Lake Wissota – Crappie Report

This week my wife and I spent date night on the water in pursuit of crappies. We had rods rigged and the Bait Tamer full of bait, all we needs was for the fish to cooperate. The good news is that the Lake Wissota crappie bite is on!

I generally don’t target crappies on Wissota when I can be chasing the walleyes, so it’s fun for me to spend the spring fishing for them. They are like my friends that I see once a year. We hang out and have a great time together, but never get a chance to see each other on a regular basis. I’m happy with the relationship, I hope the feeling is mutual.

I love going out in the spring and do what I call “interview the usual suspects”. Depending on the spawn stage the crappies are in, they seem to hold similar patterns from year to year. I started out trying some of the 15+ FOW spots that can hold fish early with surprise to not mark any fish there. A quick check to my temperature gauge revealed 45-degree water. I knew the spawn was probably more advanced than I had initially thought. I put the boat up on plane and went into a shallow bay that holds fish when they really start to get in the mood. We found 50 degrees in this bay. We dropped anchor and were quickly greeted with visitors to our floats.

We found our crappies in 5 – 10 FOW. My tactics are simple. I use a #6 aberdeen hook/minnow combo under a Thill float. I’m fussy about my floats to make sure they are properly weighted to limit resistance from biting fish. The float I will show is a little on the big side from what I normally use, but I made sure it was weighted down good.

These spawning crappies are vulnerable to over harvest. I kept 4 females that were deep hooked and picked out that males to bring home a modest meal for my wife and I. We spent the last part of the night all C&R.

Now is a great time to be on the water. Get out there and enjoy this great bite.

Sully