by Mark Schram, Myfishingpartner.com
Seasonal temperatures returned to the Lake Winnebago region, and anglers continued to hit the water on area waterways in large numbers. On Lake Winnebago, water clarity is improving with some areas having nearly two feet of visibility along the west shore. Water temperatures are 49 degrees in Neenah, 57 degrees in Oshkosh and 59 degrees in Fond du Lac as of Sunday. With the forecasted cold front almost upon us, water temperatures should drop over the upcoming week.
The rivers continue to be the focally point of area anglers, especially the Fox River in Oshkosh. The river is full of boats, and navigation can be difficult if moving any distance on the river. Overall, most anglers are well behaved, and the experience has been very positive.
The Fox River has a strong population of walleyes and white bass, making for many successful fishing trips. Pumping flies is the predominate method of catching fish by most anglers. Additionally, anglers were pulling Dubuque rigs, Wolf River rigs and vertical jigging. In some cases, anglers were in an anchored position pumping baits. All methods were working. Red and black were the best colors for me, while I had other reports of blues and purples working well.
Most anglers in the river system are pulling strong baskets of fish, many coming home with limits of walleyes, generally in the 12 to 16-inch range.
The mouth of the river also had a walleye trolling bite on small crankbaits, such as Salmo Hornets, Rattling Wasps, and size 5 Flicker Shads. Look for rock piles adjacent to the mouth for the best success.
Along the East shore most areas are quiet as many of the spawning fish are still in the river system. However, some of the “resident” fish have been active. This is a slow troll bite with crank baits being run at 0.9 mph or less. In most situations, with the current water temperatures, trolling speed must be reduced to produce quality walleyes.
The backwaters, channels, harbors and feeder creeks were jammed packed with anglers targeting crappies and bluegills. In most locations, the fishing has been solid. Crappies are interested in small minnows, typically under a bobber. There have been numerous reports of huge crappies this week, and I am starting to hear about giant bluegills also. The channels in Fond du Lac are also producing Northern pike.
The Wolf River is still hosting many walleyes and a new influx of the white bass. Some of the biggest walleyes remain in the Wolf and have not started their journey back to the upper lakes or Lake Winnebago. Shiocton had some excellent reports this week of bigger walleyes.
With cooler temperatures forecast this week, the movement of white bass may slow with the reduction of the water temperatures. Current water temps are around 58 degrees in the Wolf River.
Typically, the white bass run occurs around Mother’s days, or when the Lilacs bloom. This year’s run seems to be very early, so we may be in for a prolonged run in 2016.
The sturgeon spawn occurred very rapidly on the Wolf River this week, and is in the ending stages as of Sunday. Catfish have been common in the River also.
The Bay of Green Bay is still producing many huge walleyes, especially in shallower water of under 10 feet. All of the walleyes we caught this week were post spawn, and I believe the smallest fish we netted was 24” inches.
On Friday night, we took on the night bite out of Bay Shore on the Bay of Green Bay. We found multiple seams of water temperature. Our best tactic was to set up in 42-degree water, and getting the boards into the 45-48 degree temperatures to the inside of the boat. We believe that the colder water may have been a current flow, and the walleyes were sitting in the warm water looking for food caught in the current. Overall, we produced 6 or 7 walleyes over 28” in 5 hours. Perfect 10’s and Flicker Minnows in dark colors were most productive. We anticipate having a professionally produced video coming within two weeks, assuming the lighting was adequate. Stay tuned.
The Peshtigo and Menomonie Rivers have walleyes dumping out of the river and into the bay.
We will be celebrating Mother’s day in a few weeks. My Fishing Partner will be offering pink RS nets for Mother’s day with a 10% discount off of the web price (pink only!). Please email me at [email protected] if interested and we can help you sort through the options you need for your perfect net. In general, RS nets run from $100-$150 per net and worth every penny.
Keep the reports coming…..AND get on the water!
