Early spring walleye fishing on the Wisconsin River has been much tougher this spring than it has been in many years. No one is quite sure why but I’m guessing that we still have an abundance of bait fish. When it comes to fishing, some years are bound to be tougher than others.
Sunday afternoon we made our first trip of the year to the stretch of river below the Wisconsin Dells dam. And as reported by many others who have gone before us, we found the bite to be pretty tough. Not counting sturgeon, the one good fish we did catch was caught pitching to shallow water with a 3/16oz orange tiger glow precision jig tipped with a catalpa chartreuse ring worm from B’Fish’N Tackle Company.
Closer to home on the head waters of Lake Wisconsin where we generally catch plenty of big saugers right after ice out, well…the bite has been very tough there also.
I only managed to get out once so far where the mouth of the river dumps into the lake but after four hours of fishing all we managed was one decent sauger, one shorty and two average smallies. The only good fish we found on this particular day was a nice 22-1/2" sauger.
I have managed to sneak out for a couple of night fishing trips where the bite has been a little bit better than during daylight hours. Definitely not great but at least we are catching fish on a more consistent basis.
Stick baits have been my best night time lure although I did tie on a purple/pearl tail ringworm the other night just to try something different than what everyone else was throwing. It got hammered on the first cast shortly after hitting the water and after a quick 10 second battle it managed to bite thru my 10# fireline crystal. Guess I lost that battle but it does appear as though the muskies like those ringworms from B’Fish’N Tackle just as much as the walleyes do.
My best night out so far this year saw ten walleyes caught.
An average night though may see anywhere from one to five walleyes along with an occasional muskie. Most are caught on stick baits but I have caught a few on ringworms.
My favorite night time color for ringworms at night has been the purple/pearl tail on a 1/8oz orange tiger glow precision jig head. But, I also feel that more testing is going to be necessary. A lot more testing if I can help it.
The hooks on those Precision Jigs are definitely strong. This sturgeon was snagged in the back and after a hard fought ten minute battle, we finally managed to slide her into a net and snap a quick picture. The hook didn’t appear to be bent out at all allowing me to get right back to fishing.
The second picture is an average night time walleye that I’ve been catching lately. Most are in the 17″ to 20″ range so far.
Awesome report Joel!!
Beautiful fish! 
Great job Joel! We missed you at camp this year. I can’t wait to share the boat with you again.
Great report
Talk about a mixed bag
of nice fish!
Great report Joel, that open water looks great!
Great report Joel.
I’m dying to get out!! I’m hoping to boat some eyes later this week.
Nice report Joel. Sorry to hear the head of the lake never got snapping this year. Guess we can’t have an off the hook bite every year.
Great report Joel. Things should only get better in the next week!
Well done Joel, never get tired of those night bite fish
Thanks guys!
Way to go Joel! Thanks for the report
great fish guys
Great report as always Joel
What kind of water conditions are you experiencing on the Wisconsin River Joel?
With the water conditions the way they are here on pool 8 maybe a guy should be heading that way.
Thanks Bret.
Flow through the dells dam right now is at 7,400cfs and 10,290cfs at Prairie du Sac. That’s above normal but not by a lot. It’s probably going to go down each day to as Castle Rock is at 3,593cfs. That’s down about 3000cfs from yesterday.
Current is not that bad anymore, very fishable. Water is fairly clear and the fishing
(during the day at least) has been sloooooooowww.
Hopefully that last part will be changing real soon!
Nice work Joel, Share Clark’s boat at your own risk. I saw him doing 75 mph on pool 4 not too long ago and it was infested with gators and ice bergs.
I haven’t been on pool 4 in my boat ever
Joel,great pics
How is the bite around t/point area.Are you getting the chest waders wet.As always another great report on W.River Lake W.My wife and i are looking forward to reading some more great reports around T.Point.In the near future…Fish Hunt Eat Sleep Workkkkkkkkk…D.D…..
The area around Tipperary Point has been much slower than normal years. Tipperary is in the township of Dekorrah. The fishing should pick up considerably in this area shortly after the walleyes finish spawning. Probably starting somewhere around late April.
As for getting the chest waders wet, look closely at several of the pictures in my report. Those aren’t camo pants that I’m wearing!