Friday, 11-28-08
The last few days of the season were reserved for fishing with brothers & nephews who were in town for the Thanksgiving day family gathering and for my niece Miranda's wedding, which is scheduled for this coming Saturday.
Now that all the relatives had finally arrived, it was time to figure out who was going along fishing and who was going to be left out. Eliminating Dennis, Gerard and Daniel was easy since they all prefer to hunt. That left Chuck, Paul, Bryan, Tyler and myself. My boat meant I was in. Paul had dibs from way back so he was in. Chuck bought me a tank of boat gas the other day which I had barely put a dent in so he was in. My 18' lund is rated for six people but for all practical purposes, four is the most I can safely take fishing without worrying that someone is going to get knocked in the drink due to a lack of elbow room. It came down to nephews Bryan & Tyler and since Bryan gets to fish on a fairly regular basis with his dad (Dennis) in Kansas and Tyler only gets to fish when he is in town visiting family, that meant Bryan was the odd man out. Sorry Bryan, next time your in for sure though.
If your feeling sorry for Bryan, don't! He is no slouch when it comes to fishing and he gets to fish more than Chuck and Paul put together. And he's not exactly a little kid either. He's taller, stronger and some would say even better looking that any of the adults that did get to go. Leaving him out just meant the competition just got a whole lot easier. Tyler's in, Bryans out. Lets go fishing!
The west winds that blew in the day before continued through out the night. This was a good thing because they kept the open water areas from freezing over. Even better yet, they had let up some making boat control much easier today.
We arrived at around 11:00am and not more than 10 minutes after dropping lines, Paul & Tyler were battling a double. It could have been a triple but Chuck lost his fish. Paul's first fish of the day was a dandy 22 inch sauger and Tyler pulled in a real nice 17" sauger. A couple more legals came in soon after before the bite slowed. That's kind of how the rest of the day went as well. We would get some steady action, then things would slow down for awhile.
Our best depths changed through out the course of the day. Early on, we did best in 30' of water or more. But with bright sunshine, it appeared as though active fish began to move into somewhat shallower water and we began to catch more fish in the 23' to 25' deep sections.
Paddletails tipped with minnow were our hot bait once again and fishing them slow was the key to getting bit. That and changing baits often to find the right color patterns. Most people would say color isn't that important but over the past three days, it sure was apparent that some colors were far better than others.
We ended the day with a total of 20 walleyes & saugers. Four of them were over 20" long, ten were in the legal slot range and the rest were shorts. I did throw one 15 incher back and heard about it later. I guess being one short on the fish board made a difference to some.
Dressing properly made the cold weather a non-factor and spending the holiday fishing with family just made it that much better. Catching lots of fine looking saugers, walleyes & and even a saugeye will make everyone look forward to coming back and doing it again next year.
Hope you all had as much fun over the holiday as we did!
Thursday, 11-27-08
Overnight temperatures bottomed out at 17 degrees last night. Cold enough to put a layer of ice about 1/2" thick over most of the areas that we wanted to target again today. So the first order of business for my brother Chuck and I when we arrived at the lake around 10:00am this morning was to clear out an area for us to fish. A half hour or so later and we were dropping our lines over the side of the boat.
Our bait of choice was once again paddletails tipped with minnows. The skies started out sunny but they didn't stay that way for long. A cold wind ushered in plenty of clouds and without the sun, it felt quite a bit colder out there also. The high temperature for today was around 37-38 degrees.
With the sun now pretty much completely gone, we pulled our lines and tied on totally different colored jig heads and paddletails. Didn't pay to leave on the original ones since they were not getting bit anyway.
Surface water temperatures remain right around the 34-35 degree mark. They really don't change much this time of the year when ice starts forming on the lake.
The strong west winds did have an affect on our fishing in both a negative and a positive way over the course of the day. Early on, the winds pushed large chunks of ice through the areas that we wanted to fish. When you have ice chunks on both sides of the boat, its very hard to keep the ice from grabbing your line and pulling the jigs well up off the bottom. Later in the day though, the wind had cleared out a very large area for us to fish in by pushing all the loose ice to the opposite side of the rail road bridge.
Our best depth did change a little bit from yesterday. The bite was slow all day and that forced us to not only change baits often but also to experiment with different depths. What we found was that the fish appeared to have moved a bit deeper. Instead of catching most of our fish out of 21-23' of water we were now doing best in 25-33' of water.
We lost one giant sauger first thing in the morning that was just out of net range and after that, we struggled to get a consistent bite going the rest of the day. Picking one off here and there was just the way it was going to be today.
We ended the day with only five fish. Our best was a 25" plus saugeye. One other sauger went a bit over 22 inches and the other three were all between 18-19 inches long. Not a lot of fish but considering the size of the ones we did catch, not a bad day either.
Now, time to go eat turkey and fixins and grandma's house.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Wednesday, 11-26-08
My eldest brother, Chuck arrived on Monday and today was the first chance we had to actually launch the boat and check on the late fall activity level of Lake Wisconsin's walleyes & saugers.
Brothers Chuck and Dennis are the two people who I owe the most in regards to my love for fishing. Especially fishing for walleyes!
After they left for college and after they graduated from the UW, both would stop by the farm and pick me up on their way to the Wisconsin river or Lake Wisconsin. In the early days, we spent considerable time fishing from shore along the Wisconsin river. Later on, after they aquired boats, we fished below the dams at Prairie du Sac and the Dells. In the summer, we also targeted Lake Wisconsin heavily.This was my chance to take Chuck fishing for a change. Forty years later isn't to late is it?
Do to the colder than expected overnight temperatures, we had put in below the Prairie du Sac dam first but after spending an hour or so there, we decided to forego the numerous small walleyes & saugers in favor of the larger but less numerous saugers that Lake Wisconsin has to offer. And if we popped a walleye or two along the way, that would be just fine also.
We arrived at the boat launch in Merrimac around 10:30am and what we saw was pretty much what I expected to see. Lots & lots of ice and very few if any open water areas to fish in. Not a problem. One of the best tricks I've ever learned is how clear ice away from areas that I want to fish using my 18' lund and extend our late season walleye & sauger fishing for another week or two.
So, after spending a half hour or so clearing ice from the area we wanted to target around the rail road bridge, we finally dropped our lines, rigged with paddletails & tipped with minnows, over the side of the boat.
Surface water temperatures were 34-35 degrees and because of that, we kept our presentations on the slow side. Another words, very little if any jigging at all!
This time of the year, dragging paddletails is about as subtle as it gets. If the paddle on the end of the the paddletail is wiggling, that's more than enough action to entice a bite.
Even though the overnight temperatures had dropped down to 15 degrees, today's afternoon temperatures topped out at about 40 degrees. Factor in the total lack of wind, zero cloud cover and what we ended up with was a really nice day for this time of the year. It has probably been 20 years since the last time Chuck and I shared a boat. We could not have asked for a better day for this time of the year.
Darkness finally forced us off the water but we had a pretty productive five hours of fishing. We tallied up a total of 13 saugers & one walleye. Two saugers were over the 20" mark, five were in the legal, keeper size range and the rest were shorts.
We switched the colors on our jig heads and paddletails often at first and found several that produced for us. The paddletails & jigs that I use by the way are made by B'Fish'N Tackle Company. You can order your supply directly from there website: http://www.bfishntackle.com/index.html
Our best depth today was in 21-22' of water .
Sunday 11-23-08
Art Green didn't care if we had to bust a little ice in order to get in one last sauger fishing trip on Lake Wisconsin. The ice was definitely a little thicker on the way up to the rail road bridge this morning but in the end, that just makes the day of fishing seem like an even better adventure!
We were once again forced to fish the only open water available when we first arrived but just like yesterday, more water opened up as the day wore on.
Art and I used paddletails tipped with minnows again but the with the wind slightly stronger than yesterday, there were times when we couldn't fish where we wanted to. Some crushed ice flows moved in and pushed us elsewhere. Still, considering the conditions, we had ourselves a pretty good day with twelve saugers and one northern pike. Four saugers were over 20", five were legals and the rest were shorties.
We did have to be a little creative at times when dealing with ice, but in the end, we worked it out pretty good.
Saturday 11-22-08
Dewey Schultz & I busted ice going up the lake on Saturday morning. The ice started out in front of Weigands Bay and was froze up solid all the way to the car ferry. (ice thickness varied)
We pretty much just put the boat in gear and busted a trail at about idling speed.
In the morning, we had very few choices when it came to places to fish. There were a few open water areas and that's where we fished. By later in the afternoon, more areas opened up.
Morning fishing was cold and slow with only a few saugers along the way. The main bite happened from 1:30pm to 3:30pm.
We ended the day with 13 saugers, two over 20", ten legals and 1 shortie.
Our best bait was paddletails tipped with a minnows. Most of our fish came from water between 21-23' deep but we did pop a few from water as deep as 34' also.
It was pretty darn cold out there on Saturday but we were joined by at least three or four other boats during the course of the day.
Dealing with the cold was a matter of dressing properly and dealing with the ice was bit of a pain at times, but in the end, the effort required was definitely worth it.
Great time Dewey!
Sunday afternoon, 11-16-08
Mike Benthaus and his cousin Jeff Jones were waiting at the pier for me when John Walker and I pulled in from our morning trip. They both love to fish but neither one has ever been on Lake Wisconsin. They had read many of my reports and were very much looking forward to this half day afternoon fishing trip. Not that they needed any help getting fired up but watching John Walker pull his fish out of the live well didn't hurt in that regard.
After some quick introductions, we headed straight back to where John and I left off and in less than 10 minutes, Jeff was hooked up with a very hard fighting fish. Hard fighting or not, it ended up in the net and what a beauty of a sauger.
I'm not positive but in may very well be the longest sauger in my boat this year. Congratulations on a great catch Jeff!
By far, our most productive depth was 20-21" of water and our best lures were jig/plastic combo's tipped with minnows. Chartreuse pepper was probably our best color but no one color dominated again today. Switching often helped to keep the bites coming.
The bite did slow down later in the afternoon but not before Mike and Jeff put ten walleyes & saugers in the boat. Only the one big sauger went over 20" today but five others were in the legal slot size range.
It was a great time out there with you guys this afternoon Mike & Jeff. Thanks much and sure hope to see you two guys again next year.
Sunday morning, 11-16-08
It was a real treat to share my boat with fellow fishing guide John Walker from Green Lake, Wisconsin. He runs Johnny Walker Guide Service on Big Green Lake where they target Lake Trout, Walleye, Smallmouth, Northern, White Bass and Bluegills. If your interested in a trip to Big Green Lake, give John a call. I'm sure he can shorten the learning curve for you. (920-294-6927)
John has never been out on Lake Wisconsin before and that's why he decided to hook up with Ballweg's Guide Service. No matter how good you are at fishing, it never hurts to get a little help when visiting new waters.
The bite was slow again for us this morning. We started out using blade baits and switched colors often. After an hour or two and a couple of missed bumps, John finally connected with his first fish. The fish put up a real nice fight but it was no match and soon enough John led a very chunky 19" sauger right into the net. After that though, we had a hard time putting any more in the boat and with no bait fish showing up on the sonar we pulled the plug and headed to our second spot.
The strong west wind gave me a few problems with boat control at the new location at first but once I got that under control, we slowly started to put together a pattern that worked pretty good considering the activity level of the fish was still not all that great. Jig & plastic combinations tipped with minnows ended up being our best bait choice and that's what we stayed with the rest of the morning. We wrapped it up at 11:45am and headed back to the pier.
Seven walleyes and saugers found there way over the side of the boat. The best one was a 22-1/2" walleye that John caught and released. He kept three other nice ones for a fish fry.
John gave me a call this evening and told me that all three of them contained baby sheapshead in their stomach's. No shad, just baby sheepshead.
Thanks again John. It was a pleasure to fish with you this morning!
Saturday, 11-15-08
Scott LeFevre came along for his first ever walleye & sauger fishing experience on Lake Wisconsin. What he got was a pretty cold, windy, slow fishing day.
Despite the near total negative activity level of the fish, we slugged it out and managed to put nine saugers in the boat using blades, jigs tipped with minnows and jig/plastic combo's. Six of the nine were legal and two were over 20" long.
Right at 3:00pm it appeared as though the bite was going to heat up. The boat near by put four keeper size or better ones in the boat in short order. Scott put on a blade bait & quickly caught a keeper size sauger and then decided to call it a day. I really wanted him to stay but he had seen enough and was ready to go.
Just before we left, I stopped and talked to Jim Saunders who was pulling in right then. I told him it appeared as though the spot we were vacating was just starting to heat up. On Sunday I asked Jim how the fishing went after we left. His exact words were, "Light's out". Some of the best fishing he's had all year.
Nine fish in about an hour. All over 15" long and four of them over 20" long.
We had been fishing over bait fish all day and I really felt like that bite was going to happen sooner or later. Looks like it happened later today.
Darn! Sure wish we would have stayed for that.
Friday, 11-14-08
John & Cody Rod joined Brian Ott for a late fall walleye/sauger fishing excursion on Lake Wisconsin. This may have been the last nice weather day of the year. The fishing was a little slow in the morning but it picked up nicely in the afternoon.
We caught fish on blade baits, jig/plastic combo's and jigs tipped with minnows. The jigs tipped with minnows was probably our best overall bait.
Colors were all over the place. We caught at least one fish on several different colors but white or jig/plastic combo's with some white in them were probably our best overall.
We ended the day with a total of eighteen saugers and zero walleyes. Three were over 20" long, eleven others were in the keeper slot size and the other four were shorties.
The sun peeked out a little from time to time, but clouds covered the skies for the majority of the day. Temperatures did climb into the upper 40's and that felt pretty darn good.
Nice weather, good people and fishin from a boat on Lake Wisconsin for fall walleyes and saugers. It don't get any better than that!
Sunday, 11-9-08
If Saturday was cold, then Sunday was down right brutal. The temperature never did climb above 35 degrees and the winds were even stronger. The only good news about the weather today was that it didn't rain on us. We did get some flurries later in the afternoon though.
Tim Grossnickle and his good buddy Mark Bergstrom were my lucky guest today. Lucky for them they were dressed for sub-zero weather because it was cold out there today.
Although the morning was pretty slow it was not a complete bust. We managed to pick up a few on blade baits. Mid-day was still slow with the lake giving up a fish or two while trolling cranks and late in the day proved to be okay on jigs & minnows.
Mark definitely had better luck than Tim for most of the day. Tim didn't get shut out though. He put a walleye or two along with several white bass in the boat while using a jig & minnow. I'm pretty sure Mark caught at least one fish on everything we used today. Nice job Mark!
We ended the day around 4:00pm with eleven walleyes & saugers. Four saugers over 20 inches long and the rest were all in the keeper size range.
Certainly not fast and furious but at least the guys were rewarded for sticking it out and working hard under some really tough conditions.
Main lake temperatures are running anywhere from 47 to 50.5 degrees depending on where you are in the lake.
Saturday afternoon, 11-8-08
The afternoon started out pretty much the same as the morning. John Wipperfurth and his son Isaac had met me at the boat launch and they were now ripping blade baits hoping for some action. Around 1:30pm, things finally started to pick up. Blade baits worked the best for us this afternoon except for the last hour or so of the day. Jigs tipped with minnows worked the best at that time.
John definitely had the hot hand with his high lifting blade bait technique. Along with a couple of eaters size saugers, he also managed to pull in two of the three saugers over 20" long. One was a really nice 21-3/4" sauger.
Isaac did not have the lucky fishing pole for most of the afternoon but he did avoid the shut out by pulling in a nice eater on a jig before the afternoon was over.
By the end of the afternoon, we managed to put nine walleyes & saugers in the boat. Three under's, three keepers and three more over 20" long.
Saturday morning, 11-8-08
Spent the morning fishing with Bob Benson and Andrew & Emily Allen. We left the pier and headed directly into the wind towards a location that would hopefully be both out of the wind and filled with lots of hungry walleyes and saugers. The first location we stopped at was out of the wind but with the air temperatures hanging around the mid-30's all morning, it was still pretty cold out there.
Shortly after arriving, I caught a nice 20" walleye on a blade bait. But after that, the bite got really tough. We used live bait rigs, jig/minnow combos, jig & plastic combo's and blade baits but by the end of the morning, we could only muster up three more fish. Two legals and one shortie. Due to the nasty cold, wind which occasionally carried snow flakes and rain drops down from the skies, we never did venture out from the protected location where we started at. I wasn't about to expose 10 year old Andrew and his 9 year old sister to the full brunt of the weather. It was cold enough the way it was!
Sunday afternoon, 11-02-08
This afternoon was filled with disappointment for myself, Art Green and Uncle Baldy. Sorry, but Art & Uncle Baldy never did give me his real name. Guess it was a secret or something.
It wasn't disappointing because the fish didn't bite. It was disappointing because we kept losing the big ones that did bite. All told, we lost three big fish, two of them we never saw and the third....well, I kind of wish I had never saw that one either.
We started out trolling cranks and right from the get go, the bite was on. First pass, two fish. Turned the boat around and went right back through and caught another one. Trolled back the other way and lost a big one on the turn. Then Art hooks up with another really good one and battles it within 20' of the boat where it surface's for the first time. Holy crap! My first though was that's the biggest muskie I've ever seen on Lake Wisconsin. Then I realized it wasn't a muskie but a northern pike. That was even more unbelievable. At that point I threw the net back on the floor of the boat. There was no way, no how that fish was going to fit in my frabil. Just for reference, 30" walleyes fit in my net with no problem at all. My plan was to have Art tire it out and then slide my hand down the line and pull the fish in by hand. The big pike had other plans. He stuck his monstrous head out of the water and with his mouth wide open began thrashing back and forth. That was too much for my 15# fireline. It cut right through and lay there on the surface for about five seconds before sliding back under the surface and out of site. Art and I were left standing, jaws hanging, knees knocking and a feeling of total disbelief that there could ever be a northern pike of that size in Lake Wisconsin. Don't even ask me how big it was. To big to believe, that's how big.
We slowly put ourselves back together while discussing what just happened. I tied on another snap, dug out another crankbait and onward we went. Later, Uncle Baldy lost another big fish after a short battle. It definitely hurts less when you can't see how big they are!
The hot bite died down and we finally decided to move on and do some blading.
That put a couple more fish in the boat as darkness approached.
We ended up with nine fish total, five keepers & four shorties. Still, I was left with the feeling of what this day could have been had the fish gods smiled on us once more.
An awesome afternoon on the water just the same. Art, you always seem to bring a little bit of magic with you on your trips. I definitely hope to see you in my boat again next year!
Sunday morning, 11-02-08
Scott Billings & Steve Fausnaugh spent a day in my boat this spring chasing crappies. They decided that was kind of fun and now they wanted to give the walleye fishing on Lake Wisconsin a shot.
The last two days we had almost zero clouds but today it was mostly cloudy. I was hoping that would help turn the fish on a little bit.
I decided to put the blade baits on first thing this morning and after a quick demo on how to work them, we all got after it and proceeded to land several good size sticks over the next 15 minutes. Good practice I guess!
I saw Steve set the hook on something that didn't move to much and I kept my eyes glued to his rod to watch two things in particular. First, I wanted to see how he would react and second, I wanted to see if his rod was going to "thump" or just remain bent over. Steve was definitely listening doing the instruction session because he kept steady pressure on his rod, long enough for the big fish on the other end to make the first move. "Thump, thump....oh, oh, this sure ain't no stick. After a pretty good battle, the first walleye of the day and Steve's first ever blade bait walleye came in the boat. A very nice, healthy 27 incher.
Now thats a great way to start the day!
We did put a couple of shorties and one legal in the boat after that but unfortunately, the bite slowed down quickly. We hit several more spots and then finally switched over to trolling crankbaits. That worked pretty good and the guys put two more legals, a 21-1/4" sauger and another shortie in the boat before the morning came to and end.
Great fishing with you two guys again Scott & Steve!
Saturday, 11-01-08
Spent the day fishing with Brian Baird & his dad George.
Fishing was much slower for us today. We started out using blade baits, tried some jigs and live baits and then ended up going back to blade baits around mid-morning. When the fishing is tough, its always a tough call as to where the best spot is and what the best bait to use is.
These two didn't let up though. Other than taking a break to eat lunch at Fitz's restaurant in Okee, they hit it hard the entire day.
Later in the afternoon we switched over to trolling crankbaits for an hour or so and that produced a couple of keepers for us as well.
We ended up with a total of eight walleyes and saugers. Five of which were in the keeper slot range and none over 20" long. Pretty slow day compared to the numbers and size we had been putting up.
Friday, 10-31-08
We enjoyed some unusually warm weather while fishing on Lake Wisconsin this past weekend. The walleyes and saugers didn't appear to be impressed by the warmer weather though and we had to work very hard to find active or willing walleyes & saugers.
Surface water in the main lake is running around 47-48 degrees on average and with very warm weather predicted till later this week, it doesn't look like its going to be getting any colder over the next couple of days.
Friday I enjoyed a day in the boat with Larry Wilkinson and his co-worker, Joe Scheib. Larry & I graduated high school together and we used to do a bit of fishing with each other back in our younger days. We still touch base now and then but getting out fishing together has become nearly impossible. He's got a family and I'm just plain busy. Kind of like most of the rest of the world!
Anyway, the early morning bite was pathetic at best. We didn't put a single walleye or sauger in the boat until at least 10:00am. But then between the hours of 11:00am and 1:00pm, we hit them pretty good. It went dead again for the most part until around 3:30pm when we started picking a few off here and there.
Blade baits were our best bait today by far. We tried trolling, jigging and live bait with little or no success at all. Blades were definitely the way to go for out boat and by the end of the day, we had put fifteen walleyes & saugers in the boat. One sauger at 21", 10 walleyes/saugers between 15 - 20" long and the rest were short. We threw one 19" sauger back because it was snagged in the belly and we threw one 15" walleye back because we weren't sure it would measure 15" on a game wardens ruler.
All in all, it was a superb way to spend a fall day! It was a pleasure to fish with the two of you Larry and Joe!
Weekend of 10-25-08
Jigs, blade baits & crankbaits all caught fish for us this weekend. Overall, the bite was very, very good. Saturday morning I was out with Les Herman and Jeff Zappia. We probably should have been trolling crankbaits but since they are still pretty new to fishing Lake Wisconsin, we stuck to more traditional fall walleye fishing methods. We still manage five fish on jigs and blade baits. One sauger measured up at 21-3/4", another at 19-1/2" long.
Sunday Dewey Schultz and I started out with jigs then switched over to trolling crankbaits. That turned out to be a good decision. The rest of the morning we were kept very busy reeling in fish. We ended the morning with 14 walleyes & saugers. The biggest was Dewey's new personal best, a nice 27-1/2" walleye.
Congratulations on that one Dewey. Next time we go for a 30 incher!
We also landed four other saugers that went over the 20" mark.
Surface water temperatures in the main lake are now running right around the 50 degree mark.
10-19-08 Sunday
Finally, my first fall walleye fishing trip of the year. And who better to do it with than my favorite trash talking, crappie/walleye/sauger fishing client than Brian Bollnow and his good buddy Eric Novak. This would be Brian's third trip of the year with me and Eric's second. These guys really don't care if they take any fish home, for the most part, they just want to catch them, take a quick picture or two and let them go.
We started out jigging but only found a crappie or two doing that so we switched over to trolling crank baits. At first that didn't go to well either but slowly we started to figure out a pattern. It just took a little work to find the right depth, lure, colors and locations. Once we did that, the rest was fairly easy. At least in the morning it was. It was pretty dead during the middle of the day but picked up nicely late in the afternoon again. I do enjoy a little trash talking myself so even the middle of the day went by fairly fast with these two guys in the boat. They can certainly dish as good (or better) than they get it.
By the end of the day, we had pulled in five saugers over 20" long, three more between 15-19" long, three crappies and on short walleye.
Not bad for the first walleye/sauger fishing trip of the fall!
As always, it was great fishing with you again Brian and Eric!
10-18-08 Saturday afternoon
Ryan Lindsey, his daughter Kyla and nephew Trevor Ross were looking forward to spending an afternoon crappie fishing on Lake Wisconsin.
Unfortunately, the bite this afternoon was about as tough as it's been all fall. The fall crappie bite has been really, really good this year and we had not experience any really slow days. That changed on the last crappie fishing trip of the season. The first couple of spots we hit produced nothing of significance at all. (sheephead don't count Trevor!)
After that, I headed to one of my best fall spots and figured we would slug it out there as best we could. Seven year old Kyla finally got hot and put four nice size crappies in the boat over a 5 minute span. Then a bit later, Trevor, who is 10 years old, finally put his first crappie in the boat. Meanwhile, Ryan was having a pretty tough time of it. He was spending a large chunk of his time helping Kyla but even when he did have time to fish, he either came up empty when he did get bit or it turned out to be another bluegill instead of a crappie.
Despite the tough bite, the afternoon went by fast and soon enough we were heading back to the boat landing. Kyla, Trevor and Ryan did manage seven nice, eaten size crappies for the fry pan. It was fun fishing with the three of you Ryan, Kyla and Trevor.
Take care and enjoy your fish fry!
Saturday morning, Oct. 18th
The last two weekends were spent chasing around the country instead of chasing fish on Lake Wisconsin. It was nice to see family and friends once again but it's always great to be back home and fishing again on Lake Wisconsin.
Saturday morning on Lake Wisconsin saw Doug Kuiper and I heading out into heavy fog for the 2nd last crappie fishing trip of the fall. The heavy fog didn't lift until after 10:00am and that prevented us from making any long, or fast runs around the lake. Despite that, Doug still was able to catch more than enough crappies to put on a pretty decent fish fry. He could have kept a limit but decided to let many of the 9-10 inchers go in favor of 11-12" crappies.
Surface water temps were running in the upper 50 degree range in most of the main lake areas.
It was fun chasing crappies with you again this year Doug! I'm sure I'll see you a few more times out on the water in your new alumacraft.
9-28-08 Sunday afternoon
I had the pleasure of sharing my boat with Mike & Danny Rhoe and Jeff Wunschel this afternoon. This trip was going to be a little different than my normal guided fishing trip. These guys were as interested in catching fish as they were with learning as much about the lake and the how's, why's, where's and what's of the lake. They definitely had a lot of questions for me as well.
Despite all that, eight year old Danny Rhoe didn't waste any time at all when it came to catching. He put the first crappie in the boat minutes after we set lines in the first spot. But after pulling up a few more crappies and bluegills, we headed off to another spot, and another, and another......and that's pretty much the way the afternoon went. We ended up spending plenty of time running around the lake and talking about the different locations, spots and baits I used to catch both crappies and walleyes. We did catch some fish along the way but no one was spending any time worrying about how many we caught or didn't catch.
The weather got better and better as the afternoon wore on. Less wind and more sun made for a beautiful evening and before we new it, our time was up.
It was a pleasure indeed to spend the afternoon with you guys.
Hope you all have a great time on the lake next weekend!
9-28-08 Sunday morning
David & Tena Hinderliter booked this trip at the last minute. Neither one has ever been on Lake Wisconsin before and they were very much looking forward to catching some nice crappies.
A cool northeast wind and no sunshine made for a chilly morning though and the fish took a little while to become active. The wind had created another problem as well. Overnight, it had blown the majority of the algae onto one side of the lake and it soon became obvious that we were not going to catch any crappie by fishing on the algae or wind blown side of the lake.
We hit a couple of different spots and picked up a few stray crappies along the way before finally finding a larger concentration of fish close to the bottom in 14-16' of water. By holding the boat over and around these fish with the bow mount electric motor, we were able to put together a pretty good catch for the morning.
David also managed to pull in a bonus 21-1/4" sauger. Always nice to get those bonus fish when we're crappie fishing!
It was fun fishing with you two this morning David and Tena.
Sure hope to see you guys come back for some of the fall walleyes and saugers!
9-27-08 Saturday
Long time friends Brian Bollnow and Jim Luther went out with me on Saturday.
They didn't want to keep any fish and they didn't really care what they caught just as long as they caught something.
We ended up catching a pretty good mixed bag that included crappies, whitebass, bluegills, smallies, sheepies a small walleye and maybe a few others that I may have missed. The guys also caught a couple of jumbo crappies that they also released.
The weather was beautiful, the fishing wasn't bad and the company was excellent. There was plenty of jokes, stories and BS_ing to fill the time between fish and just like earlier this year, sharing my boat with these two jokesters made the day go by way to fast.
Thanks again for a great day Brian and Jim!
9-21-08 Sunday
Today I enjoyed sharing my boat with Jim & Greg Schnoebelen along with their long time buddy Bill Ecklund. These three amigo's have been going on fishing trips together for a long, long time. And after taking many, many trips to Lake of the Woods, Rainy Lake and lots of other places in Canada, they've now decided to stay closer to home and target little ole Lake Wisconsin instead. Those are all great places to fish but they no longer feel like driving 15 hours north when plenty of walleyes, saugers, crappies and sheepshead are available just 3 hours north instead.
The bite started out a bit slower than normal this morning but we still managed to pick up a fish or two in most at the first couple of stops. Around 10:30am, we went back to the spot we started out at first thing in the morning. Good thing we did too! What a difference a couple of hours can make. We never left that spot the rest of the day.
Surface water temps are still hovering right around 70 degrees in the main lake and we are still finding the majority or our fish in 10-15' of water. Our best baits remain the same. A fathead minnow on a live bait rig and a 1/16oz jig plastic/waxworm combo.
Today we found several walleyes and saugers lurking around in the same locations as the crappies again. Jim caught a 20" sauger and his nephew Greg caught a 22 incher. Bill hauled in a crappie that was just a smidgen under 15" long for top honors there and I caught a 24" walleye on a crappie jig tipped with a waxworm.
By the end of the day, the four of us hauled in well over 60 crappies along plenty of bonus fish like bluegills, white bass, sheepshead, walleyes, saugers, perch....
Bill, Jim and Greg, you guys really know how to enjoy your time on the water.
It was pleasure to meet you and even more fun fishing with you all!
Boog
9-20-08 Saturday
Jerry Natz purchased this fishing trip as a birthday present for his son David way back in March. Today was finally the day he got enjoy his birthday present.
As usual, Dave was looking to put a mess of fish together for a fish fry. So plan A was to make sure we caught some keepers.
No problem there! By the end of the morning, along with a bonus 18" walleye, he was closing in on his limit of crappies. So we decided to take a shot at catching a couple of bigger crappies since we had plenty of day left to fish.
I had a pretty good idea where to look and how to target them but an idea was about all it was so far and trying to catch bruiser crappies in the middle of a hot, sunny day isn't exactly like fishing for them during early morning or late in the evening. Still, your not going to get them by not at least trying and we had nothing to lose at this point. Basically, we upsize our jig/plastic combo's and tipped them with the largest fathead's we could dig out of our minnow bucket.
By the way, the Precision H20 jigs from B'Fish'N tackle work great for this type of crappie fishing.
We set off to another part of the lake and within 2 minutes of dropping our rigs, Dave connected with our first big crappie. Wow, this was looking like it was going to be pretty easy. Well it did get quite a bit slower after that. We went thru the same area a second time but found no more magic there.
So we set in to slowly work over a long break line that dropped from 14' down to 22' of water. This slow drift would take us about 2 hours to fish properly but it did prove worth while. Dave ended up popping two more jumbo crappies and a couple of regular eaten size ones to fill out his limit of 25.
All in all, it was another great day for fall crappie fishing on Lake Wisconsin.
9-19-08 Friday
Randy Scott and Doug Musser have been out fishing with me before. With the beautiful weather predicted for today, they were both really looking forward to spending the day fishing for crappies. The goal was to catch enough crappies to put on a fish fry for both their families later this weekend.
Well the crappies had other ideas and we had to work for all our fish today. These two were okay with that! Better than going to work on a Friday.
Rigs that did work for us were the usual. Live bait rigs tipped with minnows and tiny crappie jigs tipped with waxworms. Best depth was between 10-15'.
Surface water temperatures are still hanging right around 70 degrees in the main lake.
Around 2:00pm in the afternoon, Doug got a real surprise on the end of his line.
Using a St. Croix ultra light rod with four pound test line, he had just cast a 1/16oz jig/plastic/waxworm combo in about two feet of water and got hit immediately. The fish didn't fight all that hard at first and it swam pretty much straight at the boat. On the other hand, it didn't come up toward the surface either. If anything, it was going deeper. After a few minutes, the big fish did surface but neither Doug nor I could see it very well due to the reflection of the sun on the water. Randy thought it looked like a walleye but didn't want to say anything for fear of jinxing Doug. It took another 5 minutes or so before Doug was able to raise it again and in between, he had to hold on while it dove deep under the boat on several hard, strong runs. He was finally able to raise it to the surface once again and into the net she went.
Wow, was ever an awesome walleye! Much less to have caught it on an ultra lite rod with 4lb test line. Great job fighting this fish Doug and congratulations on a real beauty of a walleye! The big walleye measured up at 28-3/4 inches long and she had dang near swallowed the tiny 1/16oz crappie jig. It was stuck way back on the roof of her mouth. I'm amazed it didn't cut the line doing the fight.
Regardless of how the rest of the day went, this was going down as a great trip.
The guys did end up keeping 25 crappies between the two of them so they had more than enough for the fish fry.
This day will be yet another very hard one to forget! Great fishing with you two again Randy and Doug!
9-14-08 Sunday morning
Back in January of 2007, I ran into Wayne Whitemarsh at Ace Sauk Prairie. After the usual small talk about fishing and hunting, he asked if I would be willing to donate a guided fishing trip to a benefit for a Lodi, Wisconsin woman.
I didn't know her at all but it sounded like a good cause so I went ahead and donated a half day trip to be auctioned off at the Johnson Family benefit fund raiser.
A few months later I received a call from someone who said they had submitted the highest bid for the gift certificate for a half day of fishing with Ballweg's Guide Service . The interesting thing about this call though, was the person didn't want to go fishing. Instead, they wanted to know if they could donate the gift certificate to a young man from Sauk Prairie by the name of Matt Borchers who was battling cancer. They said Matt loved the outdoors, was an avid hunter and fisherman and they thought it would make a great gift if I would allow that. No problem there. I thought it was a great idea too! (I recently learned that the original purchaser of this gift certificate was Patty Ryan)
Turns out, Matt Borchers was a very close friend of my nephew Dan Ballweg. They had known each other since they were about 13 years old or so and graduated from Sauk Prairie High School together in 2004. A year or two later they moved into a house together along with a couple of other close friends.
Unfortunately, Matt lost his battle with non-hodgekins T-cell Lymphoma before he got the chance to redeem the gift certificate. He passed away on May 15th, 2007 at the age of twenty-one. Apparently, this type of cancer moves fast and even though the cancer had went into remission after earlier treatments, it came back with a vengeance.
In support of Matt Borchers, his friends Dan Ballweg, Alex Cole and Mike Gray all went out and purchased tattoo's to commemorate the passing of their friend. Watching anyone battle cancer is a hard thing to do. Watching a close friend, sister, brother, son or daughter lose a battle to cancer is one of the hardest things anyone will ever go through.
A few weeks ago, I received a call from a man asking if he could redeem a gift certificate that was given to his son more than a year ago. After some questions, I learned that the person calling was Bill Borchers, Matt's father. Bill is also an avid outdoorsman and he wanted to get in some fishing on Lake Wisconsin.
So we set up a date and this past Sunday morning the two of us headed out on Lake Wisconsin to do some crappie fishing.
The bite wasn't quite as good as it has been but it wasn't bad either. We jumped around a few times doing better in some spots than others but always picking up a few in every spot we checked.
In between cast, Bill filled me in on his son's battle with cancer along with a few stories about Matt and his friends and some of the crazy things kids do at the young adult stage of their lives. In many ways, it reminded me a great deal of my younger days.
Talking with Bill while we fished was very easy and it was making the morning pass by very fast. I found myself wishing I didn't have to quit fishing at the end of the morning.
Bill, I enjoyed your company a great deal this morning. It was a real pleasure to be able share my boat with you and I sure hope to see you out on the lake again soon.
Saturday afternoon
For the first time, I teamed up with Darren Dykstra of Twisted Fisher guide service this afternoon in order to provide a quality fishing experience for a group of five people. That is just to many people to put in one boat.
Around 1:15pm, Jerry Schulz, his daughter, Sydney and his son Collin climbed aboard my 18' Lund while Scott Maupin and his son, Blake jumped in Darren's boat. This was the first time on Lake Wisconsin for everyone and come rain or sunshine, they were really looking forward to spending the afternoon catching crappies. Especially the kids. Fortunately, the rain had stopped and occasionally, the sun even tried to peek out behind heavy clouds. It never succeeded for very long though. It was a pleasant weather day none the less with very little wind and warm enough to allow us to fish without jackets.
With a morning trip behind me already, we knew right where we wanted to start.
We took a few minutes to explain the rigs to the kids before dropping the rigs over the side of the boat. I don't think we traveled more than 10' before Blake had a fish on in Darren's boat. He lost that one and then had another one on shortly.
Our boat started a little slower but things began to pick up soon enough. After catching a few fish, both Sydney and Collin had pretty much mastered the spinning reels and had taken over setting the depth on there own.
The bite was just fast enough to keep everyone interested. Sometimes Collin would set his rig in the rod holder so that he could take a break but it never sat there for long before a fish would grab it.
Our best rigs this afternoon were again plain & simple live bait rigs tipped with a medium fathead minnow. A close second was a dark blue/white tube on a 1/16oz precision H20 jig tipped with a fathead minnow. The keeper barb on these small jigs does an awesome job of keeping the plastic where it belongs.
Collin had the hottest hand this afternoon and at one point I'm pretty sure he reeled in about four or five in a row before someone else broke his streak.
Catching fish makes the time fly by and before we knew it the afternoon was passing us. Between the two boats and five people in them, this group put almost 50 crappies in the box. Plenty enough for the mega fish fry they had planned for family and friends.
It sure was fun fishing with you all and thanks again to Darren Dykstra for his help, boat and expertise. I could have never done a trip like this with out the help. Thanks Darren!
It was pleasure to meet and fish with you all today Jerry, Sydney, Colin, Scott & Blake! Sure hope you all come back and do it again sometime.
Take care and enjoy the fish fry!
9-13-08 Saturday morning
Doug Kuiper is a self described crappie fishing enthusiast. If you've ever fished with him, you might think he's a big time crappie fishing nut! He would rather fish for crappies than any other fish that swims.
His goal this morning was to catch enough eaten size Lake Wisconsin crappies to put on a fairly decent fish fry for his immediate family and a few of his extended family.
We headed out from the boat landing at 6:45am with our rain gear on. A lite rain pelted us as we headed out to our first spot. As we crossed the lake, we noticed that water temperatures have cooled down just a few more degrees. Most of the main lake now appears to be right around 70 degrees, give or take a degree or two depending on where you are.
The bite started a bit slow this morning but picked up as the morning wore on.
We hopped from one spot to the next and finally settled in to a good location around 10:00am or so. By now we had determined that the best bite was occurring on minnows. Both the live bait rod and a 1/16oz jig/tube combo tipped with a minnow were working better than the smaller plastics tipped with waxworms. The best depth for us was once again around 8 to 13' of water.
Just before the end of the morning, Doug caught the last of his one man limit.
After almost 5 hours of fishing, we finally saw another boat on the way back to the boat launch. Not a bad way to start out the day!
As usual, it was nice to spend the morning chasing crappies with you Doug. We'll see you again next month.
9-7-08 Sunday
Tim Grossnickle, Mark Bergstrom & Dave Galor drove 115 miles from northern Illinois to Lake Wisconsin to experience some top notch crappie fishing. The closest good fishing they have to them is pool 13 on the Mississippi river. Apparently, the crappie fishing has slipped quite a bit over the past several years and these guys needed a good crappie fishing trip fix.
We headed out and got set up on our first spot by 7:00am but the crappies didn't appear to be all that excited to see our baits first thing in the morning. Still, we kept at it and little by little, the bite kept getting better and better. It probably peaked around 10:00am or so and even after that, it never really did die down completely. All it all, it was a much better day than Saturday with well over 50 crappies coming over the side of the boat.
Mark Bergstrom pretty much stuck with a plain minnow on a gold hook and I would have to say that his line was the most consistent one. Dave Galor on the other hand was game enough to try several different jig/plastic combo's. Some tipped with waxworms but mostly tipped with a minnow. And even though he didn't catch quite as many as Mark, he did catch some of the better ones of the day.
Tim Grossnickle was content to be out in a boat taking what he got while enjoying a great day on the lake. Tim did make a pretty good run at the other two in the afternoon using a plain minnow but I didn't get the impression that he really cared if he caught more than anyone else or not.
With a two hour drive home ahead of them yet, the guys decided to call it a day at 4:00pm. The average size of the crappies today consistently ran between 10-1/2" - 12" long. Very few shorter than that showed up on the end of our lines and if they did, they landed right back in the water shortly after.
The difference in boat traffic between last weekend and this weekend was truly amazing! It was really nice to be able to sit in in a boat on the lake with out constantly bobbing up and down from the wake of big boats blowing by you. With the passing of Labor Day, the fall fishing season is officially upon us and the crappies are definitely out there waiting to tug on the end of your line.
Looks like it's going to be a great fall this year on Lake Wisconsin!
9-8-08 Saturday
Spent Saturday fishing with Madeline and Andy Kopale from northern Illinois. This mother & son fishing team had endured a brutal day on the water with me earlier this year. Winds were a constant 30mph or greater and we never did get out of Sunset Bay that day.
Today however was much better. Winds were light from the west and the sun was shining in the early morning hours at least. It did get cloudier later in the morning but at least the sun didn't completely go away. It was actually one of the nicest days, (temperature wise) that I've fished in this year.
The front and cold rain that passed on Thursday did have an effect on the crappies, especially in the early morning hours. But it didn't kill the bite completely and by slowly working through high percentage areas, we were able to find consistent action for most of the day.
Our best rig today was a plain gold hook tipped with a lively fathead minnow. On days like this, it's really important to keep you minnows lively. If your minnow dies on the hook, get rid of it and put on a new one!
Best depth today was the same as it's been for the past two or three weeks. (10-15') The 1/16oz jig/plastic combo still put its fair share of fish in the boat today as well but overall, I would have to say that a plain minnow worked the best.
A nice bonus showed up on the end of Andy's line when he was fishing a minnow rig. We knew pretty quickly that it wasn't a crappie by how hard it was fighting so I was ready with the net when this nice looking 18-1/2" walleye popped up to the surface. Later we landed another walleye that measured in at 15-1/2" long.
By 3:00pm, Madeline was getting a little tired and the two of them decided to call it a day. They managed to put 25 keeper crappies between 10-1/2 to 12" in the live well and released plenty other smaller ones.
I'm really glad that we were able to get out again and make up for that horrible weather day we fished through earlier this year. No one deserved a great day on the water any more than you two did Madeline and Andy. Take care and enjoy your fish this winter!
9-1-02 Monday - Labor Day
Dennis Merta had planned on fishing two days in a row with me all along. But, after the excellent morning of crappie fishing that he and his son Brian had with me yesterday, he was all to happy to be going back out again this morning. And after the big fish fry his family chowed down on the night before, he didn't have any trouble finding a couple of new family members to join him. Mike Frank and Lon Merta, another one of the Merta clan were coming along to get in on the action.
The bite started out a little slower than we had hoped. Certainly not as good as it was the day before. Still, the guys were catching enough to keep it interesting.
The minnow rigs were maybe working just a little bit better than the jig/plastic combo's but not by a lot.
We moved through our first three spots much faster than normal looking for some active fish. The best we could do was to pick off a few here and a few there. Finally, in the third or fourth spot we found some consistent action. Both minnows and plastics were working and by the end of the morning, these three guys had 29 nice eaten size crappies to take home for the fryer.
Thanks again Dennis! It was nice to meet and fish with you and your family.
Hope to see you all again next year.
Water temps have been running in the mid to upper 70's all weekend.
Out best overall depth for catching these crappies was between 6 and 13' deep.
There were plenty of times when we would be fishing in water that was over 15' deep, yet almost all of the active fish were still caught from 8-12' down. Very seldom did we find any active fish right on/or right next to the bottom.
8-31-08 Sunday
This morning it was Dennis and Brian Merta's turn to get a taste of the great crappie fishing we enjoy here on Lake Wisconsin.
Dennis and Brian hail from Fairfax, Iowa. Along with their families, this was their first trip to this part of southern Wisconsin. While here, they decided to give the crappie fishing on Lake Wisconsin a try. Dennis had done his home work and already knew from reading past fishing reports that Labor Day weekend was usually a pretty good time to chase crappies. They sure weren't disappointed either.
They both dropped a minnow rig down in the first spot we stopped at and shortly after, the crappies started coming over the side of the boat at a fairly steady pace. When the bite slowed down, we used the bow mount electric to slowly motor to the next good looking area. By leaving the minnow rigs in the water, we were able to pick up plenty of stragglers along the way.
When the minnow bite slowed, we motored off to a new location and began casting 1/16oz jig & plastics tipped with waxworms. Brian seemed to be able to pick this technique up pretty quickly but Dennis had some trouble with it. It wasn't like he couldn't do it, it was more like he just could get the fish to stick to his jig hook when they did bite.
By mornings end, the two of them managed to put over 30 crappies between 10-1/2 and 12-1/2" long in the box. They released plenty of slightly shorter ones along the way. They also released plenty of bluegills and white bass as well.
Looks like the Merta family was going to be enjoying one heck of a fish fry tonight!
8-30-08 Saturday
Sean Doyle woke his son Patrick up pretty early this morning so that the two of them could chase crappies here on Lake Wisconsin. I don't know how much of a talker Patrick is on a normal day, but I'm pretty sure he didn't make a sound for the first couple of hours of fishing this morning.
He was wide awake after a couple of crappies began pulling on the end of his minnow rig. In the early morning hours, he was out fishing his dad pretty consistently.
Our best rig in the early morning hours was a plain and simple minnow rig.
Later in the morning though, when the bite slowed down a bit, Sean found that casting a 1/16oz jig/plastic combo tipped with a waxworm was hard to beat.
By the end of the morning it was pretty hard to say who caught the most. Between the two of them, they managed to put over 20 in the livewell between 10-1/2 and 12" long.
Nice fishing with you two Sean and Pat!
8-23-08 Sunday
Bob Benson and his two grand kids, Andrew and Emily Allen joined me for a day of fishing crappies this past Sunday. They had a very successful walleye fishing trip earlier this year and now they wanted to learn all they could about catching late summer Lake Wisconsin crappies.
Andrew and Emily started out using minnows below a live bait rig and Bob fished with a small jig/plastic combo tipped with a waxworm. Both rigs worked early and often. Our best depth was right around 10' deep.
By 8:30am or so, the three of them had already put eighteen 11" to 12" crappies in the live well. None of them wanted to take more than what they thought was reasonable so they decided right then and there not to keep anymore than 25 between the three of them.
After lunch, Bob took a break and Kim, (Andrew and Emily's Mom) joined us for a few hours. The bite had cooled off quite a bit but she still managed to put several crappies and a bluegill or two in the boat.
It was a real pleasure to be able to share my boat with you all today Bob, Kim, Andrew and Emily! We sure did pack a lot of memories into your two trips this year.
8-22-08 Saturday morning
Tony & Victor Abbate went out with me this past Saturday morning to see if the crappies were biting. They ended up doing pretty good.
Minnows were the best bait of the day for us this morning and the best depth was 10 to 15' deep.
Water temps were generally in the upper 70's.
10 year old Victor Abbate caught the biggest crappie of the morning. It measured up at 13-1/2" long.
Altogether, Victor and his dad Tony caught over 20 crappies along with a mix of bluegills, perch, sheepshead and whitebass.
All in all, it was a pretty good morning.
Sunday morning, June 29th
JR Jacobs used to fish many moons ago with his grandpa. He's kind of got away from it for awhile but since his 13 year old son Hayden has expressed an interest in it, he's decided to take up the sport once again.
We didn't mess around with trolling crank baits this morning and we didn't pull out the jigging rods either. Instead, we went right for the bottom bouncer rods.
We started out fishing the edge of a drop off in 15' of water. The deep side of the drop off went down to 23' in a few places but we concentrated on the top edge.
Hayden struck first and the first walleye or sauger he ever caught actually turned out to be an 18" saugeye! He had never caught a walleye or a sauger before in his life and ends up catching a saugeye first. That's pretty rare!
After that first fish though, the first spot started to fizzle out. We finally did pick up a couple more but it took a lot of work so we finally gave up and moved off to try our luck else where. We started working shorelines and would pick up a walleye or sauger here and there along the way. We also caught several perch, smallies, one crappie, one bluegill, many sheepshead and one or two white bass along the way. We never turned around and went back through any spots for several hours. Finally, we tried around a point that dropped off fairly quickly into deep water. There JR hooked up with a nice 21-1/2" walleye. Time to turn around and go through that spot again. Next pass, Hayden lands a nice 16" sauger. We went through it several more times but most of the fish we caught were small after that.
We had to constantly move to connect with fish this morning, but in the end, it proved worth while as JR and Hayden ended up catching 16 walleyes and saugers along with just about one of every other species in the lake. And even though seven of the walleyes and saugers were between 15 and 20" long, they only kept five of them. Two were right on the 15" mark so they let them go just to be on the safe side. One walleye measured up at 21-1/2" long and the rest were short of 15 inches long.
Friday morning, June 27th
My clients this morning were Zach & Nate Morley, their uncle Mike Grote and Mike's good friend Steve Whitmore.
If your a Wisconsin Badger basketball fan, then perhaps the name Zach Morley sounds familiar to you. He is in fact an alumni of the badger basketball team. He played for two years along side the likes of Alando Tucker, Mike Wilkinson, Kammeron Taylor, Clayton Hanson, Greg Stiemsma, and Sharif Chamblis when the Badgers made it into the Great Eight of the 2005 NCAA men's basketball tournament under coach Bo Ryan. Zach started many of those games and was a force to be reckoned with from both under the basket and from the three point line.
Zach has been playing in Spain the last couple of years and his season recently ended in the second round of the playoffs. Training for next season will start in August later this summer. That will be here before you know it.
Mike and Steve hail from Nebraska somewhere around the border with Kansas. Most of their fishing time is spent chasing catfish. They were plenty happy to spend time on a lake with good walleye and sauger fishing.
Nate just finished another year of college and was looking forward to making the most of his summer break as well.
This trip was a chance for all of them to spend some time together again. Sharing a boat with friends and family, catching walleyes while trading stories and enjoying a fish fry at the end of the day. What a great way to unwind and relax!
We started out trolling #5 jointed shad raps over 13-15' of water and Zach connected on the first pass with a nice 18-1/2" sauger. The next pass, Steve had another keeper up to the boat side but the guide was to slow with the net and the fish fell off at the side of the boat. (Sorry about that Steve, I totally blew it on that fish) After that, several more passes produced only a couple of shorties.
We switched up to jigs tipped with crawlers at the next location but that didn't produce any walleyes or saugers so we switched over to pulling crawler rigs behind bottom bouncers. This was working but not fast and furious by any means so we moved on to the next spot.
The guys started to pick up fish a little more consistently along this stretch. Everyone except Nate that is. Apparently, Nate has been carrying a curse from the fishing gods around with him for almost two years now. "A very strong and powerful curse" I was told. The rest of the guys seemed to enjoy this fishing curse much more than Nate did so I made it my goal to help him break this curse.
It appeared as though he was having a little trouble maintaining proper bottom contact so I showed him a little trick that would help him keep the right amount of line out as I moved the boat along. That curse hung on for a while longer but Nate's persistence eventually paid off and he finally hooked into a decent fish. After a pretty good battle, a 19-1/2" sauger found itself inside the landing net. After that, the guy just wouldn't quick. He had the hottest fishing pole in the boat the rest of the morning. Before he was done, he had also caught the biggest fish of the morning. A dandy 21" sauger that we took a quick photo of before releasing it back into the lake.
For the morning, the guys put nineteen walleyes and sauger in the boat this morning. Five were in the keeper size slot, one that went over 20" long and the rest were on the short side of 15 inches.
It was definitely a fun group of guys to share the boat with this morning. Plenty of good natured jabbering that is common among close friends and family.
Thanks again Zach, Nate, Mike and Steve! Sure hope to see you all down the road again someday.
Sunday morning, June 22nd
This morning the fishing was definitely better than yesterday. Dave Gort and his seven year old son, Andrew were the benefactors of the better bite.
All of our fish this morning came on the crawler rigs pulled behind bottom bouncers in 8 to 18' of water.
The first spot we hit didn't produce right away but eventually we found a small area that was holding some keeper size walleyes and saugers. We just kept spinning the boat around and running through that general area until we didn't catch anymore on several consecutive passes's. That spot was approximately 12-14' deep.
The next spot we fished ran from 15' to 18' deep and it kicked out several small fish along with our best one of the day. By now, Andrew was doing pretty good with the bait casting reels and trolling rods. He was capable of letting the lines out and proved he could catch the fish with out help when he landed a nice 19-1/4" sauger that his dad is holding along with an 18" walleye that dad caught.
Pretty darn good for a seven year old. A job well done there Andrew!
We caught a couple more keepers as shallow as 8' deep in the last spot we fished. Some times, it pays to look a little shallower than normal.
Saturday morning, June 21st
Greg & Tom Selner joined me this morning. They wanted to learn anything and everything they could about walleye fishing. Location, techniques, baits, rigging and whatever else they could think of.
We started out dragging jigs tipped with crawlers and that technique proved to be pretty effective at putting the smaller size walleyes and saugers in the boat. Our best depth's were in the 12 to 15' zone.
After a few hours of jigging though, they were both ready to try something else.
We decided to pull crawler rigs around behind bottom bouncers next since this was another technique that they had never done before. Our best depths for walleyes and saugers with the bottom bouncers was 15 to 18'.
Surface waters have warmed up considerably since our last outing. On average, I would say they ran about 75 degrees through most of the lake.
Of the 13 walleyes and saugers that Greg & Tom caught today, most were on the small side. The high light of the morning was when the two both hooked up with decent fish at the same time. Tom's sauger measured up at 19-1/2" and Greg's walleye hit the 17-1/2" mark on the tape measure.
Sunday, June 15th
Unfortunately, I'm running out of time so the rest of this weekend report is going to get cut short. To many thing to do and to little time to do it this week.
Sunday morning was spent with Bob Holum senior and Bob Holum junior. Bob Holum junior had the hot stick and caught almost all the fish.
Rich Fink and his son Andy have fished with me before for crappies. This afternoon they brought along Donnie Rytman and the three of them put 18 walleyes and saugers plus one crappie in the boat. They ended up keeping five of those eighteen.
Saturday morning, June 14th
Mike and Justin Freitag had an unbelievable day of fishing with me last year on Father's day. This years trip was sure to be different. With dirty, muddy water through out the entire main lake basin, we weren't even going to try and fish the same areas where the hot crank bait trolling bit occurred the year before.
The goal was to catch enough walleyes and saugers to supply the family fish fry later this afternoon. We didn't waste any time and started dragging jigs tipped with crawlers through same spot we worked over the day before.
The bite was a little slower this morning but we were still putting a few in the boat. Justin did tie into a 27" northern which gave him a pretty good battle. After a few pictures it was released back into the lake. Hopefully, we'll meet again in a few years.
A little later in the morning, Mike battled a nice 21" sauger to the net. After that though, the guys caught mostly small sub-15" walleyes and saugers. Two of them measured right at 15 inches but we let them both go just to be on the safe side. The bite was still pretty good but the fish were just to small so we played a hunch and made a move.
I had never fished the new spot before but about half way through the drift, I hooked up with a fish and handed the rod to Justin. A nice 16" sauger was soon flopping around in the net. Two more drifts each produced another sauger in the keeper size range before the morning was over.
Mike and Justin had put 8 saugers and 8 walleyes in the boat. They kept four walleyes & saugers plus one crappie. More than enough for everyone to get there fill at the family fish fry this afternoon.
Friday, June 13
I didn't have high hopes on my drive to the boat landing this morning. A monsoon of rain (5 inches) had fallen on the area surrounding Lake Wisconsin the day before and I was afraid the lake might be so muddy that it would be a waste of time to even attempt fishing for walleyes.
Jeremy and Jack Williams had agreed to meet up at 5:00am at the boat launch but they were no where around and I couldn't get them on the cell phone. With all the road closings, I suspected that they weren't even able to get from Milwaukee to Lake Wisconsin. But a die hard fisherman like Jeremy wasn't about to let monsoon like rain falls keep him and his dad from enjoying a walleye fishing trip on Lake Wisconsin. They had to detour several times just to get to the boat landing but sure enough, they eventually made it there.
The lake level was the highest I've ever seen it. It was level with the top of the pier at Sunset Bay in the early morning hours. Despite that, we loaded the boat and pushed off. None of us really thought we would catch many fish but all of us wanted to go out anyway.
We started out working crawler rigs in the main lake along some of the more productive spots from the past week or two. The lake water was the color of low fat chocolate milk and plenty of debris was floating on the surface. It wasn't long before we pulled the lines. The new plan was to look for cleaner water in the bays. We decided to search shallower water in the bays by casting shad raps, jointed shad raps and rip shads up into 3 - 4' of water and cranking it back to the boat which I kept in 7 - 8' of water with the aid of the bow mount electric motor.
Jeremy was the first one to hook up with a fish. A nice size white bass that hammered his rip shad. Shortly after I set the hook on a nice 17" sauger less than 15' away from the boat. For the next hour, we continued casting an assortment of different colored crank baits into the shallower water and cranking them back to the boat. We ended up with a total of three keeper size saugers, one small bass and several more white bass.
Next we decided to drift & drag jigs tipped with night crawlers along the mouth of the bay. There was a very distinct mud line right along where the current seam in the main lake was. We let the wind push the boat along but used the electric to correct the course of our drifts making sure we stayed out of the muddy water. The fish were there and they were hungry. In the morning hours, we caught mostly smaller walleyes & saugers. The wind picked up a bit more in the afternoon and that seemed to increase the number of keeper size fish. The jigs we used were 3/16oz H20 precision jigs from B'FishN' tackle.
Some of the better size keepers were caught out of water as shallow as five feet deep but we also caught keeper size walleyes and sauger from water as deep as 13' deep. By the end of the day, the three of us had put 25 walleyes and saugers in the boat. Sixteen of the 25 fish were at least 15 inches long. Two were right on the 15" mark. None were over 20" long but that was fine with us.
It was far more than anything we thought possible at the start of the day!
Saturday, June 7th
Bob Benson woke his two grand-children up extra early this morning for a much anticipated walleye fishing trip on Lake Wisconsin. Ten year old Andrew and his nine year old sister Emily had been looking forward to this trip for several months. When it finally came, they each had to make a tough choice. The youth soccer team that they both play on was scheduled to participate in a tournament today as well. These two young anglers love fishing though and especially so if grandpa was going along.
We met at the boat launch, loaded up my 18' Lund with essentials for the day and motored off into the early morning sunrise with great expectations. The weather was absolutely perfect. Warm with not wind to speak of.
The three of them have fished together several times but walleye fishing was pretty new to all of them so the decision was made to start by slow trolling crawler rigs. I explained how the rigs worked and gave them each a fully rigged rod to use.
About five minutes into the first pass, Andrew hooked up with something. I'm not sure if Bob alerted me or if Andrew spoke up but when I first looked back I noticed the 6' long medium heavy action Fenwick rod had a substantial bend in it. The look on Andrew's face was one of determination as he held on tight while doing his best to reel up line. At first I thought maybe he was snagged but a little closer look revealed beyond a doubt that he did indeed have a good size fish pulling hard on the other end of his line.
It took a minute or two before the fish briefly rolled on the surface, then dived down below it again. Holy Crap, I thought. That was a big walleye! I'm not sure, but I may have said that out loud.
Andrew was more determined than ever now. The rod butt was jammed down into his stomach and he was pulling back hard, keeping the bend in the rod and doing a great job of keeping the line tight. The second time it came up just a little to close to the boat and right into the net she went.
Man, what a fish! Everyone in the boat was kind of in shock. The sun was barely starting to show over the eastern horizon and none of us were fully awake when this fish chomped down on Andrews night crawler. We sure as heck were wide awake now! We all witnessed Andrew catch his first walleye ever and she was a beauty, measuring up at a whopping 29 inches long!
After taking plenty of pictures, we finally got back to fishing. The crawler rigs picked up a few more fish, mostly sheepshead but also one or two more small walleye. Not enough action to stay with it and Andrew and Emily wanted to try jigging with crawlers. So we put away the heavy trolling gear and pulled out the St. Croix Avids.
After a short move to another good spot, I tied a 3/16oz precision jig on each one of the rods and showed them the proper way to hook up the night crawler. Everyone dropped their lines overboard and the action started shortly after. Emily hooked up with the first keeper, which turned out to be a nice, chunky 17" walleye. Bob pulled in a 16" sauger right after that. Then in short succession, they each pulled in a crappie. Bob's was the biggest at 13" long.
After that though, Emily took over. She must have caught four or five in a row and missed several more. Bob had some bites also, but couldn't quite get the hooked into them and ended up with a severely shortened night crawler each time it happened. All the walleyes & saugers were a bit on the short side of the 15" mark though so we decided to make another move in hopes of finding some more eaten size fish.
The next spot was putting out more of the same until big fish Andrew finally set the hook again. It had been awhile since he had any bites but now he was hooked up with what appeared to be another good one. Although it put up a pretty good fight, this dandy 22 inch sauger ended up in the net shortly after the battle began. Turn's out, this was Andrew's first ever sauger.
We caught several more small walleyes, saugers and sheepshead before the morning came to an end. The kids were getting hungry so we broke for lunch at Fitz's on the lake where we met up with Andrew and Emily's parents, Mike and Kim.
Maybe the best part of the day for me was watching and listening to the kids tell their mom and dad about the fish the three of them caught that morning.
I have no doubt that these two will be fishing for a long time to come. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if both Andrew and Emily both owned boats of there owned someday. They both were very anxious to learn about everything to do with fishing and when we got to the pier, they were quick to help with the bumper buoy's and tie down ropes. It was all great fun to them.
After lunch, Kim took grandpa's place in the boat. Unfortunately, the weather had taken a turn for the worse. We started out for the other side of the lake to do some trolling with crank baits but before we got there, I noticed one flash of lightning in the dark clouds off in the distance to the west. The winds had picked up considerably and the lake was now getting a bit choppy. I turned the boat towards the boat landing and we started making our way to safe harbor at a rate that prevented us from getting totally soaked.
The Merrimac siren started blaring just as we got to an area of the lake where the wave's weren't to bad. All morning long Emily had been hoping for a fast ride in the boat. Most of the time, due to the high price of gas and no big need to get anywhere fast, I just put the boat on plane and off we would go. But now Emily was going to get her wish. With siren's blaring I pushed the throttle down and away we went. I couldn't see her but according to her mom, Emily was smiling the entire way back to the boat landing.
We got off the lake with a little time to spare. Severe storms were brewing up all around the southern half of the state and off to the west it didn't look any better. Time to call it a day and go somewhere safe!
It truly was a pleasure to share my boat and spend some time in the company of this family. Thank you so much for allowing me to be your guide today on Lake Wisconsin. It truly was yet another day that I will never forget.
Sunday, June 1st
Anyone know how to make a 6'9" ex-UW Badger offensive lineman with two Rose bowl rings squeal like a little girl?
Nope, I don't have any idea how you do that either.
However, I'm pretty sure I know how to make him smile like Mr. Incredible, the main caricature from the animated movie!
Just have him tangle with a 41lb flathead catfish for 15 minutes or so, then make him hold the fish up for pictures while his forearms are still burning from the battle.
I met Luke Hilgemann, his dad Bill and Mauricio Jaine early Sunday morning at the boat launch. We all climbed in the boat and headed out for a morning of walleye fishing. These guys all own house's on the lower end of Lake Wisconsin and they were very much interested in learning new spots and new techniques to catch walleyes & saugers.
We started trolling shad raps along an area that had given up some real nice fish for my clients a week earlier and after only a short time, Mauricio hooked into a fish. Unfortunately, it came unbuttoned just before it showed itself. Could have been a keeper size walleye but we'll never know. A few short fish and a few white bass was all we had to show after several passes so we moved on to the next spot.
The second pass through this small spot produced a nice 19" sauger for Bill. It was another pass or two later when Luke hooked into a good one. At first we thought this might be a really big walleye. The early portion of this fight was similar to how a big walleye would fight. It only took a few minutes and Luke had it below the boat. That's when it became real obvious that this was not a walleye, but a big catfish. Luke was doing his best to pull it to the surface but he wasn't even close to winning this battle. He wanted to tighten down the drag but I assured him that would be a mistake and the best course of action, if he wanted to have any chance of seeing this beast, was to take his time and enjoy the battle.
It seemed like it took a long time and everyone in the boat was watching the surface carefully for any sign of the big fish. After about 15 minutes, it finally rolled on the surface and everyone in the boat let out a simultaneous: "Whoa"!
I wasn't to sure that big kitty was going to fit in the net.
Another minute or two later and Luke had it close enough for me to slip the net under it's head and then power through the water engulfing the big cat inside the hoop. From there though, it was physically impossible for me to lift it out of the water. I worked the net handle hand over hand until I able to grab both sides of the hoop and even then I was apprehensive about picking it up. The net held together just fine though and we were able to bring her aboard.
The big flathead had a humongous belly and it appeared to be full of eggs. She measured up at 41" and weighed in at 41lbs. After holding the beast up for several pictures, Luke had just enough strength left in his arms to put her back in the water. She pretty much let him know that she was fine but not to happy with him as she immediately swam down and away from the boat.
That was pretty much the story of our morning. Along with several white bass, we ended up with 8 walleyes & saugers, most of which were under 15" long.
That's the great thing about fishing. Even though most of the morning was slow, one really big fish and 15 minutes of adrenaline filled action was all it took to turn this into a great trip for everyone involved.
Another fun trip that will stick in my memory for a long time! It sure was fun fishing with you guys Luke, Bill and Mau.
Thanks for your help at the boat landing Bill! It makes a big difference when the boat landing is busy like that.
Hope you guys have a great year of fishing on Lake Wisconsin. If you ever need help, give me a holler.
Saturday afternoon, May 31st
Julie & Michael Rogers live in nearby Sauk City. We met at the boat launch parking lot at 2:30pm and prepared for an afternoon of chasing walleyes.
Unfortunately, the strong west winds were not letting up and that was affecting where we were going to fish. Some of my better spots of late were getting the full force of the wind.
I decided to start by slow trolling crawler rigs behind bottom bouncers. This extremely effective technique is way under fished on Lake Wisconsin. It is not only effective at catching walleyes but it is a great way to locate fish that are willing biters. One located, you can always slow down and work them over with a jig tipped with a leech or half a crawler.
We spend most of our time working the 14-16' zone. The bite was slow though and the wind didn't let up until late in the afternoon. Finally, after pulling in only sheepshead and a couple of small walleyes, we headed to a new area and switched to trolling crank baits. It didn't take long and Julie's line got hit hard.
After a nice battle, I slid the net under a nice looking 21" sauger. A few quick pictures and back in the lake it went.
It felt like this was only going to be the start of it but in reality, it was the end of it. The wind finally did let up as the sun was going down but we never did get into them.
It was a pleasure to meet and fish with the two of you Michael and Julie. Give me a call if you need any help finding fish this year. I'm more than willing to point you guys in the right direction!
Saturday morning, May 31st
Ken Deja has the kind of wife many of us die hard fisherman would love to have. She bought him a fully guided fishing trip for a Christmas present last year.
Ken is a pretty nice guy himself and he invited his father-in-law to come along.
Ron Smith just retired from his career as a teacher. A professor I believe. He's looking forward to many things but one of them is getting back into fishing. This trip was a good start towards that goal.
We started bright and early in the morning by trolling shad raps in 10-12' of water. That didn't pan out to well and after around 9:00am or so, we switched over to slow trolling crawler rigs. That seemed to impress the sheepshead more than the walleyes. Ron finally did hook into a decent fish and after a short battle he brought a very nice looking 20-3/4" sauger to the net.
Other than that one decent fish though, we couldn't hardly get anything going at all. We did catch seven walleyes & saugers but they were all under 15" long.
To make matters worse, the wind was blowing harder all the time. Even though it was coming out of the west, it was about 5-10mph to strong.
To much unsettled weather over the past few days appeared to have a negative effect on the fish this morning.
Ken, it was nice to see you again. It was a pleasure to meet and fish with you also Ron!
Monday, 5-26-08 Memorial Day
Today was family day and I was very happy to be sharing the early morning hours with Nancy and our dog Kayla. There was a warm west wind blowing at around 15mph and I had only one goal in mind. That was to hook Nancy up with a big walleye.
We once again went with trolling shad raps in 10-12' of water. The first fish of the day was a nice eaten size 17" walleye which we released. Didn't feel like cleaning fish today.
After that, all we caught in the first spot was weeds, sticks and leaves that the storm from the night before had blown into the lake. Time to move to another spot.
We headed off to the area where Bret caught his big fish. That spot didn't produce much other than a couple of white bass.
Around 9:30am or so, we finally connected again and sure enough, this was a bigger fish. Nancy grabbed the rod and the battle was on. It was actually a very similar battle as the day before, just not as long. When this fish finally got to the boat, it also did not show itself right away and it wanted to pass the boat just like yesterday.
But a short time later it rolled a little to close to the boat and in the net it went.
Another very fat & sassy walleye that almost looked pre-spawn in girth. And best of all it measured in at 26-1/2" long.
We snapped photo's and released it. Hopefully, we will meet again in a few years!
Another hour of trolling produced nothing more. We pulled the boat around 10:30am. It was getting pretty warm out and the lake was beginning to show signs of heavy recreational traffic.
All in all, it was one of the better Memorial Day weekends I can remember.
Sure hope it was for all of you as well!
Sunday, 5-25-08
Today I spent the morning fishing with a couple of guys who make annual trips to some of the better walleye fishing lakes in the world. Bret Larsen and Duane Lutz take fishing trips to Lake of the Woods and Lake Erie every year.
The good thing about having a couple of guys with this much experience in the boat is that they don't need a lot of coaching and you don't have to worry about whether or not they will know what to do when they connect with a big fish.
The bad part of having guys in the boat who travel to spots like that is it can be kind of hard to live up to the experience they've had in those places.
Little ole 9000 acre Lake Wisconsin did just fine today. By the end of the morning, Duane set two personal best and Brett had one new personal best.
With a steady south wind blowing at about 10-15mph right from the start, I decided to go with trolling crank baits over crawler rigs. And it didn't take long before Duane was fighting a pretty good fish. The 22" sauger on the end of the line put up a good fight but Duane was up to the task and soon enough it was in the net. It was back in the lake swimming free again after a couple quick photo's. That was Duane's first personal best of the day.
Less than a half hour later, Duane was again fighting a decent fish. This sauger measured up at 22-1/4 inches. It took Duane all of 30 minutes or so to break his previous personal best.
Surface water temperatures were running at 63 degrees this morning in the main lake. That was up two degrees from yesterday morning.
We were running flat lines in the 10-12' zone for the most part and shad raps were the lure of choice.
After those two saugers, Duane caught another 18" walleye from that first location and after a pass or two with no fish, we started making the milk run.
Only problem was, we didn't find much other than white bass in most of the spots we were hitting.
Bret still hadn't connected with a walleye or sauger but he was being very patient about it. We were well into our fifth spot or so and I was just about ready to tell the guys to pull their lines one more time when Bret finally hooked into a fish. And according to him, it felt like a good one.
Duane pulled in his line and took over the wheel since we were trolling into the wind when this fish hit. After slowing the trolling motor down, I grabbed the net and extended the handle all the way out. Bret got the fish up near the boat but it wasn't ready to show itself and it appeared as though it may try and pass the boat. I inched the throttle up a bit and we were once again staying just ahead of this fish that we could not quite see. This went on for what seemed like a minute or two. It was probably only 30-45 seconds but when you know there's big fish near the boat and you can't quite see it, time kind of slows down. It slows down at approximately the same rate at which your adrenaline flow increases and right then and there, there was a lot of adrenaline flowing in the boat.
Finally, a big walleye rolled on the surface just beyond where the net would reach. That is always the scariest part of landing a big fish. Lots of bad things can happen but thank god, nothing bad happened.
None of us could believe how fat this fish was. It looked like a pre-spawn female walleye but that couldn't be. She was still spunky and Bret had to hold on tight several times while I shot some pictures. Bret released her and she is still out there waiting to give somebody else a battle they won't soon forget. She sure gave us a battle none of us will ever forget.
Even though she measure up at 29" long, it was her girth that left the biggest impression on us. The guys weren't sure, but they thought this was a personal best for Bret as well.
We made another pass or two but no more walleyes showed up and shortly after that put away the crank bait rods in favor of the crawler rigs for the last hour of the morning. That produced nothing but one small crappie.
I don't think I've ever had a better showing from only four walleyes & saugers on a half day trip and I'm pretty sure that every one left the lake with a smile on there face today.
Saturday, 5-24-08
Matt Bell, who has done two tours in Iraq already is looking forward to this coming February. That's when he will have completed 20 years of service with the National Guard. I'm hoping he won't have to do another tour of duty before then.
Matt and his son Alex joined me this past Saturday for a day of fishing on Lake Wisconsin. They were the recipients of a free guided fishing trip from Ballweg's Guide Service in honor of all veterans. I've never served a day in any branch of the service and this is my way of saying thanks to all of those who have and are still serving to the benefit of all of us. Thanks guys, your efforts are appreciated!
Now for the fishing part. Unfortunately, that part didn't go so well. I'm not sure if it was the east wind or that cooler than normal conditions had dropped surface water temperatures 3 to 4 degrees since the last time I was out or if it was just the wrong time of the day, but the fish did not co-operate with at all.
Of the four walleyes & saugers we caught, only one was big enough to be legal. That was a 16-1/2" walleye that Alex pulled in.
We did feed the sheepshead, white bass and crappies about 5 dozen crawlers in our efforts though. I'm not sure how many of those we caught but it certainly wasn't enough to make up for the lack of walleyes.
Tuesday, 5-20-08
Spent the morning chasing walleyes with Glenn Harrington, Matt Harrington and Jim Minobe. The actions wasn't fast by any means but we were able to put some fish in the boat by slow trolling crawler rigs.
Overnight temperatures have been below 40 degrees the past couple of nights and the surface water in the main lake dropped a couple of degrees. Today we were seeing surface water temperatures of 62 degrees. A couple of days ago, we were as high as 65 degrees.
The guys wanted to sample both walleye/sauger fishing and crappie/bluegill fishing. So the plan was to fish walleyes & saugers in the morning, then switch over to panfish in the afternoon.
We stuck with the crawler rigs through out the morning and managed to put four eater size fish in the box and Matt caught and released one slot size walleye of 21-1/2".
By noon, the chilly north west wind had picked up considerably. We started out looking for crappie in the stumps by deeper water. Matt caught the first one shortly after we set up but after that, all we could manage here was white bass.
So we kept moving farther into the bay picking up a fish here and there as we went in.
Finally, we just pulled up and went all the way into the bays to see if there were any crappies left on the beds. Glenn started casting a mini-mite type jig tipped with a waxworm below a bobber up closer to shore. What he found was plenty of small bluegills with a few average crappies mixed in.
Matt kept his minnow line right below the boat and he picked up the occasional crappie and even a way ward bass and walleye. Both were on the small side but fun to catch and release none the less.
All in all, it ended up being a good day on the water. Fishing wasn't fast but good enough to provide plenty of food for the table and a good time catching them on the water.
Sunday afternoon, 5-18-08
Jeff Zappia & Lester Herman are a couple of pretty good walleye anglers who wanted to sample the walleye and sauger fishing on Lake Wisconsin. If possible, they wanted to learn a new trick or two while they were at it. Neither one had ever slow trolled crawler rigs and since I didn't thing we would have a strong crank bait bite anyway this afternoon, that's what we started with.
That turned out to be a good choice for Lester especially. Less than a hour into the trip, Lester fought it out with a dandy walleye. It took a while, but he finally brought a gorgeous looking 28 inch walleye to the net. Shortly after that I'm pretty sure they could here us on the other end of the reservoir. We did quite a bit of hoot-en and holler-en there for a minute or two.
The smiles and adrenaline rush lasted long after all the pictures were taken and the big fish was released. We all pretty much knew that no matter what happened the rest of the day, this trip was already a good one. The bite was pretty slow after that, but we did put one more keeper in the box at that first spot.
Later in the afternoon, we switched it up and trolled crank baits. The first two or three spots didn't produce much more than baby walleyes and white bass.
The last spot we hit produced a real nice slot size walleye for Jeff so we immediately turned the boat around and went back thru it the other way. Wasn't long and Jeff was hooked up with an even bigger fish. This time the battle lasted considerably longer and we were all pretty sure this was no walleye. Eventually, Jeff brought this 26 inch catfish to the net.
We still had time for one last pass and this time Lester scored on a keeper walleye of 17 inches. With the sun getting lower in the sky, we all agreed that it was time to pick up our lines and point this boat towards the landing where we came from.
I'm pretty sure Jeff, Lester and I were all feeling pretty good about how this day turned out. There really aren't many things that feel as good as the ride back to the boat landing after a really good day of walleye fishing.
Sunday morning, 5-18-08
Bob Holum is a local guy who resides in Merrimac, Wisconsin. His goal this morning was to learn a few good tricks for catching walleyes on Lake Wisconsin. So I showed him how I like to use night crawlers to catch walleyes and saugers.
We started fishing at about 6:30am but apparently no one told the walleyes. We didn't get bit by anything at all for the first 1-1/2 hours. Not even a sheepshead!
But then little by little, the walleyes started to wake up. Once they started to bite, it didn't take Bob very long at all to figure out how to work the crawler rigs we were using and by 9:30am, he had put his limit of eaten size walleyes in the boat.
Saturday, 5-17-08
First question I asked Art Green and Mike Smith this morning was this:
Do you want to troll crank baits and try for some bigger fish or would you rather fish with crawlers and go for numbers? There answer was to troll crank baits for bigger fish.
It didn't take long to see what kind of day this was going to be. We hadn't trolled more than 100 yards when the Art hooked up with the first walleye of the day. Even though it was only 14" long, it felt good to have a bite that fast.
A short time later and Mike hooked into a really good fish. Mike is Art's brother-in-law and originally hails from Arkansas. The way we fish for walleyes up here is totally new to him. Catfish are more his game.
It took awhile, but eventually, Mike did get the big fish on the end of his line up to the boat. From there though, things got a little to exciting for me. We could see by now it was a muskie and it wasn't giving up yet. Over the next minute it was either next to the motors or under the boat. Twice I grabbed the line and pulled it out and away from the motors. I know that's a big no, no, but so is letting the fish swim under the boat or by the motors and Mike didn't quite have enough experience on using that 9-1/2' long trolling rod to pull it out from under the boat or away from the motors. Eventually though, a 32" muskie did find it's way into the net. Talk about an exhilarating experience first thing in the morning. We sure were three excited guys right about then! After that quick early morning bite, things did slow down quite a bit. By keeping at it though, we were still able to hit a fish here and a fish there.
The winds blew fairly strong out of the northwest at about 15-20mph today which made it feel colder than it really was. All that wave action made boat control a little challenging, but it also gave us that famous walleye chop the we all like to have.
Surface water out in the main lake where we were trolling was running about 62-63 degrees.
Art hooked into another good fish later in the morning and after another hard fought battle, I slipped the net under a solid 31" northern. Another pass through that area produced yet another hook up for Art. This time he pulled in a very nice, chunky walleye.
We caught all these fish and more by trolling shad raps in 10-12' of water. We didn't target crappies, but a few of them attacked our baits as well.
By the end of the day, we had 10 walleyes & saugers (three over 20" long and another just short of 20 inches) 3 crappies, one northern and one muskie.
Later in the afternoon, we did spend an hour or so slow trolling crawler rigs and that put a couple extra walleyes & saugers in the boat. I'm pretty sure had we done that longer, we could have run the numbers up a bit higher, but I doubt that anyone in this boat would have wanted to do anything different.
It was a great day fishing with you two Art & Mike. Sure hope we can do it again next year!
Friday, 5-16-08
Brian Bollnow and his good friends Jim Luther and Eric Novak showed up bright and early this morning with high hopes and good spirits. I guess that will happen after getting a good nights sleep at the nearby Best Western.
This would be Brian and Jim's second trip with me and they were definitely looking forward to learning some new tricks for catching walleyes and/or crappies. We never did spend any time chasing crappies today.
The walleyes didn't bite fast and furious either and as a result, we ended up trying several different tactics including jig & crawlers, crank baits and night crawler rigs. The jig & crawlers put at least one keeper in the boat and Jim lost what appeared to be a big fish while trolling shad raps but the technique that finally paid off the best today was slow trolling crawler rigs.
We spent time working the crawler rigs in a couple of different areas just hoping for a walleye or sauger to show up and give the location of more fish away. That's pretty much exactly what happened too!
The first fish we caught on the crawler rigs was only 9" long, but by continuing to work over that area, we were able to entice another walleye, and then another and little by little, the guys started putting together a decent days catch. By the end of the day, a total of 15 walleyes and saugers came in the boat. Only seven of which were legal to keep but still fun none the less.
I've got to hand it to these three guys. Not only did they never lose faith, but they seemed to pretty much expect that we were indeed going to end up catching fish. And when the fish weren't biting, that just gave them plenty of time to crack jokes and pick on each other.
For me, guiding is the most fun when I get a group of guys like these three. They love to fish and no matter what happens, they're going to have a good time on the water. Catching plenty of fish is just a bonus.
Thursday afternoon, 5-15-08
Dewey Schultz has fished with me many times over the past several years. We started out fishing for crappies first this afternoon. One thing I like about fishing with Dewey is that he's always willing to try new things. So instead of just trying to catch crappies on the same old minnow below a bobber, we decided to see how many we could catch on plastics. We did drop minnow rods right over the side of the boat as well, but Dewey never did tie on a bobber.
I rigged up several different jig/plastic combos and Dewey cast them into and under the piers and surrounding shoreline while I slowly motored the boat around with the bow mount electric. This did produce crappies but not as fast as the past couple of outings. As luck would have it, the biggest crappie caught in my boat so far this spring came on a minnow line fished straight below the boat.
Later in the afternoon, Dewey and I decided to leave the crappies behind in favor of trolling for walleyes and saugers. This went pretty slow as well and the only fish we had to show for our efforts was a dandy 21" sauger that snapped up my shad rap as I was pulling it out of a snag. First time that's ever happened.
Surface water temperatures were running between 64-68 degrees in the bays today!
Wednesday, 5-14-08
Mike Limmex and I spent the morning chasing walleyes. That went kind of slow but we did manage to put three keepers in the boat. I was pretty sure the crappies would still be up spawning in the shallows so we gave up on the walleyes for some easier targets.
The crappie fishing was excellent and it didn't take long for Mike to put a limit in the boat.
Most of the crappies came on a minnow set 18-24" below a bobber but at least a few came on the lines we had set over the side of the boat.
Surface water temperatures in the bays ran as high as 67 degrees today depending on where you were.
Spawning Spring Crappies on Lake Wisconsin. Saturday, May 10nth a.m.
Doug Kuiper is a crappie fishing nut! He absolutely loves fishing for these speckled panfish and simply can't get enough information about how to catch them.
The morning temperatures were considerably colder than the last couple of days. It was 42 degrees at the boat landing but as you moved a few miles away from the lake, it was several degrees colder yet. Still, Doug and I found the surface water in some of the more protected bays had not dropped much from yesterday. The first bay we pulled into was still full of 61 degree water.
I had Doug cast one line shallow with a bobber while I kept the boat in the deeper water. Depending on where we were, the boat was over anywhere from 8 to 15' of water. Doug's second line was dropped right over the side of the boat.
We pretty much found fish about as fast as you can. Doug's first cast with a bobber resulted in a nice eaten size crappie. Ninety percent of the crappies we have caught so far this spring have been between 9-1/2" and 11" long. All of those crappies are probably three year old fish.
As we continued to work our way around the bay, Doug continued to catch fish.
One spot in particular though, was giving up some bigger fish. We were hovering over an area of water that ran from 8 to 11' deep and the longer we stayed in that spot, the better the percentage was on bigger crappies. These probably had pulled back to this slightly deeper water to protect themselves from the cooling effect of chilly overnight temperatures.
Doug caught and released several of them. We took pictures first of course, but he released most of them in favor of those average size fish for eating.
By 9:00am, Doug already had his limit and since the bay we were fishing was just starting to get busy, he decided to call it a morning.
Spawning Spring Crappies on Lake Wisconsin. Friday, May 9nth p.m.
Scott Billings and Steve Fausnaugh met me at 2:00pm this afternoon at the boat landing. They were looking forward to getting in on some of the great spring crappie fishing that they've read and heard about on Lake Wisconsin.
There timing could not have been better!
Surface water temperatures were right at 61-62 degrees and lots of crappies were making there way up to the spawning grounds in shallow water. Shallow water crappies makes for some of the fastest and easiest fishing of the year.
The techniques we use are quite simple. Each angler uses two rods. One is rigged with a bobber set approximately 18" above a minnow hooked on a plain gold hook. This is cast into the shallows to check for fish that have moved up onto the beds. Another rod is rigged with a split shot set 8-10" above a plain gold hook and minnow. This rig is dropped right over the side of the boat and cranked up off the bottom about two turns of the reel handle.
A foot pedal controlled bow mount electric motor allows us to slowly maneuver around the bay as the guys cast there bobber rigs into good looking areas. Once a crappie is caught, the bow mount is used to hold in that position until the guys can no long consistently pull crappies from that spot. At that point, we continue moving on until we find more fish.
The first spot we fished had some decent crappies but the action wasn't quite as fast as we had hoped for. The second spot however, was loaded with crappies and most of them were in less the three feet of water. The next hour or two was filled with laughter as Scott and Steve pulled one crappie after another from a stretch of shore line no more than 40 yards long. It sure is fun to see a couple of grown men act like little kids and nothing will do that faster than getting into an area that is full of shallow water crappies during the spawn.
The highlight of the afternoon was when Steve hooked into a better fish. We knew right away that it probably wasn't a crappie so the net was ready when an 18" walleye finally gave in to the 4lb test and ultra-light rod that Steve hooked into it with. The fish bit on a small fathead minnow set below a bobber in less than two feet of water. That was a pleasant surprise indeed!
By 7:30pm, we decided to call it quits. Scott and Steve still had to drive back to Janesville and I had to get the boat back in order for tomorrow mornings trip. The guys ended up keeping 41 crappies and one walleye.
It was another great day on the water. Good weather, light winds mixed with some sunshine and a couple of fun loving fishermen to share my boat with.
What more could a guys ask for! I sure had a blast watching these guys catch crappies today.
Spawning Spring Crappies on Lake Wisconsin. Friday, May 9nth a.m.
Even though everything pertaining to fishing appears to be at least a week or two behind a normal year, the spring crappie fishing season of 2008 has been excellent on Lake Wisconsin. We are not catching as many really big crappies as years past but the numbers of eaten size fish has been superb! Mix in a couple of bigger crappies and you've got the makings of some pretty fine fishing.
Ed Covers was the benefactor of a half day fishing trip gift certificate from "Ballweg's Guide Service" given to him from his oldest son Jim. His trip this past Friday, May 9th coincided perfectly with spawning spring crappies on Lake Wisconsin.
Jim and I were blessed with nice weather today. We were treated with light winds and early morning air temperatures in the low 50's as we pulled away from the pier and headed out on the lake at 6:00am this morning. Our plan was to target crappies first and then if we had time, we would try to put a few walleyes in the boat as well. Things were looking good right from the start with surface water temperatures running right around 61-62 degrees in the bays we planned on targeting. Around these parts, 61-62 degrees signals that magic temperature when spring crappie fishing starts to peak.
The fishing was great right from the start. I had Jim cast one rod with a bobber set approximately 18" above a minnow on a plain gold hook into the shallows and another rod with the same rig, minus the bobber, was dropped right over the side of the boat. I then used the bow mount electric to slowly moves us around the bay. We didn't have to go far or wait long to catch crappies. Jim had his hands full most of the time pulling in one fish after another. Usually, they would hit whichever rod he wasn't holding in his hands.
By 9:30am, Jim had his limit of 25 in the live well and off we went to try for some walleyes. Unfortunately, that didn't go as well for us. We mostly trolled crack baits, but all that showed up on the end of our lines were white bass.
I had a great time fishing with you this morning Ed. Sure hope we get to do it again sometime. Maybe next time we can get your son Jim to go along.
Lake Wisconsin weekend report 5-3-08
We finally had a half way decent weekend of weather to fish in. Saturday morning was a bit wet, but after that early morning rain storm blew over, the rest of the weekend wasn't to bad!
At a little after 6:00am on Saturday morning I met up with Doug Kuiper at the boat landing. Shortly after we were headed across the lake to see if the crappies were willing to bite this morning. The last few days had been fairly chilly and surface temperatures in the main lake had dropped down to 53-54 degrees. Back in the bays, surface temperatures were several degrees higher running between 56-58 degrees.
Doug and I dropped our lines right over the side of the boat and then cranked them up a couple turns to get them off the bottom. It didn't take long and we were putting crappies in the boat. Our rigs were simple enough. We used either a 1/32oz jig or a plain gold hook and both were tipped with fathead minnows.
Doug kept 15 and by 9:00am decided that his other business couldn't be kept waiting any longer. If we had stayed out, I'm pretty sure we could have put a lot of fish in the boat. But Doug didn't want anymore than the 15 he already had in the live well.
On Sunday, Dick Majcher, Rob Linde and Jeff Stein climbed aboard to try their luck. The skies were clear this morning and air temperatures started out in the mid 30's. A bit chilly for this time of year.
We had decided to try for walleyes first and spent the first couple of hours of the morning trolling many of the better spots where I have done well in early May during previous years. Today though, that plan fell flat and by 9:30am we gave up on walleyes and went back after crappies.
The bite was a bit slower today, but by constantly moving the boat around with the bow mount electric, we were able to find small pods of active fish through out the bays. Our best rig today was once again the 1/32oz jigs tipped with a fathead minnow.
The weather improved dramatically as the day wore on and by mid day, we had begun peeling off most of our outer layers. Bright sun and clear skies turned this day into what may have been the most pleasant weather I've fished in so far this spring. And because we were in the bays, the stiff north west wind didn't really bother us that much.
There never really was a hot bite for us today but as long as we kept moving around, we were able to pick up a fish here and there. By late afternoon Dick, Rob and Jeff had managed to put 34 eaten size crappies in the livewell.
Nice weather, more than enough crappies to keep it interesting and good people sure made for a great day.
Lake Wisconsin weekend report 4-26-08
On Saturday the rain, thunder and lightning had passed over and we were left with ridicules winds straight out of the west and early morning temperatures in the low 30's. I don't know what the wind chill was but I do know it was hard to keep my hands warm in the morning.
At 8:30am I met Andy and Madeline Kopale and the boat landing. Everyone got bundled up and off we went. We never left the bay the whole day. Fortunately, I had found a spot that was holding a few crappies. The hard part was keeping the boat over the fish in the crazy wind. Every once in a while I though maybe we would make a run across the lake to one of the other bays but one look out in the main channel was all it took to convince me that was a bad idea! There were some serious white caps out there.
We spent the day fishing for 1-1/2 hours, then back to the boat landing we would go so Madeline could warm up or eat lunch or just escape the wind for a little while. Each time, I thought; No way there going to want to go back out. And each time I was wrong!
I've got to hand it to you two Madeline and Andy, you guys are real troopers! That was brutal in the morning and not much better in the afternoon.
Shortly after noon on Sunday I eased the boat up to the pier at the Eagles Nest vacation house in Merrimac where a group of 20 some men and boys from the Straight Shooters Christian Sportsmens organization out of Janesville, Wisconsin were staying. I won't claim to know a great deal about this organization as this it the first time I've met anyone from it. But I will say they were a great group of guys who certainly did appear to be having a great time despite a couple of nasty days of weather.
I spent a little time doing a small seminar on Lake Wisconsin and the fishing opportunities it provides. Then after a quick lunch, everyone headed for there boats to spend the afternoon fishing for crappies. Mike Daybery, Chris Troemel and Chad Bennet had been selected to go out with the guide.
We started out a little slow but things began to pick up soon enough. I directed the guys to drop there lines right over the side of the boat and then crank there lines up from one to two turns off the bottom. Each guy had two rods, one rigged with a plain old gold hook, tipped with a minnow and weighted with a large split shot or two. The other rod was rigged with a small jig/plastic combo or just a plain jig tipped with a minnow.
Chris figured out pretty quickly that two turns off the bottom was working the best and the others followed suit. From then on, the action for the most part was consistent. Not fast and furious, but consistent enough to keep your attention.
For the most part we were targeting the the break line from 15' down into 18' of water. The cold weather over the past several days had driven many of the crappies down into this deeper water. The warming sun this afternoon did appear to have many of them on the move out of the deeper water up onto the flats as they progressed into the bay. We were picking them off as they moved up out of the deeper water.
By the end of the afternoon, Chris, Chad and Mike had put 32 crappies into the livewell. Almost all of them were between 10-11" long. Nothing big for our boat today but a lot of fun just the same and excellent eating size!
This afternoon was definitely the highlight of the weekend for me. Especially after battling the elements on Friday and Saturday.
Green Bay and the Rivers running into the Bay
Every spring for about 20 years now, some friends and I have been taking a fishing trip to the waters of Lake Michigan around Door county. Our normal target species is brown trout but we have run into and detoured for walleyes, smallies and northern pike.
For several years now, I've been kicking around the idea of fishing the Marinette side of Green Bay and the Menominee river instead of Door county. This year, long time friend Dick Straub and I arranged to meet up with Tom Gursky and Al Erickson on Thursday, April 17. We arrived at the boat landing in Marinette around 1:30pm where we met Tom, Al and Frank Pearson. They showed us a safe path to the mouth of the river and we started rigging lines. Al was kind enough to give us a couple of his Wingdammer blades and it wasn't very long at all before Dick was yanking in one small walleye after another. The rest of the afternoon was spent working blades or Al's special jigs tipped with minnows. Both worked very well and although we saw several decent fish caught, including the one Al caught in Tom's report, we never did tie into a good one.
We had four days to fish this area and our game plan was to cover as much water as possible. We very much wanted to spend more time fishing the Menominee river, but we also wanted to find out how good the brown trout and walleye fishing was out in the bay. This trip was going to be very important when deciding where to go for future spring fishing trips.
Our plan for Friday was to start the day jigging the river mouth and then play it by ear. We woke up to a chilly rain which hung around for the entire day and a 15-20mph NNE wind didn't make fishing easy. Thank god for my Gamehide Typhoon series jacket and bibs. With the proper layers underneath, I stayed warm and dry all day. You can't stop the rain or spray from 3' waves but with good gear like Gamehide, at least you can keep it from soaking you to the bone!
The bite in the river mouth was off and by 9:00am we decided to try trolling for brown trout and walleyes in the bay. Neither one of us has a Michigan fishing license so our only choice was to head south out of the river mouth. The rest of the day was spent trolling in depths from 4' to 12' deep. We found warmer water on some wind driven points but very few fish and by the end of the day, we only managed to scrape up two brown trout and a small lake trout. Plus we had to endure a rough 5 mile ride back to the mouth of the river.
Saturday wasn't much better but at least the rain wasn't as bad and neither was the wind. We spent some time in the early morning trolling #12 Husky Jerks behind 3oz bottom bouncers in the river mouth. We had noticed that the few big walleyes we saw caught the past day or two here were mostly caught by trollers. That didn't produce for us either and by 8:00am or so, we once again headed out in the bay to try our luck trolling. By the end of the day we had about the same thing as yesterday. Two brown trout and one 31" pike. So far, we were getting our butts kicked but good. Time for a new game plan!
Sunday, we headed south down to the Oconto river with the boat still on the trailer. The winds had been blowing from the NNE for two strait days now and on the map showed a nice big point in the shoreline right where the Oconto river dumped into the bay.
We motored a mile or two upwind, then spun the boat around and set lines in 8'-10' of water as we trolled with the wind. Not 10 minutes later we had our first fish on and shortly after Dick slid the net under a nice 24" walleye. Shortly after that, Dick reeled in another 31" northern pike. His second one of the trip.
By the time we cleared the net and lines it was time to start another run. The second run didn't produce anymore fish so we pulled the plug and moved on to the area around the Peshtigo river mouth.
We didn't have our lines in the water for more than 10 minutes before the action started. Over the next two hours or so, we pulled in six more walleyes, all between 21-23" long. Nothing big but after the last couple of days, we were just happy to finally be able to put something together that was working. By noon though, the action was over and although we tried, we didn't find anymore active fish.
Monday morning was our last chance to put some good fish in the boat before this trip was over. We headed straight for the area out in front of the Peshtigo river and our first fish of the day was a dandy, spawned out a walleye. Shortly after, Dick lost a real big fish that was making the planer board look like a bobber. We didn't have time to hang our heads for long though as the action didn't stop and later Dick made up for losing that big fish by reeling in the best fish of the trip. Another one of those huge Green Bay walleyes!
By mornings end, we landed eight walleyes and three brown trout. All the walleyes were over 21" long and the browns though not big, were definitely chunky.
We caught almost all of the walleyes and brown trout on #8 and #10 husky jerks trolled between 100-120' behind the planer boards in 8' to 16' of water.
It seems odd, but there were plenty of fish out in that deeper water. There's no way our lures were anywhere near the bottom so the fish were either suspended or they came up to smack our lures.
Alls well that ends well and despite a tough start, this trip ended on a real positive note. Looks like there's a very good chance we'll be coming back next year too!
Saturday 3-29-08 on Upper Lake Wisconsin
At 5:45AM, I met Casey Liakos, Brian Wolosek & Jason Konz outside Sauk Prairie Bait & Tackle. This would be there first time fishing on the waters of Lake Wisconsin and one of the goals Casey mentioned when he set this trip up was to catch at least one really big sauger.
After launching the boat, we motored off to one of my favorite stretches on this part of the river. The area we were fishing is just above where the river opens up into Lake Wisconsin. Everyone baited up a 3/8oz jig with a large fathead minnow and dropped it overboard and the first drift began. I actually expected us to land at least one or two fish on the first drift, but that did not happen. A second drift produced a lost fish for Brian and shortly after, Casey showed me a minnow that looked like it had been skinned alive. How some of these fish missed getting hooked when they do that, I'll never know. All the guys were using stinger hooks, but for some reason, the fish kept winning in the early morning hours.
We moved on to our next spot where a dozen other boats appeared to be doing pretty good by dragging double jig rigs upstream. After one quick drift down stream and another lost fish, I quickly rigged up all the guys with double jig rigs and we began dragging them upstream. Half way through our run, Casey hooked and landed our first fish of the day. A dandy, fat & sassy 21" long sauger that was quickly photographed and released. Very shortly after that, Jason hooked into a good fish and got it up to the surface where we saw only a flash before it to came unbuttoned and disappeared.
This was beginning to look like one of those days where hard luck seemed to be getting the best of us. One thing I noticed early on about these guys though, was none of them seemed all that worried or bothered by missed fish or lost fish. Instead, they just kept fishing while cracking a joke here and there along the way.
We varied our speeds from .4 to .7mph but didn't really seem to find one particular speed that was better. Keeping your jigs on the bottom was the most important part. If you did that, and if you had on the right colors, then you got bit. The best colors this morning appeared to be any kind of chartreuse tail behind a 1/4oz orange jig head. The double jig rigs we used were nothing more than a three way rig. The first 1/4oz jig is tied with about a 15" lead and the second one is tied with about a 30" lead.
We spent some more time in other locations dragging double jig rigs and vertical jigging with little or no success. It appeared to me as though this was going to be a slow day overall so I decided to break out the trolling rods and attempt to scrape out a fish here and there as best we could. The rest of the day was spent slow trolling various rigs upstream. I don't think we caught more than one fish on any one pass but we did catch enough decent fish to keep us going.
Wisconsin River below the Dells Dam 3-15-08
A long, cold winter was officially put behind us when we made our first open water walleye fishing excursion of the year to the Wisconsin river below the Dells Dam.
Long time friends Mark "Buck" Pings and Kevin Key were more than willing to join me for the first fishing trip of the year. All of us were looking forward to feeling the pull of a walleye or sauger on the end of our line.
Early morning temperatures started out at about 23 degrees and stayed below freezing until late in the morning.
The fishing was slow in the morning hours and we only managed to put three keepers in the boat by noon. The afternoon however was anything but slow. We started picking up fish with regularity around 1:00PM and managed to put a three man limit in the boat by 3:00PM.
A total of 17 walleyes, 1 sauger, 1 sturgeon and several blue buffalo all made there way over the side of the boat today and it sure felt good knowing that we were all going to be sharing fresh walleyes with our families very, very soon!
All of our fish came from water between 9' and 15' deep. Our best rig for the day was a plain orange and/or chartreuse jig tipped with minnow. Close behind were jigs rigged with B'Fish'N Tackle ringworms.
We were also checked by the game wardens at the end of the afternoon when we pulled out of the boat landing. Very glad to see them there checking fisherman as they pulled off the water!
All in all, it ended up being one of the better openers that we've had in several years! Sure hope it was a good one for all you other guys & gals who managed to get your boat out this past weekend.
