Six straight days out on the water, followed by a nice Thanksgiving with family at our house, and then another four days chasing big saugers on Lake Wisconsin made for a great way to finish off the 2007 open water season.
The last four days were all half day trips and the cold wind made fishing down right brutal at times, but the size of the fish made it all seem worth it. Over those nine days on the water, 17 saugers measuring 20″ or better came over the side of the boat.
Since I’ve already covered all the trips leading up to Thanksgiving in my last report, this report is going to start with our trip on Friday, November 23rd,
Today’s fishing trip was pretty cool, and I’m not referring to the weather which never got above freezing. Despite the cool temperatures though, a very bright and sunny sky help a great deal, and it didn’t feel as cold as it really was. The clue to how cold it really was out there, was the ice that began to build up on the floor of the boat. I had washed it down to get rid of what I thought was fish slime. After washing it down, it was even more slippery than before! Guess it wasn’t fish slime after all!
Tom & Collin Handley, from Sun Prairie, wanted to spend an afternoon fishing for walleyes and saugers on Lake Wisconsin. They picked what may have been the best day of the entire fall!
In all, these two landed 15 saugers and 1 walleye. Not really all that special by Mississippi river pool 4 standards, that much I’m fully aware of. But lets consider the size of the saugers they caught. The three biggest all measured 22-1/2″ long. We took pictures of two but we couldn’t talk Collin into holding the first big one he caught so it was thrown back with out having its photo taken. Another went 21-1/4″ and the next was and even 20″ long. That’s five fish at or over 20″ long. Almost one third of the fish they caught were over 20″ long! To me, that’s just incredible. Nice job guys!
The top baits for today were paddletails and ringworms from B’Fish’N Tackle once again. The best colors on this trip for paddletails were the following: purple/white tail, electric blue/pearl tail and chartreuse/pepper. Best ringworm color was purple/white tail.
By the way, even though Collin is only 7 years old, he handled a spinning rod & reel just fine and did a great job of keeping his line tight while fighting these fish.
It sure was fun today guys! Thanks again and hope to see you back here again next year.
Saturday, November 24th
Windy, that’s the best way to describe today’s fishing trip. Windy and cold might be even better.
Card playing buddies Dick Straub, Wayne Henn and Rob Porubsky came along today in an effort to collect some walleye fillets for our annual card playing fish fry.
We went right to the program that worked so well for me yesterday and it was working just fine as long as we could control our boat speed. But today, the wind seemed determined to kick out butts and eventually, it did just that. Once that wind reach’s the 30mph mark, fishing really does become nearly impossible.
We still managed to put five legal size eaters in the boat, plus four more that went over 20″ long and had to be returned. Two others of the 11 caught were shorties.
Even though the weather shortened our trip today, it was nice to get out just for the fun of it for a change. We’ll do it again next year guys!
Sunday, November 25th
Kevin Menard had brought most of his family on a fishing trip with me last summer. Everyone except his wife, Margie, and his oldest son Matt. Today it was Matt’s turn to come along. Maybe next time we’ll be able to get Margie out there too!
The fishing was definitely tougher for us today. For one, the wind was still blowing pretty hard. I don’t think it ever really stopped blowing from yesterday. The three of us hopped around from one spot to another, trying to stay out of the wind and still catch some fish. All we managed for most of the afternoon was one nice 18-1/2″ sauger that Kevin caught.
Finally, right around 3:30pm, we noticed that the wind had appeared to subside just a little bit. So off we went to my top spot for the past few days, which just happens to be very exposed to the wind. And even though the wind didn’t by any means stop, it had indeed slowed down enough for us to effectively fish this spot.
They didn’t bite right away, but over the last half hour before dark, we finally found a couple of active ones that were happy to gobble up our ringworms and paddletails. Saved by the bell basically!
We ended up with only six fish but four of them were legal size and that’s what Kevin and Matt wanted the most. They really wanted to take some fish home for a tasty fish fry. One of the other two was over 20″ long and the last one was a shortie.
Great to fish with you again Kevin and it was nice to finally meet you Matt!
Hope to see you again next year!
First photo is Matt & Kevin Menard with their four keepers.
2nd photo is a 20″ sauger caught while fishing with Matt & Kevin.
3rd photo is Rob Porubsky with a 21-1/2″ walleye that he caught on our card party outing.
Monday, November 26th
A couple of good fella’s from Pennsylvania joined me on Lake Wisconsin today. Doug Burton moved to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin with his wife and family a few years ago. His brother-in-law, Dale Anderson was out for a visit. Both are avid fisherman and wanted to see how we do it here on Lake Wisconsin.
Unfortunately, today was probably the worst bite we’ve experienced all fall. Guess it had to happen sooner or later. On days like this, it can be hard to believe just how good the fishing really can be.
We hit the water a little after 10:30am and fished until dark. All we had to show for our efforts was two saugers, both over 20″ long, and a couple of paddletails that had the tails bitten off.
These are the only saugers either one of these two have ever caught so I guess if they were only going to catch one each, these were the right ones. Congratulations on a couple of fine fish guys!
A look at the weather forecast makes me think that this might have been the last trip of the year. The forecast is predicting lows of 10 degrees and highs that are not going to reach above freezing for the upcoming weekend. Usually, that means skim ice will form on the surface of the lake. When that happens, it’s literally impossible to keep your lure or bait down on the bottom.
If that is indeed the case, I certainly can’t complain. The fall of 2007 on Lake Wisconsin will go down in the record books as one of the best ever!
1st photo – Doug Burton with his 22 incher.
2nd photo – Dale Anderson with his 20-1/4″ sauger.
Joel,
Great Reports and good read.
SURE DO LOVE Saugers over 20.
Congrats on your good Fall.
Jack..
Nice report Joel! Dandy saugers!
Them are beauty saugers sir
Great report Joel
Those are quality saugers. Sounded like conditions were not for the average Joel 
“Super Size” is right.
Lake Wisconsin looks like the fishery that can match pool 4 in saugar size.
Always enjoy the read, Joel. Now I really feel bad missing the Lake WI bite this fall, with the prospects of ice and all. Going to have to get the priorities straight, I guess. Sounds like a good goal for my New Year’s resolution.
Nice fish Joel!
I look at my Crestliner out in the yard with the spiffy blue shrink wrap and snow cover and go…..BRrrrrr
I must be getting old and soft… 
I know the feeling Joe! Good for you still out there guiding folks…
We will get together next spring!!!
That, methinks, will be a blast! 
Nice report! 
Thanks much guys!
Z-man, I can’t believe you didn’t even make one trip over here this fall! Your definitely going to have to change that next year.
Dean, I’m going to be in the market for a couple of those shortie lead core rods this winter. I’ll be sending you a p.m. real soon.
Tom, I’m looking forward to fishing with you. Lets stay in touch and make it happen next year.
those are some beauties. Great job Joel
Another great report Joel! I sure wish we could have kept the fall fishing going another month or so, but can’t complain.
What a beautiful bunch of JUMBO saugers! Thanks for sharing.