John’s Wissota report

Hi guys,
I’ve been watching your forum for a while now and appreciate the positive and informative exchanges. I’m a serious angler, though probably not good enough to fish tournaments. Anyway, I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to add my two cents, so I’ll submit my fishing report for today.

Water temp is 47 degrees with mostly sunny skies and light winds that constantly changed directions. I started fishing cribs in 12 to 14 feet near the State Park boat landing and didn’t find crappies, but fat female perch were
stacked up in there ready to pop. I caught about 30 of those, though I lost exact count after 20. I caught a 26″ pike on 4 lb. fluorocarbon there also. The pike swallowed the jig but the fluorocarbon was tough enough that it didn’t get cut by the pike’s teeth.
I moved out closer to the river channel and finally found crappies in 19 to 20 feet. I caught 10 of those ranging from 10.5 to 13 inches in length. Some rock bass and a bluegill kept things interesting when crappies weren’t biting.
I kept 6 crappies for dinner and scouted around other areas of that yellow river section, but didn’t find much.
Maybe I’ll attach a picture if I figure out how to do that…

Thanks for the update John, and welcome to IDA!

Great to have another Wissota fan on board.

Will you be fishing the league this year?

welcome . and thanks for the report.

Welcome John. Great to have you with us. Please feel free to share and post all you want. Thanks for the report and pic. I see you fish out of an Alumacraft Navigator too. How do you like yours? I sure love mine.
Thanks, Bill

No fishing league for me — too many other irons in the fire. That includes camping trips to Lake Holcombe and Hayward. And, of course, the kids’ activities.

Thanks Bill. I like the Navigator a lot. It’s what they
call the Classic 16 now. Great storage. Sometimes I think a jump to the 175CS would be nice – especially when the whole family (4 bodies) goes fishing and one daughter brings a friend along.

I went back out by the State Park Wednesday evening for just a couple hours. I got a few scattered crappies and some accidental, tiny, walleyes. No perch so they must have moved on.
In general, there was fewer, and smaller fish.
Water temp was 55 to 56 degrees. Does anyone know at about
what temp crappies head up to the shallows to spawn? I was thinking 60’s.

— John

John, thanks for continuing to report. It’s great to have you here.

I have been told the males will start to go shallow in the high 50’s to scout out spawning bed and start to fan out the beds. In the 60 to 65 degree range, the ladies will make their way into the shallows to spawn.

Sully

I’ve been kinda busy so I haven’t taken time to check in. But, I haven’t been too busy to go fishing.

I fished the little lake Sunday and quickly found a spot near the View where I was catching bunches of fish for about 2 1/2 hours til action got slow. I got a couple of 12″ crappies but most were 9 to 10 inches so most got tossed back in. I only keep 6 at a time anyway. I got probably 20 walleye, though they were skinny little things and no longer than the large crappies.
The water temp on that spot was about 50 so I guess the little lake is cooler than the yellow river section.
When I got bored on that spot (and the wind was causing me grief) I searched around other areas of the little lake and didn’t find much other than a couple of scattered (tiny) walleye. Water temp varied from 50 to 58 depending on the location.
I only have a couple of favorite spots for prespawn crappies. I need to find more for those days when fishing is tougher.

— John