Lake Wissota pre-holiday report, 5/24/07

This is a very special report describing our results from a Brandon Rolen Foundation Benefit guided trip. Read on to see how Kevin and his nephew Lee spanked the eyes and cats on Lake Wissota!

Several months ago, Kevin Krumenauer (Absolute2ks on IDA) placed the winning bid for a fully guided trip on Lake Wissota, with all proceeds going to support the Brandon Rolen Foundation. As our trip plans begin to materialize, I learned that Kevin had the opportunity to do precious little fishing this spring, and that he was also interested in learning some new methods for chasing Lake Wissota’s abundant walleyes. So, the pressure was on for yours truly to connect with some finny critters for Kevin!

To complicate our situation, the trip fell on a day with terrible/brutal weather. We were chased off the water by lightning, and endured multiple hours of soaking rain and strong winds that were constantly changing directions. Nevertheless, we persevered, and Kevin and his nephew Lee had a chance to wrestle with a bunch of fish during our day together.

Our game plan was to pitch and drag livebait on light jigs when weather permitted, and when the wind and rain was upon us, to switch over to trolling crankbaits on leadcore. We actually started the day pulling lead on a sandy, weed-scattered flat when we connected with the first pair of fish. One of the fish was a standard issue Wissota walleye in the 13-14" class, but the other fish was something else entirely. A hearty battle on a "shorty" leadcore rod concluded with this 31", 10 lb 4 oz channel cat finding the bottom of the net. That fish crushed a firetiger SR5 as we slowed our troll down to deal with the smaller walleye…she pulled off nearly two full colors of leadcore before we could slow her down. A few quick snaps and back in the drink she went.

After a quick lightning-induced shore break, the weather calmed enough for us to do some jig pitching and dragging. We were targetting a current-swept sand and rock flat, pitching 1/16 oz jigs tipped with leeches or minnows. We landed a few fish in the slot, and then wrestled with with beautifully-colored 21" walleye that Lee is holding in the first picture. That fish came on a jig/minnow combo. Throughout our jig fishing periods yesterday, the best bite seemed to swing between minnows and leeches, so it would be wise to carry both in your boats this weekend. This third photo features Lee holding his first ever walleye, a fish in the Wissota protected slot. Lake Wissota is just chock full of these 14-16" fish!

Kevin also wanted to try his hand at a little jig dragging, a technique which I described in detail last winter in this IDA article. We were able to drag some bait during a (very) brief calm period alongside a mid-river rock spine that is about 200 yards long, tops out at 5-6 feet, and is surrounded by 11-14 feet of water. During our two downstream passes, we stuck a couple of short eyes and another channel cat (!), shown in a picture to follow tis report. This was our second kitty of the day…it would no be our last. After about 10 minutes of dragging, Kevin remarked, "now this is a style of fishing I could really like!"

Our jig bite was sporadic during the day, and when the weather came back up, we did a fair bit of leadcore trolling. While things were bleak for a bit, inducing thoughts of warm, DRY truck cabs and warmer hot chocolate, the silence was eventually broken by another double on lead. Lee stuck a fish on a shorty that turned out to be a low 20’s pike. As we were bringing that fish to the net, I saw Kevin’s rod double over….here we go again! We drew a small crowd of spectators as we brought the brute towards the boat, and there she remained for what seemed an eternity as she pumped her head and Kevin tried to recover what line he had left. Eventually, she rose to the surface…another big old channel cat! A few swipes of the net finally met with success, bringing this fat 29", 10 lb 3 oz channel into the boat. Definitely not the same fish we caught earlier in the day, but nearly its twin in terms of weight. Nothing like 20+ pounds of big cats caught on a walleye trip! Our own Briank could hum a few bars of a similar song, as his catfish guide trips are regularly putting the sumo eyes in the boat in recent days.

Kevin, Lee and I ended up working for our fish for about 10 hours total. Late in the day, when all hope appeared lost, the skies cleared (somewhat), and we enjoyed a brief encounter with the sun. Rejuvenated, I told the guys I had one or two more spots up my sleeve to get us some jig fish. In a micro-contest that lasted the final hour of the day, Kevin and I tied with 3 more walleyes apiece, with all of mine on minnows and all of Kevin’s on leeches.

When it was all said and done, the three of us probably managed in the neighborhood of 15-20 walleyes, one small musky, a couple of pike, 3 cats,and 3 rock bass . Not bad for a miserably windy, rainy day on Lake Wissota.

Key presentations for us were trolling cranks on leadcore in 10-14 feet of water and jigging. We caught fish on hot steel and purpledescent SR7s, clown and firetiger SR5s, and firetiger suspending/rattling SR5s. The jig bite featured primarily 1/16 or 1/8 oz jigs fished in 8-16 feet of water.

If we ever get a few days of stable, warm weather, Wissota is going to explode with fish activity. Our water temps have been locked in the low-mid 60s for a couple of weeks now, and the bite for all species is very sporadic. Covering water by trolling is a good way to come in contact with the most active fish, and jigging is a reliable way to comb known feeding areas. Be versatile in your approach this holiday weekend, and you’ll be able to score a few fish from Chippewa county’s Lake Wissota!

Let me conclude by thanking Kevin for his generous contribution to the Brandon Rolen Foundation, and for spending the day with his nephew Lee and me in the boat. I look forward to fishing with you guys again soon!