Fall fishing on Lake Wisconsin has been extremely tough this year. Plenty of short fish to be caught but not many keepers or fish in the upper slot size. After several weeks of that kind of fishing, I just wanted to go someplace where my clients & I could feel the pull of a quality fish on the end of our lines. Thank God for the Wisconsin River!
Many theories abound for why the walleye and crappie bite has been so poor on the lake this fall. The most common one has to do with all the high water we had this year. Apparently, it made all the fish run up into the rivers. Hard to say if its true or not but evidence such as creel surveys would certainly support that.
Despite the rainy, windy weather this past Saturday, my clients and I made the drive up to Wisconsin Dells to try some fishing on the river instead of the lake. I informed them that we were going to be pitching a lot of plastics which was a technique neither one of them had any experience with but both were happy to learn.
The day started slow but got better as we zeroed in on productive locations and patterns. We did not find or catch a large number of walleyes & saugers and most of those we did catch were undersized. But we did find some very nice crappies and they were all to willing to hit ringworms rigged on 3/16oz Precision Jigs.
It was interesting and fun not only teaching the guys how to pitch and retrieve plastics, but also how to recognize bites and set the hook the instant they felt the slightest tap. Many people might not believe this, but even the smaller crappies would have the entire ringworm or moxi all the way in there mouth the instant you set the hook. If a tap on the line was felt, setting the hook immediately usually resulted in a hook-up. Not setting the hook immediately, usually resulted in a missed fish!
We ended the day with 20 crappies ranging from 11 to 13" long plus one nice sauger and a very healthy 27" walleye which was released right after having her picture taken.
Despite the weather, it sure was a blast to get on a good plastic bite once again!
Our top ringworm & moxi colors for the weekend were as follows:
Chartreuse/Green core
Chartreuse/Orange core
Purple/Pearl Tail
Fire N Ice/Chartreuse Tail
Electric Blue/Pearl Tail
On Sunday, good friend Dick Straub and I hit the water below the Prairie du Sac dam. Pitching the same plastics worked like a charm there as well. We put four nice keeper size saugers and two good size crappies in the boat in just a few hours of fishing during the middle of the day. (along with numerous shorties)
If your not pitching ringworms, moxi’s and paddletails yet at this time of the year, your definitely missing out on some great fishing!
Love the report, Joel. Some of the biggest crappies I’ve ever caught have come on 5” Kgrubs while targeting shallow ‘eyes so why not on the moxies or ringies?!
PS – that mottled patterning on the big sauger is stunning. Reminds me of one of those Amazon catfish who’s name I can’t recall right now.
Great report Joel
That is an awesome looking sauger
Thanks for the report, Joel. We’ve also taken some nice crappie on ringies at Red Wing and at Petenwell….a very distinctive “tap” versus the walleye thump. Fun stuff.
May have an opportunity to go out for an all-dayer next week, and was thinking Lake WI, but may have to rethink that, especially if you’re running to other places.
Sweet looking sauger
Great report
Z-man – Both the Dells and the dam at Prairie du Sac having been putting out much better fish than Lake Wisconsin this fall. I got tired of beating my head against the proverbial wall. Sure was nice to feel some solid bites and have some consistent action for a change. Every years different and sometimes you just gotta roll with it.
Great report and nice looking fish. Just cant beat a good plastics bite.
Great read Joel, good job keeping your clients on fish sir
Great report Joel, way to stay on the move
Great pics and report as always Joel. Really great to see all those fish with a penchant for plastics! James’ comment is spot on, most of the biggest crappies I’ve ever caught were by mistake, with bigger plastic offerings than I’d ever think to try for those species.
Thanks for the great report and pics per usual Joel!
Joel
Thanks guys!
Good to see you havent lost your touch Boog……I am betting you have a strong bite very soon !
Nice job Joel
Nice fish Joel!
Thanks for the report
Nice fish Joel. Guess I should have tried the dells or Sauk on Saturday. Lake Wisconsin has to turn around this year yet, or at least I hope it will.
Great Report Joel. Those are some very nice fish!
Good to see you got into some nice fish. I was surprised when I took 5 nice crappies at Sauk pitching chart/orange core ringworm last week. Water is up and so is the current and no more crappies for us.
I still have some hope for Lake WI and those dandy saugers. Maybe some will show just before ice up.
Michael