Lake Winnebago Report

Fishing is really starting to pick up after being attrocious for weeks. The water temps have been so far below normal that the fish are really late moving their way down from the wolf river through Lake Poygan, Lake Winneconne, Lake Butte De More and down the fox river and into Winnebago. Fishing on bago is really spotty. If the wind is right you can pick up fish slip bobbering the reefs with leeches. The trolling bite is not that good yet but its right their just waiting to explode any day! Lots of fish to be caught on the upper lakes (Poygan and Butte De More) in the cane beds. The fish in the cane beds are on and off a couple times a day it seems. Their still are PLENTY of fish in the fox river to be caught. Jigging, handlining, and rigging baits or jerking flies are taking fish from the fox. The fish in the river seem to run a little bigger also. Best fish for me was a 6 lb fish that took a spinner and leech on the fox river. The fishing on Winnebago is ready to really take off any day.

The lake is really starting to go now. The mud bite has improved with the water warming. Shadraps in #5 / 7’s have been producing. Blues and minnow colors have been working for me. Also the small wallley divers – black and silver. During the Otter Street tournament, some teams did good on crawler harnesses in the mud. Reefs and rock humps are going good also, but you need the right wind to get them on top. Watch the PWT results for more info.
Also heard that Poyan and Butte des Mort were producing good fish, so the whole system is active.
Happy fishing

I figured that it was going to take off by the time this PWT event came around. Their should be some good weights coming in. I’ll be watching close to see how DeeZee and Naig do. Im not sure if any other EFN’ers are fishing it or not. Id like to get over their again soon to fish the Reefs on the West Side of the lake.

What is the general water temp over their right now? Are they still getting fish on the lower end of the Fox or has that also died down? Also…what do you know about the technique they call “jerking flies” I tried this and was not successful but alot of locals swear by it. Tews on main st. has these little streamer flies they like to run off of three way rigs and snap trolling them on the fox river supposedly takes alot of fish. Any word on the cane bite?

Sorry for all the questions!

Hougie – will try to answer your questions, but some info is second hand. I fished Thursday thru Sunday last week – Otter Str. Spend some time on the West side reefs bouncing cranks off the sides, mostly sheeps and smaller Walleyes. Guys drifting and bobbering were doing better, but you need the wind for better action. As for the water temps, was up to 75 surface but dropped to 68 – 70 with the cool nights over the weekend, but the temps are rising again.
During Otter Str. the kids had to go out to see if they could beat my weights – they did . They worked the river by the Pioneer, but only got a 19″ out there. Talked to another team and they only had 1 for their efforts, so everyone that I know headed for the mud.
Have used the flies, but only during the lake fly hatch. Never tried the jerking method, but will remember that.
During the Merc National, heard teams did good in the canes, but again – need wind.
The north 1/3 of the lake in the mud has been the most productive right now – thats where the kids got their weight and a lot of other teams.
I am heading for Saginaw in a couple of days and then up to the cabin for the 4th. Will not get a chance to work Bago again until the week of July 8th.
Last year Bago was really hot in July, I think it is going to be a repeat. Happy fishing

Hi…
Fished Winnebago for the Merc Nationals and a lot of top weights came from Winnebago, so things became great there for that tournament. We did well pulling DJ’s and hot n’ tots. Also have done well at that time pulling DAJ’s and shad raps. Fish were going on spinners as well. From word of mouth heard the rock reef bite was not on yet. All our fish came from the mud flats, as did some others we talked with.
Some specific areas in the river did well too, as they did again in the PWT. Some friends did well in the PWT pulling DJ’s yet, while some others did well pulling spinners.

Just got back from the PWT on Bago and my trolling bite went south 2 days prior to the tourney and had to scramble for a few fish each day. Day three I had to head upriver due to some equipment problems and scrambled for a few cane bed fish!. The winning weights came from river bridges both pitching and vertical jigging!
Winnebago is a fun body of water to fish though! The trolling bite was very sporadic and it kept you on your toes at all times. Crawler harnesses pulled on boards is what seem to be the bait of choice for us trollers. One day they were high (very high) and the next was mid-depth and then all the way to the bottom. I pulled hot-n-tots for my crank fish and unfortunately could not get a consistant pattern to evolve.
Staying very active changing out depths and lures was key to stay with the walleyes out there. One minute they were down at 14ft and the next were right under the surface. Changing colors, depths, actions was a constant puzzle to get something to go.
Although, this was my first visit to the Winnebago system, I will be back on the next tourney visit to the Oshkosh area!

Steve,

Sorry to here about your equipment problems, hope they fix alright.
Sounds like you did an excellent job scrambling for fish.
Keep on fishin!

Did ya ever think about one of those TIN BOATS?