Yesterday, I had the opportunity to share my boat with Joe Knight, outdoors writer for the Eau Claire Leader Telegram. Joe and I had been trying to engineer a trip for a recently-returned Iraq veteran, but unfortunately, our intended guest was unable to join us. Undeterred, Joe and I decided to enjoy an absolutely glorious October day and chase some of Lake Wissota’s bronze and gold.
Joe and I began our trip as I often do at this time of year, pitching bait on light jigs to mid-river rock and sand structure in the Chippewa River. Noting that decent current was present, I was hopeful that we would soon connect with a fish or two. After a few minutes, Joe hooked a beautiful, acrobatic 18″+ smallie that was absolutely uninterested in coming to the boat. Joe is pictured below with this fish. Like many of the smallies I have encountered in the past 2 weeks, this fish bore a recent wound or two on his face, an obvious beneficiary of catch and release fishing for quality smallmouth bass. Perhaps this fish had a ride in someone’s livewell during the recent FOM bass tournament.
With some smallie action but no walleyes to show, Joe and I ventured far upriver to an area that hosts a number of good shoreline-related current seams. These features are typically good producers during moderate flow. What we found, however, was HEAVY flow. So heavy that I had to set my 70 lb troller on full thrust in an effort to just stay in place….and it barely worked! Nevertheless, we were able to extract a few more fish, including our first eyes of the day and another 17″+ smallie from one current seam by pitching 1/8 oz jigs tipped with minnows into the slack water and allowing the offering to wash along the seam. Joe stuck this second smallie as well, and landing it was like pulling in a barn door once that fish came out into the heavy flow. When that fish finally hit the net, we were 150 yards below the seam where Joe stuck that fish. Tired of fighting the flow, we decided to to some cranking out in the lake.
We set up to pull cranks on leadcore on a south facing piece of main lake structure that has been holding decent numbers of walleyes during the past couple of weeks. As we deployed our baits, I was happy to see piles of big arches relating to 20-22′ depths. It took us all of 5 minutes to connect with our first fish, the 23″ thick-bodied walleye shown in the second picture below. Over the course of the next two hours, Joe and I sorted through a number of slot fish and found him a few eaters as well, and even popped a bonus eater crappie. These nice-sized pannies are just nuts for cranks right now! If a guy slowed down and bobber fished after finding a school by pulling cranks, he would probably fill the well with specks in no time. All of our crank bites came on the slow side of 2 mph…expect that speed to keep slowing over the next couple of weeks as water temps slip below 60.
Our current water conditions: temps 60-61 up in the Chip, 64 in the main lake, and nearly 67 in the Yellow River arm. HEAVY flow in the upper portions of the Chip, and even some noticable flow in the Yellow. I expect both rivers to keep rocking with all of the rain we’re getting now, and all of the rain that is expected this weekend.
Bait selections: I think I’m done with crawlers for the year. Bring plenty of fatheads, maybe even bring some smaller ones to jig up some slabs. Best cranking action on #5 shad raps and similar patterned hot-n-tots.
Not too many perfect weather days left this fall. Get out and enjoy!
Oh yeah, and pick up a copy of next Friday’s Leader Telegram…you may see a familliar face. 
