Wolf/Fox River -Winnebago System

Wolf/Fox River Walleyes on the run
I’ve been on the water a lot lately with a limited amount of time to get a quality report put together to share. So, in-between trips, I wanted to get some up-to-date info out for a few techniques that have been working for us.
Like a political campaign, CHANGE, has been the #1 technique to consistently maintain a bite on the Winnebago system. With this, I am referring to everything. Change locations, change plastics, change blades, change size, change cranks, depth, and so on. Often, the deck of my boat is looking more like a tackle shop. But being flexible and not stuck on any one single technique has kept the landing net dipping fish while others have been struggling.

I think the last 4 or 5 days has given a great snap shot of the current conditions and all-around status of fish in the system. I was joined by Z-man last Friday for a recon mission. I have been on quality fish in the 22-24” range well north of Fremont in the Gill’s to New London stretch. In the days prior, I was picking up many more spawned out females in the main channel. The water temps were in the 38 to low- 40’s and I needed a first-hand view of conditions down river as I knew I would be soon taking clients in that direction.
Ed and I found that not many fish had migrated down yet and I was still well ahead of the down run stampede. The deeper runs all had a fair number of smaller eyes and we did not pick up any spawned out females. However, I did take notice to a few cottage owners cleaning a few very large eyes as we passed by. These fish are being caught by dead-sticking a live-bait 3way rig off of their dock. We also found the small male whitebass were starting to enter the river at the mouth and the next phase of the Wolf River runs are about to happen. Ed and I ended the day with keeping a half dozen eater eyes and dozen small white bass for table fare. All came from a variety of pitching plastics to dragging jigs through the main channel.

Saturday through Monday offered a little more stable weather and bite, even with the increased boat traffic. Early mornings found many eyes up shallow on 5 foot ledges that dropped to 9-11 f.o.w. Pitching lipless cranks like the firetiger #5 Rapala rattle Rap and the ½ oz Live Target Gizzard Shad in Pearl/Silver put some nice fish in the boat. Shortly after sun rise, the crank bite died off and the plastics heated up. Pitching or dragging the 2.45 size Pulse-Rs, Chart./orange core ringworms, Kalins 3” green pepper grubs, and a pearl paddle tail all would have their moments.
Each day by 9 am the shallow bite would fall off and the main channel bite would pick up. A variety of baits would produce and it was a matter of getting the right bait offered. Dragging down current a ½ crawler, moxies & Pulse-Rs in various colors all produced – but the color preference changed frequently. 3/8 oz blades contributed as well with Pearl, Pink/white, and Green-chartreuse/white being the best.
Tuesday was brutal to put it mildly. We had intense lightning from 3am to 6:30am as thunderstorms blasted through the area. If that wasn’t enough to scatter fish, the 25 mph winds blowing 2’ waves up river gave boat control a whole new meaning. All day the bite was very light. More curiosity taps instead of the desired walleye thump. But as the day rolled on and the winds increased, I added a new bit of knowledge to the memory banks. In sections of the river where the wind was roaring up river, the eyes had moved above the first substantial drop and were willing to snap at a Pearl 3/8oz blade bait being slowly dragged down current. They were still neutral, but gave a consistent bite and enabled us to grind out a few limits of eaters. In contrast to this, moving up just a couple hundred yards in the channel to water that was out of the wind produced almost nothing. Kind of crazy to run a 80# thrust trolling motor at 80% power to pull you down with the current, but boat control was critical and brutal.

There are fish all over the system right now with a lot of walleyes to still come down into the lower sections. Cover water, investigate different depths, and keep changing to find that bait they desire!
Lastly, I need to give a bow of THANKS to Luther whom I had the pleasure of taking out on Tuesday. Luther is an Air Force Veteran and without the service that these men and women give, we would not enjoy the liberties that we do. Luther, it was a pleasure to meet you and fish with your grandson Joe (and seeing the Joe Bobby Fish Dance) and your son Sam. I know we had to work hard and I hope you enjoy the fish fry!
Equipment and most productive baits:
• Quantum EXO 7’ medium rods / EXO 25 reels
• Quantum Smoke rods in 7’ & 6’3” medium / Catalyst 10 reels
• BFT Plastics – Pulse-R’s, Ringworms, and Moxie’s (Firecracker/Chart Tail, Chart Orange Core, Goldcracker/Chart Tail, Oystershell, & Chart Pepper)
• BFT H2O and Draggin jigs
• Blades – Pearl, Pearl/Pink, Chart/White
• Kopper’s Live Target Lippless Gizzard Shad 1/2oz Pearl/silver
• Rapala Rattle Rap #5 Firetiger