesses. I would expect the mud to be on fire in the coming weeks.
In Lake Buttes des Mortes and Lake Winneconne/Poygan, look to the shallow bays for the best walleye action. In Buttes des Mortes, we produced numerous white bass and some huge perch, one going almost 13 inches near the Highway 41 bridge. A representative of the DNR said that there were a lot of walleyes still in the marshes as of early last week. Some of those fish could be passing through the upper lakes and rivers in the next two weeks.
The Fond du Lac crappie bite is near conclusion. The run was broken into 2 spawning runs, due to weather. On the surface, it appeared the bite was off in 2016. Rather it was spread over a long period of time. There are some large schools of crappies located just north of Brothertown, WI currently.
On the North Shore near Stockbridge, huge schools of sheepshead have been seen. Looking into the water column on calm days, thousands of sheepshead are schooled in the top 2-4 feet of water. They sure were fun to watch, especially when the occasional walleye would swim by. I did find a few walleyes deep, but the numbers were not present like the central western shore of Lake Winnebago.
The next few weeks will bring a lot of changes. Black bass will be moving onto their spawning beds, white bass will return to the main lake, and the sheephead will be up on the reefs spawning. Walleyes will push out to the mud. Be prepared for constant changes.
[email protected] is my email. We always appreciate your reports. I also want to pass along a heartfelt thank you to everyone which sent me tips and well wishes for NWT. I was on the right pod of fish, fishing next to many of the top ten finishers. Unfortunately, I didn’t get all of the bites I needed.
Get on the water! Six major upcoming tournaments on Saturday and Sunday next week, so the launches will be busy! Expect 20 plus pounds per day to be the winning weights. Water temperatures are at the point when the walleyes put the feed bag on.
