November is coming to a close, and my open water season on Lake Wissota is closing along with it. I thought I’d take this opportunity to revisit some of my memorable trips, with clients and with friends, on our little backyard gem. Feel free to add your own memories! We’ll be able to use this thread to keep us warm all winter, waiting for WI’s inland 2008 opener.
May and June
I tend to not fish Wissota too much before the general season opener. As a result, my first Wissota trips waited until the second week of the season. At this time, I found water temperatures in the mid-60s in the Chippewa river and temps closer to 60 in the main basin of the lake.
My early season routine focuses on 3 techniques: pitching light jigs with minnows or leeches to rock structure in the Chippewa River, pulling cranks on leadcore on main-river structure and flats, and pulling spinners on bottom bouncers along river and main lake bars. With all the variation we see in early season weather, a guy has to be prepared with an arsenal of techniques to get the job done.
May into June is walleye and catfish time. We saw 3 channels in the 10 pound class on walleye tackle and good numbers of eyes, with an average of one fish in the 20-inch class per trip. Northerns and crappies are in the mix as well, and while my records show an occasional early-seaon accidental musky or two, we only scratched up one little ski this year on a crank.
Approaching Memorial day, we started to see temps flirt with the 70 degree mark, and the bigger walleyes becaue more consistent. Given the choice, I prefer to go toe-to-toe with these bigger fish using a jig stick rather then my trolling gear, and we enjoyed a week-long period around the holiday when walleye numbers and sizes were both excellent.
