By Mark Schram, myfishingpartner.com
The winter which seems to never end, reared its ugly face again this week around the Lake Winnebago region. Cold temperatures, snow and wind have hindered many fishermen this week, along with placing the annual walleye spawning runs on hold.
Lake Winnebago is experiencing high water, and the dams have been wide open in Neenah and Menasha. With all available gates open, the water flow coming into Lake Winnebago is nearly double of most years. The expectation is that it may take until early June to get the water levels to normal levels this year.
With the influx of the water, and the expected trend going forward, anglers can expect dirty water on Lake Winnebago for the foreseeable future. It may be weeks or longer before we get clear water on the main lake, especially on the north shore.
On March 21st, water temperature on Lake Winnebago was 41 degrees. As of April 10th, the temperature was at 39 degrees. Needless to say, fishing pressure on Lake Winnebago has been almost zero.
The channels in Oshkosh and some of the feeder creeks are starting to have crappies and bluegills moving in. This should heat up later this week as the water warms up.
The Wolf River has slightly declining water levels coming off the flood stage, however the water temperatures are hovering around 40 degrees. DNR estimations (from shocking) are showing about 29% of the walleyes have spawned as of last week. That number has certainly rose, so it would not be surprising to see that number in excess of 40% now.
Fishing has been subpar on the Wolf. Reports indicated a local tournament of about 20 boats, only netted 4 walleyes. The fish are currently inactive…. But that is about to change!
There have been some downstream walleyes moving through the Oshkosh area on the Fox River. Mainly males in the 12-17 inch range, with a jig and crawler working best. The Winneconne bridge has been slow.
The Fox River in De Pere, has been fairly void of fishermen. This has been due to inclement weather and a tough bite. Over the weekend, the bite improved greatly, especially for those anglers targeting walleyes via trolling. The flats have been hosting post-spawn female walleyes which have been recuperating from the spawn. These fish have started to put the feedbag on. Water temp is at 39 degrees as of Sunday, including similar water temps on the lower bay.
This past weekend, white based crank baits, especially in shad profiles were the best attractant for large walleyes. Jigging will produce a few fish, but casting will generate larger fish when not trolling.
The DNR estimates the post-spawn rate at over 30% on the Green bay portion of the Fox River; However, I would estimate the rate much higher than that guesstimate. We did not catch any pre-spawn fish this weekend. Additional waves of walleye are expected, but the river fish this weekend were definitely post spawn.
Team Myfishingpartner partook in the Aim Pro Tournament on Sunday. We finished in the top half with 28 pounds on five fish. The winning weight came in around 43 pounds. The vast majority of the field was trolling in the river.
Although the report this week is fairly negative in nature, that is about to change based on the forecast. Our first real infusion of Spring is on deck this week. Early projections of nearly 70 degrees are in the weather forecast. I would expect the final push of all area spawns to happen this week and weekend. This would include the Wolf River, Green Bay, Peshtigo and Menomonie, WI. Fishing is expected to be gangbusters this weekend. Expect large crowds everywhere, especially in the rivers, with anglers hoisting some trophies.
RS nets continue to sell like hot cakes. Another shipment came into Swamp Donkey, so grab one if you can. The factory is currently backed up, so it might be a couple of weeks before another shipment is headed to Wisconsin. Rsnetsusa.com is the web address, and Myfishingpartner.com customers get a 5% discount when ordering online. Use code “MFP5” to receive the price reduction.
This is the week to find some of the biggest fish on the systems! Look for many trophies held high with grinning anglers across social media. Feel free to post your trophy on our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/myfishingpartner/ . Get on the water! [email protected] is my email.
