Okay, I know the title says this is a walleye fishing report but it just so happens that the best fish we caught this past weekend was a muskie. It’s probably been a couple years at least since the last time my boat caught a muskie while fishing on Lake Wisconsin and this one happens to be the biggest ever boated by any of my customers.
Believe it or not, my client, Jim Stolpa caught this 45″ fish on a shorty Peregrine rod. At first, we thought for sure we were snagged up. Jim had already put the rod back in the holder and we were both reaching for the other rods when I saw the shorty Peregrine rod take two very hard & unmistakably violent head shakes. I yelled for Jim and he quickly grabbed the rod and did a great job battling this fish to the net.
At that point, it became quite clear that Jim felt his part of fighting this fish was done as he moved towards the front of the boat and announced that he had no plans to hold it up for a picture. So, I felt it was my duty to step in and hold it up for a few pictures. Trust me when I say this is without a doubt the strongest fish I’ve held up for a picture in a long time and I couldn’t be happier that both I and the fish escaped from our little picture taking episode unharmed. For awhile there, I felt like I was in more danger than this fish was.
As for the walleye fishing, despite the constant high flow rates through the lake this year, the bite has been pretty good overall. And that didn’t change much with the onset of June which is typically our best month of the year. And after this past weekend, I would say its looking a lot like June is still going to be our best month of the year.
There’s several different bites that you can take advantage of on Lake Wisconsin at this time. I’ve been targeting walleyes & saugers using two or three different techniques on any given day.
In my boat, we’re either trolling crank baits on planer boards or behind lead core and if I’m not doing that, then I’ll be pulling slow death rigs behind bottom bouncers.
The other technique I know many people are still catching fish on is jigging. Mostly jig & crawler although a few people choose to use leeches and some are still catching fish on plastics although that seems to be slowing down some.
On the lead core rods, I’ve been putting another new brand of lead core through the rigors this year. At some point, I’ll write up a quick report on this new lead core but at this time, I’m not ready to condone or condemn it. Still need to put a few more miles on it first.
Our best depths for the crank bait trolling bite has been anywhere from 7′ to 16′ deep. A few weeks ago, we were catching quite a number of fish in that 18-22′ range as well but thats kind of come to an end.
Slow death rigs have been best in the 10-15′ range but I’m never afraid to go a bit shallower with those either.
Jigs & crawlers, most of the guys still using jigs are up in the mouth of the river fishing anywhere from 4-10′ deep on average. Down on the lake, especially at day break and dusk, jig & crawlers have been working very, very well on specific pieces of structure. Think points, rock piles, cribs or other pieces of structure that will concentrate fish.
To sum it up, the bites been very good and very typical of June. Good numbers and this year, a very good range of fish sizes from shorts to big fish.
Can’t beat that. Better get out there and get some!