Spent the day fishing with Ron Mannis and Gene Osborne. Ron was the lucky recipient of a half day guided fishing trip which was donated to the Dane County Airport United Way auction last year. Actually, Ron’s son married Jo Murphy’s daughter and Jo Murphy was the highest bidder for the gift certificate. Jo is not a fisherwoman but thought it would make a nice present so she gave it to Ron Mannis. Lucky guy!
Here is a shot of Ron with a 20-1/4" sauger.
Ron traveled to Wisconsin from Colorado and talked his brother-in-law, Gene Osborne into traveling here from the Twin Cities in Minnesota so that the two of them could spend a couple of days chasing walleyes on Lake Wisconsin. That wasn’t very hard to do since these two have spent time fishing together in many different waters across North America. They’ve shared a boat in the waters of Minnesota, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Canada to name a few. Today however, was their first time on Lake Wisconsin, and despite the hot weather, it proved to be a pretty good day for fishing.
Ron again with a 20-1/2" walleye.
Between the two of them, they caught 19 walleyes and saugers, 2 smallies, a 31" northern, a 15" muskie, one perch and one crappie. All fish were caught trolling jointed grappler shads and jointed #5 shad raps in blue and perch color patterns.
Not a bad first trip on Lake Wisconsin!
Ron again with his 31" northern pike.
Gene had the hot trolling rod early and definitely caught more keeper walleyes and saugers overall. But Ron had all the bragging rights when it came to size, catching the largest walleye, sauger and northern.
It’s actually quite unusual to even catch a northern pike on Lake Wisconsin. I have no memory of ever catching one before. You would think that with all the walleye fishing I’ve done over the past 25 years on Lake Wisconsin, we would have pulled in lots of them. It’s actually much more common to catch a musky than it is a northern pike. It was great to not only see one of my clients catch one, but a pretty nice one at that.
Nice job guys! Hope to see you two up this way again soon.
JWB
Thanks for the report and pics. Nice fish too. Could you tell me more about lake Wisconsin?
Thanks, Bill
Bill,
Sorry I wasn’t able to give you and answer sooner. Work and home life took precedence though.
Here is some back ground information on Lake Wisconsin:
The Dam in Prairie du Sac which forms Lake Wisconsin was built in 1909 and flooded in 1919. Lake Wisconsin is considered to be a eutrophic impoundment with approximately 9000 surface acres. It is the furthest down stream reservoir on the Wisconsin River system.
This stretch of the river, which runs from Wisconsin Dells dam on the upper end, down to Prairie du Sac on the lower end, is the last reservoir on the river before it’s confluence into the Mississippi River. The lake itself is approximately 10 miles long and it’s roughly another 20 miles from the upper end of Lake Wisconsin to the dam in Wisconsin Dells.
It has highly stained waters and a maximum depth of 47′.
Generally, it is believed that water flows thru this entire system in four days.
Although the river is the main source of water for Lake Wisconsin, there are several streams and creeks that feed it as well. Rowan Creek feeds into Whalens Grade, Prentice Creek feeds into Stoners Bay and several unnamed creeks such as the one near the back end of Gallus Slough.
Main lake bottom composition consist mostly of sand, rock and gravel but back bays may have a considerable amount of muck. Stumps are abundant in the wider expanse above the RR Bridge near Merrimac and near the mouths of both Weigands Bay and Moon Valley. And though less abundant, they also exist near the mouths of other bays as well.
Vegetation is limited throughout most of the main lake but coontail, pondweed, rushes, and water lilies can be found in most of the back bays.
Lake Wisconsin offers excellent fishing for walleye, sauger, crappie, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, bluegills and white bass.
Excellent growth rates indicate a superior forage base which consists of a large population of gizzard shad. Blunt nose minnows and shiners are also common.
Because of this, a walleye can grow 17-18″ long in just three years. Saugers can grow 13-15″ and crappies can grow to a length of 10″ during that same three year time span.
Both walleye and sauger had excellent spawning success in the mid 1990’s. That spawning success, combined with the new bag limits that went into effect on April 1, 2002 and the abundance of forage species for these fish to feed on, has turned Lake Wisconsin into one of the State’s premier walleye and sauger fisheries. Currently fisherman are allowed to keep a total of five walleyes and saugers between 15-20″ long. All fish between 20-28″ long must be returned to the lake. One fish over 28″ long may be kept but must be included in your daily total of five per person.
Walleyes in the 10-13lb range are caught every year and saugers over 20 inches long are common.
Many fisherman come to chase the abundant crappie which can easily reach 15″ or larger.
All walleye, sauger, crappie, muskie, pike, largemouth and smallmouth bass reproduce naturally in Lake Wisconsin.
Muskie and hybrid muskie have both been stocked in this lake numerous times and though not abundant, it is not uncommon to catch one either. These stockings occurred years ago and no stocking of muskies has occurred in the past 25 years.
Northern pike are also present and though not abundant, they will show up on the end of your line from time to time.
WOW! Lots of info. Thanks Bud. If a person was new to this body of water and wanted to fish for walleyes where would you reccommend they put in at? How should thay fish this body of water [technique]? How about crappies?
Thanks, Bill
There are many good boat launch’s on both sides of the lake.
On the west side of the lake, you can find two pretty good boat ramps off of Hwy 78. One is located near Merrimac in the Bay of Moon Valley. About 8 miles south of the Moon Valley launch is a very nice, paved boat landing provided by Sauk County. It’s located right next to the Hill Crest restaurant.
On the east side of the lake, there are three very nice public boat landings. All are paved and provided free of charge. Thanks much to Columbia County!
The first is located just off of Hwy V at the Grade in the town of Dekorrah. The 2nd is located just off of Hwy 188 in Okee Bay. (about 5 miles west of Lodi) And the third is located in Sunset Bay right on Hwy 188 and is adjacent to Fish Tales restaraunt. (about 8 miles east of Prairie du Sac or 8 miles west of Lodi)
This time of year, if your after walleyes, then trolling crankbaits like the jointed grappler shad and jointed shad raps are hard to beat. Target the 10-14′ depths to start with. If there not hitting on crankbaits, then break out the crawler harnessess and work the same depths.
Crappies can be caught along with walleyes on the same crankbaits and occasionally on the crawler harnessess also.
If you want to target them specifically, try jigging small plastics or minnows on live bait rigs along the numerous stumps found at the mouth of both Weigands Bay and Moon Valley Bay. The stump field above the RR Bridge is also a good spot at this time of year.
Obviously, techniques change with the time of the year. If you really want to cut down the learning curve on Lake Wisconsin, consider hiring a good local guide. (like me)
On weekends during this time of year, you can expect to see heavy recreational traffic during the mid-day hours. Try to go early and/or late in the day, or if possible, go on a weekday. The fishing is usually better at those times anyway.
Good luck if you do decide to go! Lake Wisconsin really does have some great fishing.
JWB
Thanks. Are the stump fields marked so a person doesn’t take out a lower unit on them?
Thanks, Bill
PS. How far would you say Lake Wisconsin is from LaCrosse?
Thanks, Bill
The stump fields are not marked. They are also not as bad as many people make them out to be. Of course that is coming from a guy who runs through them just about every weekend.
If a person wanted, I could download all the icons representing stumps from my Lowrance GPS onto a MMC and send it to them. Better yet, you buy the MMC and send it to me, and I will download the icons onto it and mail it back to you. I estimate that approximately 95% of them are marked on my Lowrance.
Lake Wisconsin is approximately two hours away from Lacrosse via the I-90 Interstate system. Get off at the Lodi exit via Hwy 60, turn right in the middle of Lodi on Hwy 113 and your about 6 miles away from the nearest boat landing.
JWB