By: Mark Schram Myfishingpartner.com
The first real look at Spring fishing occurred over the past two weeks in East Central Wisconsin. The main lakes including Lake Winnebago and the Bay of Green Bay remain partially ice covered, with less ice each passing day. However, the rivers remain open, and in most cases ice free.
This specific report will focus on the Fox River in the Green Bay area, a tributary to Lake Michigan.
For the last several weeks, solid numbers of walleyes have resided between the Dam in De Pere, WI and the mouth of the Fox River in Green Bay. The clear majority of these fish have been male, early in their arrival for the annual spawning run.
Water temperatures remain cold with 37 degrees measured on Saturday. Water clarity is compromised due to rain run-off. Visibility was at about 1-2 feet. Three to four gates were open on the dam Saturday morning, with more expected to be opened with the continued rainfall.
The center river channel has been productive for male walleyes, especially when the current has been lighter. These fish are best targeted with a jig and a minnow. Most anglers have been vertical jigging, while a few anglers are deploying some form of drag technique. Choice of minnow can make a large difference, with shiners working well when water conditions become stained. Tuffy’s/fatheads are excellent in clearer water. Jig head colors have been unimportant. Rhythm has been critical.
Use of plastic ring worms has also been working (and will get better with warmer water). The best colors have been orange/yellow or purple/yellow in either 3 or 4 inch sizes.
Shallow water casting has also been giving up some quality males, and a few females. Crawlers have been ignored this week.
Trolling of the shallow water flats has been yielding some large pre-spawn females. The females have been shallow, seeking warmer water or non-current areas. Overall concentrations of females are still below average, but they are starting to move up the river.
Males were attracted by slower moving smaller crank baits like Flicker shads/minnows, Salmos or shad raps. Females seemed to prefer stick baits with larger profiles. Trolling speeds typically ranged from 0.8-1.4 mph moving up current. Green based crank baits along with purple hues were the best attractants.
Night fishing started to pick up during the last several days for larger female walleyes. Musky and whitefish remain common in the river this week.
This upcoming week (based on weather forecasts) could potentially kick-off the annual run in Green Bay. Keep a close watch of water temps, and when they reach over 40 degrees, there will be a significant jump in the female population. Please…. carefully handle these fish so they can complete the spawning process, providing us with many more opportunities in the future. The regulations allow for only one fish over 28” in the Fox River currently. Wardens are checking live wells.
Swamp Donkey Bait, at the Dairy Queen Launch (Fox Point in DePere) has a great assortment of live bait to make your trip successful. They also carry a large assortment of RS nets. Be sure to check them both out at the enclosed trailer.
Chase, Nate and I finished 13th in the Swamp Donkey Walleye Tournament on 3/25/17. Very respectable given no pre-fishing opportunities. A 28” walleye was our best fish (Nate). Overall, we had about 30 eyes on the day. A 30.5” walleye was the big fish of the tournament caught by Mark Dorow of Fond du Lac.
This weekend expects to have heavy boat traffic on the Fox River, and in the bay near the mouth. There are some trophy fish staged just outside the mouth waiting to come up river. Get to the launches early, be courtesy and expect to have someone next to you always. Please bring your sense of humor.
[email protected] is my email. Have a great week, Stay Calm and jig on! It’s trophy time.
