A look back at this 2015 open water fishing season on Green Bay

While some of us have already been doing some ice fishing there are many of us that have not seen a sign of ice or anything that looks like winter. I am one who in anxiously awaiting the arrival of the ice fishing season but it definitely appears to be quite some time before it will settle into our part of the woods. I have officially ended the open water fishing season here on Green Bay winterizing the boat the other day and putting it into the garage to rest for the winter.

The 2015 fishing season was another great season for us catching lots of great fish including untold numbers of quality walleyes throughout the entire Bay along with trophy Smallmouth Bass from the Door County area. This season we first put the boat in the water on the first day of April concentrating in and around the many tributary rivers that feed into the Bay fishing for walleyes. We fished these fish using a one two approach using casting techniques along with some trolling but mostly casting for these shallow water walleyes.

Shortly after the walleye spawn was complete the fish begin to scatter throughout the Bay utilizing shallow water flats where they will begin to feed aggressively trying to regain their strength after a strenuous spawn. During this time trolling techniques work very well for locating fish but also you can really get on a great bite casting for these fish once located. Areas to look for these fish would be areas of subtle depth changes along with areas with slight weed growth and isolated rock piles.

As we moved into the months of May and June along with still fishing for walleyes we began our hunt for the Smallmouth Bass that were starting to invade the shallow warmer water. When we are fishing for these Smallmouth we are using a couple different techniques one would be using jerk baits such as the Rapala Husky Jerks, along with the Rapala X-Raps and for this season we had great success on the new Rapala Shadow Raps. Along with using the jerk baits we also have great success using tube baits and swimming grubs.

The months of July, August, and September brought us back to hunting large trophy Walleyes along with also being able to catch smaller eater size walleyes. At this time of year we begin to find many of the Walleyes using mid basin areas of the Bay many of which will suspend in open water and many that will utilize the off shore structure such as under water reefs and shoals. Here we will troll and also cast for these fish depending on there location many fish that will suspend in open water we will use trolling techniques to target these fish using Rapala Husky Jerks along with Storm Smash Shads but fish that we find using structure we will also cast for these fish using baits like the Rapala Rippin Raps.

Moving into the months of October and November we spent lots of time chasing trophy Smallmouth Bass that were putting on the feed bag preparing for the long cold winter months. When we were targeting the Bass we were using a lot of live bait rigs with succer minnows and red tail chubs. We would fish for these fish on break lines that would separate shallower water from deeper water just slow enough to move our baits so that they could still swim naturally. This is also a great time to catch some true trophy size walleyes that also are preparing for the winter months and feeding heavily. When targeting the walleyes this fall we were casting for fish that we new were in the areas but we were also trolling large flats looking for schools of fish that were moving towards there wintering grounds using lead core lines and minnow baits.

It was a great 2015 fishing season for me having a lot of fun and  creating many great memories but most importantly I want to give great thanks to all of the people who booked fishing trips with me this season I hope you all had a great time and created good memories that you can share with your friends and family and hope we can enjoy it again for the 2016 fishing season which will start as SOON as we can get some ice. Happy Holidays and good luck fishing.

Paul Delaney

www.lateeyessportfishing.com

(920) 421-0896