Pro’s Not taking a liking to WISSOTA

Interesting Article….sounds like a lot of guys don’t like Wissota so far.

http://www.bassfan.com/news_article.asp?id=1369

Any of you guys who fish Wissota often agree? disagree w/their statements>?

The article writer consistently talks about fishing in 10 foot or less of water. Well, that’s where the little ones are and that’s what the pros are catching. The big ones move in and out of the shallower water depending on when they feed. They should know that. I don’t agree to the spawning statement in the article.

These guys are pros and should be able to catch the 20-21″ smallmouth bass that are in the lake. One pro mentioned in a seminar their mouths are so small that he wondered what they eat. Apparently they don’t fish for smallmouth much.

Right now I’m disappointed with the pros and what they are saying. Being used to fishing big, big lakes got them in a bad mindset to start when they saw the lake. Having Little Lake Wissota off limits does restrict some of the shallow water, but the big fish are all over and don’t associate with the shallow water when they aren’t feeding.

Overall, Lake Wissota has a lot of fish. Not much largemouth remain, but the ones that do are big (except for the 4″ ones stocked in the last three years). Smallmouth dominate, but have a lot of food that makes them not as eager to bite as compared to the Mississippi River. Large amounts of crappie live in the lake ranging from small to very, very big.

The reason for the largemouth not being around is the dam used to lower the water on the lake during the largemouth spawn and expose the beds. Over the many years of doing that hurt the population and restricted some of the weed growth in the extremely shallow areas until later in the year. Three/four years ago the WI DNR was able to get the energy company to stop fluctuating the water levels in the lake so much that the largemouth now have a chance to spawn. That’s why they are finally stocking new largemouth in the lake. It used to be an excellent largemouth lake with big smallmouth as a bonus.

For now the weeds are not fully grown since we’ve had a weird spring so there is less cover than normal. However, the fish don’t disappear. This tournament will really change my estimation of the pros abilities if they don’t catch fish. I’m almost tempted to think that they are saying that just to throw off the other pros so they don’t look at where each other are fishing all that much.

We shall see at the Wednesday night weight in.

I have never fished Wissota but I fish a lot of smaller lakes in Eastern Wisconsin that see a ton of fishing pressure. The patterns are a hard to find, but to me the amount of fishing pressure / amount of keepers found in the lake are just extra variables. I would hate for the “Elite 50” to have to work a little harder to catch keepers! I think that whoever wins or won the event is not going to be one of the guys complaining in the article, but rather one who just bares down and fishes the water. Just my thoughts.

I’ve only fished it twice and that was a couple of years ago during late summer(prefish and a week later had a club tourney). The river is full of nice smallmouth if you can find them. Won that tourney with 14lbs of smallmouth. So I have a hard time believing that nobody has found anything. I don’t think there is enough water up the river for 50 boats but the ones that do find a good spot up there will load the boat. Most of the guys in are club fished the big lake and Little Wisota with not much success but that doesn’t mean much because I don’t think they had ever fished it before. To bad they have to fish the six whole course the last 2 days on Little Wissota because thats what this tourney will be remembered by and I don’t think they’ll have alot of success there.

It sounds to me like a lot of whining. They need to buck up and find the bigger fish.

I’d like to call Kevin VanDam and say, “Shut your face! You’re the pro…find the fish!”

I do not think their whining!! Here is the scenerio, 6,000 acre Lake, 50 pro’s in boats, 250 curiosity seekers in boats, locals looking to check out the pros in boats!! the fish are shallow and will move deep with the pressure of the traffic and the Pro’s fishing. Locals and vacationers fishing the same ares’s the Pro’s do. Even, if they are Pro’s,that is just too much activity. Not just one day but 6 days. The 14″ limit is killing them right now!!! Not one of them can catch a single limit. As of this morning 27 anglers were eating breakfast at 9:00 am laughing about their chances at the local breakfast nook!!!!!

My thoughts exactly BC. I didn’t like the walleye tourney on Waconia a couple years back, but I still did my best to find fish. I say “cowboy up” or go home. I’m really surprised by the big boys, seems really unprofessional on their part.

Part of me says stop whining and show us why you are a pro. We may see who the real pros are. The other part of me says they should of had it on a differant lake that could of show cased the great bass fishing in the state of Wisconsin. I also hope a lot of people show up to support this great event so they will come back in the future. The people that don’t want the tournament angler’s to cull say that they won’t bring the big tournaments to Wisconsin because nobody will show up to watch are sure hope we prove them wrong.

Well, it’s not as if this is the first small lake they have fished before. They’ve always had to deal with locals before the tournies, that’s just a part of the sport. There’s no doubt that fish will probably be a little lethargic from boat traffic and locals…but that’s the reason they got to where they are…because they’re able to overcome all of that. I don’t feel sorry for these guys one bit.

I personally think it’ll “raise the bar” for these guys and will bring out the true competition of the sport.

So, when the “scouts” were sent out to pick a lake, why is it that they didn’t have any trouble finding lots of huge fish? I understand it’s desirable to see some real bruisers being brought into the weigh-ins, but it’s also nice to see how these guys stand up to adversity. Boo-f’ing-who, the fish are there. Use the energy you’re wasting on whining and go find ’em.

Mark

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Use the energy you’re wasting on whining and go find ’em.

Mark

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Amen.

i agree they could of probably picked a bigger and better lake around here but they didnt. and whining aint going to change that. there there to fish so thats what they should do. there pros, they dont get paid to whine they get paid to catch fish . personally, ide rather see it on pool 4 theres plenty of water for them babys on 4. 30 some miles from one end to the other and then theres the lake. shoulda had it there

What are the pros complaining about anyway, at least they can cull (may be mistaken on that)…oh ya, they’re saying fishing sucks so that probably won’t come into play much. To bad 1 of the 3 “test” culling rule changes is being used up on this one. I can think of alot of other tourneys in this state that could have benefited with the “test” rule change. I suppose the special rule change is one reason that drew them up here…but thats another “can of worms” not to be opened up I guess

I do not feel sorry for them at all!! I think the “show me the money” theme took affect somewhere around $35k.I really feel Wisc. would have been better served as a State and a great fishery if the venue would have been some place different. Giving rise the the pro’s ability to find fish in a larger area. This reminds me of the old saying “like shooting fish in a barrel” change to “shooting Pro’s in a barrel”

My personal opinion (not that anyone cares) is that choosing Wissota was a mistake! Whoever did the scouting sure blew this one. This is Wisconsin’s chance to shine…and we all know there are MANY big water locations within our state that would be yielding interviews from the E-50 pro’s like, “What an awesome fishery”, or “I can’t wait to come back”, or “this part of the river is unbelievable “, etc…

Did someone on the inside not want to show the country how good Wisconsin bass fishing can be?

– d-nort

I fished this lake as part of a four man team a few years back and during the prefish and first day of the two day event I THOUGHT THE LAKE SUCKED .

During the day one wiegh in I saw hugh stringers of fish that made me come to the conclusion that it was me and my team, not the lake that sucked.

A case in point is when I’m wandering down a bank catching zippo and one of the Tisher boys roars up behind us drops the trolling moter in the water, starts lining himself up, drops a marker and then backs off and pops a 4lb smallie. 10 more casts he picked up the marker and roared off.

I think that someone will break the code. And the rest will eat crow.

I call bullpoo. There are a lot better lakes/rivers to fish in WI that’s for sure, but if these guys are having problems then I’m confused. If Baitcaster would email me those picks from our club tournament, I could show you some toads that Wissota puts out and I’ve only fished there probably five times. These fish spawned a while ago and should be totally recovered and ready to feed, but what do I know, they’re the pros not me. The fishing is probably a little slow and they’re all just trying to psych each other out.

Here’s what the legendary Larry Nixon has to say…

BASSMASTER Larry Nixon WISSOTA

ditto regarding d-nort’s comment. Just too many big boats on a relatively small lake. Aside from the Mississippi and Lake Michigan, I am not sure where you could hold a tournament like this in Wisconsin. Perhaps the organizers should have looked West to Minnesota; much bigger lakes.

Many of those pros end up fishing the same areas as others in the bigger waters anyway. They’ll be fishing behind each other in the more popular areas. Wissota has quality fish in it, they just need to find out how to catch them. With three days prefishing there should be no problem. The weather has even been relatively stable.

The organizers new the size of the lake when they set up the tournament. They probably figured the “Elite 50” should be able to handle a situation like this. Of course Wissota isn’t simple to catch bass like the Mississippi River.

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Of course Wissota isn’t simple to catch bass like the Mississippi River.

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LOL!

ne body heading up there at all to watch the weighins? i plan on heading up there tomarrow night. should be fun seeing all of the guys and their boats. but it wont be fun listening to them whine up on the weigh in station all night long

Winneconne could hold that many boats, Madison Chain, Sturgeon Bay.

If I can work it out, I’ll be out there Wednesday for the weigh-in. The complaining will be pitiful, but I expect to see some 4lb+ smallies.

Part of the deal here is to be able to judge the economic impact of attracting big events to Wisconsin. I would expect that impact will be huge and doing it in a smaller community will only serve to amplify that impact.

Sturgeon bay would be great but would bring up the problem of discusions of the impact on the spawning smallmouths. They just did the ESPN games in Madison and that most likely had an impact in that decision. The wolf is crowded every weekend already and any impact will be hidden.

Wissota may not be the best choice but it has a lot of positive features to it.

I expect that in the end someone will unlock the key and become the story about the best of the best breaking the code.

But more importantly I hope that it is clearly visable that it’s just a bunch of well mannered sports fans coming to support the sport they love leaving the city cash boxes over flowing and the the people in Upper Wisconsin wanting more.

I fish Wissota on a regular basis. Most of the time I’m looking for eyes or crappies. I do bass fish it though once in awhile. It is a GOOD lake. As it was said before this is a little different than they have ever had to deal with. The fish hang a little deeper in this lake than you would think. These guys need to quit their whinning. They almost sound like professional basketball or football players. It may not be the best bass lake in Wisconsin but they are there. There are plenty of big smallies and largies there. I know some of the guys who fish it will tell ya right now they wish they could be out there fishing against them. I know a few local guys that would be able to KICK the Pro’s butts. Just my 2 pennies, but these pros need to suck it up….I believe that is why they get paid what they do….TO FIND QUALITY FISH!!!

Well, here are a few spots they could have had the tourney: Mississippi River (pick a pool), Winnebago Chain, Sturgeon Bay, Madison Chain. Then get smaller (it is only 50 boats)……Shawano Lake, Lake Wis. numerous “chains” up north. Just my $.02 worth!

I agree Riverbassman. 50 boats really isn’t that many. I have seen numerous pools on the river, as well as many other smaller fisheries support that many boats in a tournament. Brovarney…. right on!!

Balsam Lake has had over 50 boat tournaments before and it’s 1/3 the size of Wissota.

I just checked the live weigh-in results for day one:

12 zeros
21 one fish
1 limit (Ike…man he’s on fire!)

OUCH!!! How ’bout it some of you local guys?? What’s the deal with this lake? Is it totally pressure? I really thought these guys would have the tricks to make them eat but I guess not.