The fall fishing bonanza on Lake Wissota continues into its fourth week. Dropping water temperatures are causing smallies and walleyes to strap on the feedbag, and strap it on tight!
Joining me today was Alan G. from Eau Claire. Alan has heard the rumors about the numbers of smallies and walleyes coming to the boat from the waters of the Chippewa River above Lake Wissota, and today he found out for himself that the rumors are absolutely true! Here’s Alan with a beautiful Wissota bronzeback that snarfed a catalpa/chartreuse tail paddletail on a 3/16 oz precision head from B-Fish-N tackle.
We hit the water just after 7 this morning and enjoyed steady smallmouth action through the morning’s showers. We began by pitching 1/16 oz jigs tipped with crawlers onto a 6 ft-deep sand shelf that drops down to a 12-ft deep rocky bar. We quickly found that the fish were in a much more aggressive mood than we originally suspected, causing us to match their attitude with a more aggressive presentation. We started casting paddletails and retrieving them with a moderate but steady retrieve, just above the rocky bottom, and immediately began putting numbers of fish into the boat. Paddletails were scoring most of our fish until a thunderstorm chased us off the water (temporarily) at mid-morning. Here’s Alan with an average sized smallie…we caught scads of beautifully proportioned 13-15" fish just like this one.
The heavy weather left the area, the skies cleared, and the hunt for Wissota bronze was back on. We hopped around a bit, trying to locate a pod of actively feeding fish, and were rewarded when we shifted gears back to a very subtle jig/crawler presentation. Key to this technique is to simply use your rod tip to move the offering slowly across the bottom…no "jigging", just a slow drag with lots of pauses. Most strikes occur while the bait is sitting on the bottom during the pauses, and the bite feels more like a wet rag on your hook than a fish. Nevertheless, when the fish are a little "off", this is a way to convert lookers to biters. Live bait accouted for most of our walleyes today, with most in the Wissota protected slot, a couple of shorties and this nice 18+ that came calling during the middle of the afternoon.
Towards the end of the day we were tag-teaming the fish, with Alan fishing the paddletail aggresively and me coaxing bites using live bait. Alan went through a stretch where he caught 5 quality smallies on 5 consecutive casts. I had fewer fish, but perhaps a little better average size, fishing live bait. Here are two of my better fish, including our big smallie for the day, hitting the tape at 18.5". We ended the day with 30(+/-) smallies and about half that many walleyes…it was hard to keep an exact count with all high-fives, laughter, and fish being flipped into and out of the boat.
The fall bite on Wissota has been strong for 4 weeks…and counting! Water temps should continue to drop this week with our impending major change in the weather…I’m looking forward to the next 6-8 weeks, as late October-Early November usually accounts for my beefiest Wissota walleyes of the year. So take some time away from the deer stand, and make the trip to Lake Wissota for some outstanding fall smallmouth and walleye action!
Here’s another lovely bronzeback from Lake Wissota, this one caught on a catalpa/chartreuse tail paddletail from a 10-foot deep rocky mid-river hump.
Beauty smallies..
Nice pictures Jason along with a very informative report. Them smallies like them paddle tails too? I’m going to have to try that on the St Croix yet this year.
Jason,
Well done. That looks like a hoot!
Jason,great pics and fish.Sure is fun to get into those smallies isn’t it?
Are you happy with the solar sensation your using? Have you had the same line on the spool all summer,or have you had to change it a few times?
Ryan Hale
Nice report Again!, was out trolling on Friday and did very well also for these nice bronze backs and walleyes- Thanks for your information!
Ryan, I spooled up with fresh line in February for early spring eyes, then respooled in July, and have begun respooling again for the fall run.
I’ve noticed that the yellow color in solar sensation fades -relatively- quickly on sunlight exposure. For instance, let’s say that I pull the rods out of the locker on a Friday, fish for a few hours on Friday and then for a few hours on both Saturday and Sunday. If I leave a rod out of the locker all weekend, then all of the line that sees the sun (line in the rod guides and the first few wraps on the reel) will start to fade away to a more neutral green. I tend to lose confidence in the line at that point, and will pull of 20-30 feet before retying.
Other than that issue, I really like the strength of the line, and of course it’s great for line-watching. I have spools of solar sensation (8 lb) and spools of clear, colorless sensation (6 lb) in my boat all the time. If I’m fishing clear water, I go with clear lines. But if I’m on Pepin, Wissota, or another stained or muddy body of water, then solar gets the call.
Those are some good-lookin smallies Jason! They sure are a dark brown, and fat as footballs. Nice job!
Wade, maybe 20% of the smallies we catch are built like this one….a little short but really tall. This one doesn’t show it all that great, but hopefully you get the general idea. Check out the big divot over the gill plate. It’s as though a 12″ smallie’s head is glued on a 15″ smallie’s body, resulting in a fish that looks like momma bass paired up with pappa bluegill.
Wow, that one looks like the love child of a rock bass and smallie. Sure is different. Thanks for the pic Jason.
Jason
You might want to grab a spool of Suffix Elite the next time you’re down to the resort. I’ve been fishing with it all summer and I’ve been switching more and more rods over to that line versus the Sensation. It is much stronger and the sunlight doesn’t seem to degrade it like the sensation.
The one caveat I need to throw out is I haven’t fished it in super cold temps yet. When and where I have fished it I’ve been very impressed with this line.
Those smallies are awesome!
Jason,I’ve been using the solar green for 3 years now and like it.
Those smallies with the small head and big body are growing very fast.They “outgrow” their heads.On the Red River in Manitoba you’ll catch eyes that look the same way,super big bodies with small heads-looks kinda funny.
Ryan Hale
Click here for a quick Wissota walleye update from this afternoon. The first reasonably-sized walleye of the fall finally found the net. Way to go Tim!
Cool report Jason.
Those smallies have a beautiful dark color to them. Talk about footballs….They certainly are built like linebackers on that lake! Awesome looking fish.
Nice looking fish!
Lake Wissota looks like it has some very good fishing in it.
Judging from your pictures, I would say that it compares very well to what we have here on Lake Wisconsin.
Nice report Jason.
JWB
Jason, If you ever get below the Wissota dam too they are all that way too! I think they are that way because of sooooo many crafish in the river system up that way. They are all fat like footballs. Nice and fun to catch too!
Looks like Jason uses Paddletails for Smallies? Where can I get these? What brand do you advise, whats the best way to rig it?
http://www.bfishntackle.com
Rig it on a jig head….
Very nice fish Jason. Thanks for the report and pics. How big is the lake?
Thanks, Bill
Bill, Lake Wissota is ~ 6500 acres. It is a reservoir fed by 2 rivers and several smaller creeks. Lots of opportunities for people who like to fish both moving and still waters. We have everything from muskies to eyes to big smallies to slab crappies to cats (both kinds) and sturgeon.
Sounds like a pretty nice lake. How far upstream is it from where the Chippawa [sp] meets the Mississippi River?
Thanks, Bill
It is probably about 60 miles or so and 3 dams up from the Mississippi. The river up this way is completely different than it is from Eau Claire down. The lower part of the river you have to know where to go and can just get a john boat or small v bottom down.
Anyone thinking of heading to lake Wissota should heed Mr. Halfen’s advice on this thread and/or enlist his services as a guide. He knows his stuff and will put you on fish!!! Tight lines…Get 6