Ballweg's Guide Service, LLC
Specializing in Walleyes, Saugers & Crappies
on Lake Wisconsin & Wisconsin River
Sunday, December 6th
Fishing this fall has been much tougher than normal but this past Sunday was not one of those days. Instead, it was one of those days where we hit it just right.
Joining me this past Sunday was Michael Collins and his brother Pat. Many of you may already know of Michael from his many post on fishing websites where he tends to go by the handle of Greybeard.
Michael & I had been working on doing a fishing trip swap for quite sometime and after a fantastic day of salmon fishing aboard his Lake Michigan boat this past summer, I was finally able to pay him back this past Sunday.
We had our lines in the water right around 10:00am and Pat had the hot hand early on. His first fish, a nice20-1/2" sauger, was in the boat literally minutes after his purple twister tail had hit the bottom. He followed that up with a keeper sauger before slowing down. After that fast start, things slowed down and it took us an hour or so to work thru several baits before figuring out that the hot bait for the day was a 5/16oz green tiger precision jig tipped with a firecracker/chart paddletail from B'Fish'N Tackle company. At that point, all three of us made sure we had at least one rod rigged with that setup on it. That setup produced quite a few saugers over 20" long and a 26", 8lb plus walleye for Pat.
Later in the day, the walleyes and saugers lost there taste for that bait and we began working thru more colors until we discovered that they really liked the 5/16oz black precision jig tipped with a chartreuse pepper paddletail from B'Fish'N Tackle company.
This jig/color/paddletail combination accounted for two walleyes over 8lbs and one very nice pike for Michael. That color combo also seemed to keep at least a few fish coming over the side of the boat until it was time for us to call it a day at around 4:30pm.
For the day the three of us tallied 39 fish. Seven of the saugers were over 20" long, six of the walleyes went over 20" long, including three that weighed more than 8lbs. Only four were in the keeper size range of 15-20" and other than Michael's nice pike, the rest were shorties.
Our best depths on this day was 23-25' on the shallow end and 30-35' on the deep end.
Surface temperatures in the main lake were 36 degrees at the rail road bridge.
Judging by the weather that is suppose to be rolling in around these parts later this week, this is most likely going to be my last open water fishing trip of the year. And more than likely, my last fishing report for the year 2009.
I hope you all had a great year out there on Lake Wisconsin and if you didn't catch lots of fish, I hope you were at least lucky enough to catch yourself a trophy.
Take care and we'll see you on the water next year!
Boog
Week of Nov. 2nd thru Nov. 8th
The fall sauger & walleye bite on Lake Wisconsin did improve considerably last week.
We actually had some very good days on the water mixed in with several others that were just okay or maybe a tad bit on the good side.
There is a bit of bad news that goes with that good news though, due to warm weather an increasing water temperatures, the bite was going downhill fast by Sunday afternoon.
Our best overall bait last week was a 1/4oz B'Fish'N Tackle Orange Tiger Glow Precision Jig tipped with an extra large fathead minnow. The big saugers definitely had a taste for meat last week. Late Sunday afternoon was the only time when another jig color actually outfished the Orange Tiger Glow and that happened when Art Green put one pig and a couple other keeper size fish in the boat using a 1/4oz Sunburst Precision jig tipped with the same extra large fathead minnow.
Our second best bait was a 1/2oz blade bait. There was no one specific color that out shined all others. We caught good fish on no less than six different colored blades.
The blade bite takes a lot of persistence. You can spend a lot of time jerking that blade around with no results and then out of the blue, "POW" fish on! Usually right about the time if felt like you're arm was going to fall off.
Early in the morning definitely seemed to be the best time to vertically jig a blade bait but they did also produce at other times of the day. The middle of the day was by far the hardest time to entice a bite on any lure regardless of what it was.
We did find a few fish willing to chase crankbaits behind lead core from time to time but it was inconsistent from one day to the next. Sunday was probably our best day pulling lead.
Baitfish on the sonar screen was the common denominator for finding these big saugers. If you didn't see fairly large schools of baitfish in the area, then you may as well keep looking before dropping a line.
Our best overall depth's were 20' on the shallow side and 25' on the deep side. Shallower was definitely better early & late in the day. There were actually a few times where we found some active fish moving up into that 20' zone during the middle of the day but for the most part, the baitfish and the better saugers both moved deeper during the brightest times of the day.
The bad news is this, with the warmer weather that we had on Saturday & Sunday, the baitfish schools were breaking up and spreading out over larger areas. To me, it certainly looked like the saugers & walleyes were doing the same thing and as a result, the bite kept getting tougher & tougher as the water temps continued to climb.
Sunday, November 1st
The weather was much nicer on Sunday but you still had to work at it to put fish in the boat. Blade baits worked best for us today. Jigs tipped with minnows or paddletails, not so good but trolling with lead core did put one or two in the boat.
Tom Jasinski managed to land all the picture fish today while his brother-in-law Jim MIchalak had to settle for catching white bass and a couple of eaters.
Hopefully, November walleye & sauger fishing will be better than October. It usually is but this has been such a strange year, one never knows for sure.
Saturday, October 31st
The winds were downright brutal on Saturday but that didn't deter any of my clients from enjoying a day of fall walleye & sauger fishing out on Lake Wisconsin. The bite was better in the morning that it has been at any other time over the past week or so. It still could be better but it was nice to get into some decent fish for a change. Brad & Joel Benson caught nine walleyes & saugers on Saturday morning using blade baits and jig/minnow combo's. Four were keepers, two were overs & the other three shorties.
Saturday afternoon was back to the usual slow, slow fishing that we've seen a lot of this October. Despite that, Mark Mowbray stuck in out and made the most of it by landing a nice 22" walleye on a jig/paddletail/minnow combo and then put a keeper in the boat for supper as well with the same rig.
Weekday fishing - 10/28 & 10-29
The bite has been slow during the week for the most part but it did pick up slightly this morning.
On Wednesday, Mike Hanrahan caught a nice 20.5" sauger with a jig/minnow combo but other than that early fish, it was pretty poor fishing the rest of the morning.
Thursday I was out with Larry Regula. We lost a decent fish first thing in the morning, then connected on two that went 21" each. Both fell for a blade bait.
A little later in the morning, we fooled a pair of keepers while trolling crankbaits behind lead core line. One went 17 & the other was 15.5" long.
I'm hoping that each day from here on out for a while will continue to get better. Only time on the water will tell for sure though!
Weekend of 10-26-09
October walleye & sauger fishing on Lake Wisconsin seems to run hot & cold. Some years it’s really good and other years, not so good. This year is running mostly in the not so good category and because of that, I'm hearing plenty of regulars wondering out loud about why that is.
We do have an abundance of baitfish on Lake Wisconsin this year and many of the better fish that we have caught don’t appear to be having any problems catching and eating more than enough to sustain themselves. But this is by no means the first time we've had a large crop of baitfish. Actually, having an abundance of baitfish is more common than not.
A look back at years past shows that the really good bite doesn't usually start until November.
It may be that the water still isn't cold enough to really give the walleyes & saugers that urge to pack it on before the lake is covered with ice. Water temperatures actually rose from 48 to 50 degrees in the main lake this past week. In my experience, rising water temps in the fall are “NOT” a good thing when it comes to good fall walleye fishing and maybe that is why October walleye & sauger fishing always seems to be inconsistent. Good one week and not so good the next. Not that you can't have a bad day in November, but it does tend to be more consistent on a week to week basis verses October.
We also have an extra large crop of one & two year old walleyes & saugers here in Lake Wisconsin right now. Which has meant making a choice between targeting numbers of fish in the hopes that one out of seven, eight, nine or ten will be a keeper or attempting to target bigger fish with a different technique.
Plastics would normally be one of my go to tactics here but that has not produced at all for me so far. Blade baits & trolling crankbaits behind lead core are two other good methods that tend to catch bigger fish and that has been working, it's just not working great. Not yet anyway.
We did not catch a lot of fish this weekend by any means and all the walleyes & saugers we caught that we're over 20" long came within the first hour of sunrise.
The afternoon hours have been really bad for us. We did not catch a single walleye or sauger over 15" long in the afternoon hours. I'm sure that will probably change next week but it's something worth paying attention to. If you have a choice, fish in the early morning hours right now and go hunting in the afternoon.
I sure wish I would have done that this past weekend!
Weekend of 10-19-09
I'm pretty much exhausted from fishing for three straight days but I want to get this report posted before I hit the rack and get some much needed rest.
So, to make a long story short, the fishing was tough but not impossible.
We managed three keepers on Saturday morning while fishing with Tom Bartels & Bill Urban using jigs tipped with minnows.
I spent Saturday afternoon with Mike Benthause & Jeff Jones and the bite wasn't any better. We caught more fish overall but only two were keepers. One on a jig/minnow and the other on a blade. We did find some active stripers and catfish mixed in with the walleyes & saugers on one spot. That was kind of fun while it lasted. Sunday we didn't get any keepers but we did lose a pig by the side of the boat. That definitely put a damper on the morning. Next time Mike!
Sunday afternoon, we struggled to find a good spot with active fish and somewhat out of the wind. The fish we found were all small except for two and they were both over 20" long. One was a 20-1/2" sauger that Glen Harrington fooled with a plain jig/minnow combo and the other was a 23" walleye that fell victim to a blade bait.
Our best depths were all over the place as well. We caught some as shallow as 15' and others as deep as 25 feet.
On Monday, I managed to get the day off of work just so I could fit Ed Junkeris into my schedule. Ed & his wife are heading south to Florida soon and since his tripped was paid for in full, I was running out of options.
The bite was slow again today but as usual, if you stuck to it, you could find enough fish to keep it interesting. Fortunately, we found a couple of good ones to boot.
The jig/minnow combo and/or blade bait bite didn't work to well for us today so we switched over to crankbaits instead. That wasn't fast & furious by any means either but it was better than anything else I've been doing lately so that's what we did.
Our best depth was 19-21' but we also pulled a few from 17' and at least one from 23' deep.
Surface water temperatures are holding steady right around 48-49 degrees.
Sunday, 10-11-09
Jerry, Derek & Marc Hopper came up from Indiana this past Sunday to sample the fall walleye & crappie fishing here on Lake Wisconsin. It was their first time on Lake Wisconsin and even though the guys had to work for everything they caught, they were still very happy to be sharing a day on the water with each other.
It was a cold 24 degrees when we left the boat landing at sunrise this morning. Thank goodness the sun came out early and didn't hide behind any clouds until later in the morning. I was thankful the wind didn't blow like it did on Saturday as well. Of the two weekend days, the weather on Sunday was definitely better to fish in.
Jigs tipped with fathead minnows was again out best bait. I did give some plastics a try but that was a no-go for me. We caught quite a few small walleyes & saugers today and we were hoping to sort thru all the and hopefully pick up a few keepers along the way. Unfortunately, that never happened. Instead, the guys had to settle for some nice crappies which they are planning on giving a hot oil bath back in Indiana.
All in all, the fishing this past weekend was definitely better in my boat than it has been the last two weeks but it should get quite a bit better over the next couple of weeks.
Saturday, 10-10-09
Walleye and crappie fishing was better this past weekend but it still wasn't exactly easy pickin's. The bite on Saturday was definitely better than it was on Sunday and even though the temperature was colder on Sunday, if still felt colder on Saturday due to the wind.
Jeff, Carla & Irene Heeg drove down from Marshfield for their first ever fishing trip on Lake Wisconsin. The temperature was hovering right around 30 degrees when we left the boat landing in the early morning fog. I'm sure the ladies were wondering what the heck are we doing going fishing in below freezing temperatures and weather predictions that included both rain & snow for later in the day. We did get some snow around 9:00am but the rain never did fall. Thank god for that! Thankfully, everyone was dressed for the weather and we were able to find a few locations that were somewhat out of the wind which also held some walleyes & crappies.
Our best bait for the day was a 1/4oz jig tipped with a large fathead minnow. We did managed to catch four legal walleyes & saugers but we had to sort thru plenty of small fish in the 13 to 14-1/2" range along the way. Judging by the number of small fish we caught, It appears as though the 2007 year class of walleyes & saugers was a good one on this part of the Wisconsin River.
We also ran into some good size white bass and crappies which is always a nice bonus. Especially since we didn't really have to do anything different to catch most of them. We had a live bait rod tipped with a fathead minnow out at different times through out the day but most of the crappies still came on the jig/minnow combination.
Our best jigs & jig colors on Saturday were the 1/4oz Precision jigs from B'Fish'N Tackle company.
Our top color in the morning was Orange/Tiger Glow Eyes & Orange Chartreuse. Purple Pearl & Sour Apple were both good in the afternoon.
Surface water temperatures in the mail lake above the rail road bridge were running right around 52-53 degrees and 54-55 degrees down by Moon Valley. Two weeks ago, our water temperatures were at 75 degrees. We needed the water to get colder in order for our fall bite to start picking up but I'm not sure having them drop that fast was really a good thing when it comes to triggering a good bite from the walleyes & saugers.
Sunday afternoon, 9-27-09
My Saturday morning trip was cancelled due to my client coming down with a bum knee that's going to need surgery. Hopefull that will go well for you Doug!
I did spend time on the lake Sunday afternoon with Peter Gustin and his two young and upcoming fishing kids, Cole (12 yrs old) & Cameron (9). Peter and his kids have never fished Lake Wisconsin before and they were really looking forward to this trip. As luck would have it, the bluegill bite that Darren & I experienced earlier in the week was no where to be found. We left the pier at 2:45pm and setup on one of the spots that had treated Darren & I very well earlier in the week. The next hour or so was spent teaching the kids how to cast lite weight jigs & bobbers. Some of the early & erratic practice shots landed 20' up in the trees but I've never seen anyone who was good at it without practicing and everyone has to start somewhere.
Unfortunately, all we found in our first couple of spots was some tiny smallies & bluegills that had taken up residence where we were previously catching solid bluegills a few days earlier. After moving several times, it was apparent that the kids casting abilities were improving but still needed work. What was also apparent, was that the bluegill bite was no where near as good as earlier in the week.
After our fourth or fifth spot, we got caught up in a pretty good down pour that lasted a half hour or so. Right in the middle of that hard down pour, we found some decent crappies. We put away the bobbers, brought out the crappie rods and spent the next hour or so attempting to hook up with a few more of those. It was a tough bite, but the size of the crappies made it worth while.
Peter & I both used ultra-lites to cast tiny jigs tipped with waxworms to the shallows and swam them back into the deeper water. These rigs were probably our best overall and produced a mixed bag of bluegills, white bass, smallies & occasional crappies. No walleyes or saugers today though.
After the shower, the weather improved and the evening was actually very enjoyable. Everyone caught at least one decent fish and they all learned a couple of new tricks for when they come back on there own.
Our count for the late afternoon/evening trip was two decent bluegills, five nice crappies, four decent smallies (several more little bitty ones) and several decent size white bass. They kept the crappies, two decent bluegills and one white bass just to see what it tasted like. Everything else went back in the lake.
It was a bit challenging at first but in the end, it was a great to see the kids having fun with the fish. I was impressed that they never complained once, not even when the rain was beating down on us.
Wednesday afternoon, 9-23-09
Spent Wednesday afternoon from 2:30 to 7:00pm on the lake fishing with Darren Dykstra (Twisted Fisher Guide Service) chasing crappies & bluegills. It's always fun getting out with another quality guide who really knows Lake Wisconsin. Gives both of us a chance to compare notes and techniques.
We didn't find a lot of crappies willing to hit our bait this afternoon but Darren definitely found a bunch of nice bluegills that were more than willing to tangle with us. Small jigs tipped with waxworms were the ticket and maybe if I had converted a little earlier, I might have kept up with Darren. As it turned out, he kicked my butt badly today. Next time buddy!
We ended the afternoon with 23 nice bluegills, 2 crappies and one giant blue buffalo.
Great sunset at the end of the day! You gotta love spending time on the lake around this time of the year.
Monday afternoon, 9-21-09
Spent part of the afternoon chasing panfish with Nancy & our dog Kayla today. We ended up with more than just panfish which is one of the things I love about the techniques we use this time of the year.
Casting small jig & plastics tipped with waxworms while hanging a minnow rod over the side of the boat can and will produce fish of every species here on Lake Wisconsin. Today's tally was typical of what we see every year in September while employing these simple to learn techniques
We were on the water around 2:30pm and off it by 6:30pm and ended up putting five smallies, four walleyes & saugers, one crappie & five nice bluegills in the boat. That was enough to stuff a one quart plastic freezer bag to the top for a meal later this winter.
The weather was great, the fishing was good and the company could not have been better.
Early fall colors are beginning to show and the smell of fall is in the air.
What a great way to spend an afternoon out on Lake Wisconsin!
Monday, 9/14/09
For each of the past three years, I've donated a fishing trip to either a current or past member of our armed forces. I had been looking for a good candidate to donate a trip to this year when I saw Finatic's post asking for a little help locating fish on Lake Wisconsin last week. Seems his nephew had recently wrapped up his second tour of duty in Iraq and he wanted to spend some time fishing now that he was back home.
Seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to give a little back to someone who has put his life on hold to serve our country. So I offered to take them out for a half day of fishing for free. Finatic happily excepted and quickly substituted his own son in his place, which was just fine with me.
This morning, Ken & Matt Hunt jumped in my boat for there first ever fishing trip on Lake Wisconsin. The trip started a little later than planned because the guys needed to acquire fishing licenses first but the late start didn't prevent us from having a great time chasing bluegills, crappies & anything else that decided to tug on the end of our line.
Ken has not been fishing for nine years. He went into the service right out of high school and did two tours of duty in Iraq in the U.S. Marine corps. After not having touched a fishing rod & reel for that long, his skills were just a little rusty. Matt was a little better but this really wasn't the kind of fishing he's used to either. One thing about fishing though, you don't have to be an expert to enjoy it and the only way to get better is to just do it. So that's what these guys did and by the end of the morning, they both improved dramatically! It was actually kind of cool to see.
We didn't pound them by any means but the fish that did bite provided plenty of fun for the three of us. Five nice crappies, six more good gills and several smallies along with an occasional white bass, a lone perch & one small walleye. Doesn't sound like a lot but some trips just can't be measured by how many fish you catch. This was one of those days!
Sunday morning 9/13/09
The panfish bite improved quite a bit over this past weekend. We are finally starting to see some decent numbers of crappies & bluegills showing up in the usual early fall locations. Plenty of other fish have shown up along with them. I did two half day trips on Sunday and both the morning and afternoon parties put decent numbers of fish in the boat. Dan Sullivan & Kevin Lohmeier went out in the early morning fog with me on Sunday. Things started slow but got quite a bit better pretty fast. The bite didn't stop as soon as the fog lifted either but it did slow down a lot by 10:30am or so. We used both minnow rigs and small jig/plastic combo's tipped with waxworms to put ten nice crappies, ten more good bluegills, four smallies (all small) and six walleyes & saugers in the boat. The biggest sauger went 22-1/4" long. One walleye was 16" long and the rest were very, very small. Remember, we were fishing for panfish with ultra-lite rods so any walleyes & smallies were all bonus fish. We also had several white bass and sheepshead in the mix.
Sunday afternoon 9/13/09
Don Birkholtz & his son Jeremy went out with me on Sunday afternoon. We left the pier around 2:00pm and it felt like it was about 95 degrees out there. The bite was a bit on the slow side until later in the afternoon. By early evening it was picking up pretty good and the afternoon ended up being even better than the morning.
We used the same rigs as in the morning to put 17 nice bluegills, six decent crappies, one 11" sauger, eight smallies & one small walleye in the boat along with the usual assortment of sheepshead & white bass.
We were definitely rewarded in the end for sticking it out thru a hot, windless afternoon.
Wednesday afternoon, 7-29-09
Don Kronenberg, Bruce Gazda & Dan McCarthy have been coming to Lake Wisconsin for many, many years but today was the first time they hired a guide to help them out with the fishing. To tell you the truth, after the slow bite I experienced with my clients this morning, I was more than a little worried about what we were going end up with this afternoon.
Our target species was crappies & white bass and it started out pretty slow but as the afternoon move towards evening, the bite started to improve. Finding a quality, sunken brush pile didn't hurt any either.
The four of us put 20 eaten size crappies in the boat using primarily two rigs. One was the usual standby, a simple minnow rig consisting of a gold hook with a split shot pinched on above it. The other rig is also a standard rig for me and that was a small 1/16oz jig/plastic combo tipped with a waxworm.
We found most of our crappies in 12-18' of water but a few came shallower towards in the evening. We also landed several small sheepshead, several bluegills and a couple of feisty smallies.
It was fun fishing with you three amigo's! Hope your fish fry went well and thanks for choosing Ballweg's Guide service.
Wednesday & Thursday morning, 7-29 & 7-30-09
Tom Bartels & his grandson Luke spent the last two mornings out on Lake Wisconsin with two goals in mind. Number 1 was to get Luke his first walleye ever and number 2 was to have fun. Mission accomplished!
We didn't catch any legal size walleyes or saugers, but we did catch several short fish while trolling crankbaits for the first two hours on both mornings. Aside from that though, the bite was pretty tough. The three of us did catch a mixture of crappies, sheepshead & white bass but overall, it was pretty slow & tough.
Monday morning, 6-29-09
Chilly, breezy weather greeted us again this morning at the boat landing. The 2nd day in a row where temperatures were far below what we had been experiencing for about ten days prior.
The walleye & sauger bite was incredibly slow as well. Actually, calling it slow would be an exaggeration. Completely shut down is much more accurate!
Larry Caulkins didn't seem to mind much though. What he really wanted to do more than catch fish was to learn everything he could about how to properly use the crawler rigs that have worked so well for my boat over the past few weeks. We went over all of that and more, but the only fish we could get to bite were sheepshead and one big channel catfish.
The channel cat put up one heck of a fight. We both thought it was a snag at first. Good thing those H20 Precision jigs have a good, strong hook or this big kitty cat would have gotten away before we could take a picture.
Sunday morning, 6-28-09
Brothers Darren & Tyler Schmitt were at the boat landing bright & early this morning. Both of them were excited to try their luck at walleye fishing on Lake Wisconsin.
First thing we noticed this morning was that the air temperature was quite a bit cooler than what we've been experiencing over the past ten days or so. The warm humid air was finally gone, pushed out by the high pressure system & cold front that was now sitting directly above us.
The walleyes & saugers were almost completely shut down but the sheepshead were out in force this morning. Everywhere we went, the sheepshead were numerous. That's not what we wanted to see but that's exactly what we got. As for walleyes & saugers, over the first couple of hours fishing, we had managed only two small saugers.
With the winds picking up speed from the west, I decided to switch over and drag jigs tipped with night crawlers. I had one rods rigged and gave that one to Tyler. Before I could finish rigging another rod, Tyler had set the hook into a bigger fish and was doing his best to bring it up to the net. When we finally did net the fish, Tyler let out a very loud yelp and commented right away that the walleye in the net was easily his biggest ever.
After a couple of quick pictures, we put his nice 25" walleye back in the lake and got back to fishing. With only a half hour to go and the west winds building steadily, it became very hard to nearly impossible to control out boat speed. Even with two drift socks out, it was hard to keep our speed below 1.0mph.
Tyler did land one more good walleye that measured 19-3/4" long. Both Darren & Tyler were happy with that fish because it meant they were going to be eating walleye for supper.
Saturday, 6-27-09
Greg Cooke was the lucky recipient of a full day gift certificate given to him by his children who know how much he loves to fish. Eric Cooke also enjoys fishing with his dad so he came along.
These two guys had fished on Lake Wisconsin before but they didn't have very good luck. All that changed today. Within and hour or two, Greg & Eric had already put a couple of good eaters in the boat and both of them made comments about how that never happens on the trips they usually take to Lake Wisconsin.
The walleye & sauger fishing was pretty good for the entire morning, then slowed a bit in the afternoon. We again ran nothing but crawler rigs behind bottom bouncers and never felt the need to switch over to anything else.
Greg and Eric totaled eighteen walleyes & saugers and another three bonus crappies. Seven of the walleyes & saugers were legal, six more were over 20" long and the rest were shorties.
Thursday morning, 6-25-09
A couple of the local fellas decided they wanted to try some walleye fishing right here in there own back yard. Tim Lins knew his twelve year old son Austin was starting to get the fishing bug pretty bad. Austin especially liked to fish for bass and Tim wanted him to sample some walleye fishing. They picked a great day to do it cause the fishing was excellent today.
We ran crawler rigs behind bottom bouncers all morning and never even thought about taking them off.
Austin turned out to be a pretty decent little fisherman and he held his own just fine against his dad. The bite was hot and they both had a blast pulling walleyes & saugers in one after the other. Tim & Austin caught twenty two walleyes & saugers. Eleven were in the keeper size range, six others were between 20 - 22-1/2" long and the rest were shorts.
It was a blast fishing with you two guys today. Sure hope to hook up with you again soon!
Tuesday morning, 6-23-09
Devin Koppe & Tim O'Bryan from Lafayette, Indiana were in the area on business and decided that a little side trip out on Lake Wisconsin chasing walleyes might be kind of fun.
We met up in the Sunset Bay boat launch facility at 5:30am and off we went into heavy fog.
This morning might have been one of the few times in my life where I was glad for fog. We didn't have much wind at all and the weather man had forecast plenty of bright sun and hot temperatures. The fog helped keep it a bit cooler in the early morning hours.
The bite started out a little slow, then got quite a bit better between 8:00 & 9:30am, then slowed down to almost nothing after 10:00am.
We never felt the need to use anything else other than crawler rigs behind bottom bouncers this morning. The guys put eleven walleyes & saugers in the boat and a two bonus crappies. Four of the walleyes & saugers were legals, one was a fat & healthy 26 incher and the rest were shorts. Devin & Tim didn't keep any of the fish. They just wanted to enjoy a morning of walleye fishing on Lake Wisconsin.
Sunday afternoon, 6-21-09
Even though the bite was a little slower than I expected it to be in the morning, I had high hopes for a good bite in the afternoon. It didn't start out fast by any means for Mark Seidler & his father-in-law Jim Sawyer. We were catching fish, but the bites were kind of spaced out. As the afternoon wore on though, the bite just kept getting better & better.
Crawler rigs behind bottom bouncers caught all out fish this afternoon.
In five hours of fishing, Mark & Jim caught twenty five walleyes & saugers. Eight were legals, five were between 20" & 26" long and the rest were shorties.
If anyone is looking to get out during a week day, I'm available all week. I'm going to suggest going out either early morning or late afternoon due to the hot weather predicted by weather forecasters.
Hope you all had a great fathers day weekend!
Sunday morning, 6-21-09
Mike & Justin Freitag have made fishing for walleyes on Lake Wisconsin an annual fathers day event. Sunday was the third straight year they've done this and although the fishing wasn't quite as good as it had been the last two years, they still managed to put enough fish in the boat to provide enough fillets for the annual Freitag family fish fry.
We pretty much stuck with crawler rigs behind bottom bouncers this morning. Despite what looked like beautiful walleye fishing weather, the bite was a definitely a little off compared to yesterday. It would have been nice to see a little bit of wind. That probably would have help the morning bite quite a bit.
In five hours of fishing we totaled twelve walleyes & saugers, one 21" channel cat, two nice bluegills, one perch & one crappie.
They kept four legal walleyes/saugers & one crappie. Plenty enough for the fish fry!
Always fun spending a morning fishing with you two Mike & Justin!
Saturday 6-20-09
Tony & Victor Abbate spent a day fishing for crappies with me last year and now they wanted to get in on some of the good walleye fishing that Lake Wisconsin is so well known for. Saturday turned out to be the perfect day for that. Weather wise, it didn't really look like it was going to be a great day for fishing but apparently, no one told the walleyes and saugers that they are not suppose to bite on clear, hot, sunny days.
Crawler rigs behind bottom bouncers were definitely the ticket this weekend. We did drag jigs tipped with a crawler for a little while in the afternoon also. That produce a couple of bonus fish when the crawler rigs slowed down.
These two guys put twenty nine walleyes & saugers in the boat today plus two bonus crappies. Eight of the walleyes & saugers were legals, six went between 20" & 24" long and the rest were shorties. We used up a little over six dozen night crawlers in the process.
Tony & Victor, It was great fishing with you guys again.
We tried taking a picture of another 24" walleye that Tony caught but the damn thing wouldn't hold still and after several tries, we just gave up and put her back in the lake.
Thursday afternoon, 6-18-09
This afternoon was a "just for fun" trip with friends Clarey & Debbie.
It took about five minutes to figure out that it was going to be a pretty good afternoon of fishing. Debbie pulled in two fish just minutes after we got our lines set and Clarey didn't wait much longer before he started pulling in fish as well.
The bite stayed hot for the first 45 minutes then slowed only a little over the next 1-1/2 hours. Crawler rigs behind bottom bouncers was the hot ticket for us once again.
Debbie caught her first walleye ever and pulled in a big 22-1/2" sauger and Clarey just couldn't believe how good the fishing was.
We fished from 3:00 to 6:00pm and ended up catching thirteen walleyes & saugers along with one crappie. Seven were keepers, three overs and the rest were shorties. We also had several other pretty decent fish come unbuttoned on the way up to the net.
The only downer for the afternoon was that my wife Nancy couldn't get the afternoon off and go with us. Guess that just means we'll have to do it again when she can come along!
Thursday morning, 6-18-09
Brad Zernov likes to fish Lake Wisconsin but he needed to learn a few more good spots and techniques to help him up his catch rate a little. That was his primary reason for booking a guided fishing trip. Catching fish and having some fun along the way is always a good thing too. Mission accomplished!
We started out running crawler rigs behind bottom bouncers and other than jumping around from spot to spot, we never did take off the bottom bouncers & crawlers.
Brad mentioned that he really liked the technique involving bottom bouncers and that he was looking forward to practicing it with his friends & family. That right there the key to learning how to catch fish on a consistent basis.
After you're guided fishing trip, always be sure to get out and practice the tricks and techniques you learned while on the water with your guide. Practice, practice, practice!
And have fun while your at it!
Brad put sixteen walleyes & saugers in the boat this morning. Four were keepers, one went over 20" and the rest were shorties.
Tuesday morning, 6-16-09
Mike Werner had a poor outing the last time he went out with me and as a result, I offered him a half price trip with the hope that we would get into them better on his next trip.
We didn't light them up but it was far from a bad morning. We tried some bottom bouncing with crawler rigs first thing in the morning. That was slow so we switched to trolling crank baits behind planer boards. That worked great.....on crappies with a few walleyes mixed in. Eight crappies loved it though.
Later in the morning, we switched back to crawler rigs behind bottom bouncers and this time the walleyes & saugers liked it. Nine walleyes & saugers made it to the boat of which three were keepers, one fell into the over category and the rest were shorts.
Saturday morning, 6-13-09
Dick Majcher, Rob Linde & I spent five hours out on Lake Wisconsin this morning. We started out trolling but due to the large amount of debris in the form of cotton wood seeds, floating leaves, sticks and so on, we soon gave up on that and went to slow trolling crawler rigs behind bottom bouncers. That worked out pretty well.
Dick and Rob put fourteen walleyes and saugers in the boat plus Five bonus crappies. Five of the walleyes & saugers were keepers, two were overs and the rest were shorties.
Thursday afternoon 6-12-09
Spent 5 hours on the lake yesterday afternoon with Rich Schoenberger. The bite wasn't great but it wasn't bad either. We started out slow trolling crawler rigs behind bottom bouncers which did nothing at all. We then switched over to trolling crank baits and that put 3 nice keeper walleyes & saugers between 17-19" in the boat along with seven decent size crappies. We also missed one big fish that hit hard, stayed hooked up for about 5 seconds and then popped free. As usual, you never catch them all!
Overall, the bite this week has been much better than last week for my boat. Next week looks like it should be even better yet.
June is normally our best month of the year for numbers of walleyes & saugers. This year the weather has been much colder than normal and that has slowed the bite down as the fish have taken longer to settle into they're early summer patterns.
During a normal year, water temps in the middle of June are well into the 70 degree range. Right now, water temps are still hovering in the upper 60 degree range and with warmer weather forecast for this weekend thru next week, it looks like the fishing will only continue to get better.
Good luck and good fishing!
Wednesday & Thursday morning, 6-11-09 & 6-12-09
Tom Bartels & long time fishing buddy Bill Urban spent the last two mornings out on Lake Wisconsin chasing walleyes with me. Tom's goal was to learn a few new tricks to use on future trips to this lake.
Wednesday, we spent the entire morning slow trolling crawler rigs behind bottom bouncers and that worked pretty well. The guys totalled ten walleyes & saugers, one crappie and a 26" flathead catfish. Five of the walleyes/saugers were legals & the rest were shorts.
The flathead tested Bill's big fish fighting capabilities before finally ending up in the net. That was a fun battle and it was released right after we snapped some photo's.
Thursday, we ran crank baits behind planer boards and that went pretty well also. Tom & Bill put twelve walleyes & saugers between 13" & 27.5" long in the boat along with four bonus crappies. They kept none!
Bill again ended up catching the biggest fish of the day and recorded his new personal best walleye to date with his dandy 27-1/2" walleye. Congratulations on that fine catch Bill!
Tuesday afternoon 6-9-09
Spent the afternoon fishing with Mark Mowbray from the Janesville area. We slow trolled crawler rigs behind bottom bouncers and although it wasn't fast & furious, we did catch fish fairly consistently from start to finish.
Ended the afternoon with a dandy 27" walleye that is Mark's new personal best. Congrat's on that big fish Mark! She was a beauty for sure.
We would have stayed out a little longer but Mark's back was starting to bother him.
Not a bad afternoon though as we ended up boating 14 walleyes & saugers. Size range was all over the place. Everything from 13 inches all the way up to his 27 incher.
Sunday, 6-7-09
I did make it out on Sunday with two half day trips and although I didn't take any pictures, it didn't seem right to not put in a report.
The morning trip was spent with JIm, Kevin & Brian Zurowski. Jim wanted to spend some time learning a little about fishing walleyes & saugers on Lake Wisconsin with his sons Kevin & Brian who I believe are both in their very early 20's. We ended up staying fairly close to the boat landing due to a thunderstorm that was rolling thru just a little to close for comfort. That storm did miss us but as a result, we stuck with crawler rigs and didn't try to switch over to crank baits. The guys caught eleven walleyes & saugers along with one bonus crappie. Problem was, most of our fish this morning ran on the small side and only three of the eleven were eaten size.
The afternoon trip was spent with Drew, Aaron & Christopher Kottke. Drew had pretty much the same thing in mind as Jim did in the morning which was to learn some good tricks for putting walleyes & saugers in the boat. In the process, he wanted to share some quality time while walleye fishing with his 14 & 17 year old boys. With the wind blowing fairly hard right out of the north, northeast, I chose to stay away from the big, open areas on the upper end of the lake where the full wrath of the wind could pound on us. Instead we stayed with crawler rigs on the lower half of the lake and used the power of the wind to push the boat along while controlling our drift direction with the bow mount electric. All in all, the afternoon trip went pretty good. The guys picked up on the finer points of fishing with bottom bouncers pretty good and managed to sort thru fifteen walleyes and saugers in order to get five decent size keepers.
Saturday, 6-6-09
Tim Grossnickle & Mark Bergstrom seem to be on one of those streaks where every time they come up & fish on Lake Wisconsin they bring bad weather along with them. Unfortunately, Saturday was no exception as we battled strong northeast winds and plenty of rain while trying to catch walleyes, saugers & bonus crappies. One thing is for sure, that kind of weather is always a lot easier to endure when your catching fish. We didn't pound the fish but these two guys stuck with it and it paid off. Not with any trophy walleyes but pretty good numbers by the end of the day. We started out trolling crank baits for most of the morning then switched to slow trolling crawler rigs in the afternoon. Both methods produced fish for us but the crawler rigs put more keeper size walleyes & saugers in the boat on this day. They ended the day with a total of sixteen walleyes & saugers plus four bonus crappies. Seven of the sixteen were in the eaten size range, four others were over 20" long and the other five were shorties.
Friday morning, 6-5-09
Mike Gurklis hopped in my boat on Friday morning with the goal of learning as many new techniques as possible for catching walleyes & saugers. We started out trolling crank baits in the stump fields which produced a couple walleyes, saugers and crappie, including one 20-1/2" walleye shown in the picture. Next we pulled night crawlers behind bottom bouncers which also produced a couple of eaten size walleyes & saugers and finished with draggin jigs tipped with a half a crawler. Unfortunately, that last technique didn't produce anything for us. Still, its one of the more overlooked tricks that has put a lot of fish in my boat over the years.
Thursday morning, 6-4-09
The walleye & sauger bite on Lake Wisconsin did improve this week. We didn't put any limits in the boat but we did average around a dozen fish per half day trip. On some trips we also saw a fair number of crappies showing up on the end of our lines. Their always a welcome bonus and taste great on the table. Kurt & Logan Guenther caught more crappies than walleyes while trolling crank baits with me last Thursday.
Monday, 6-1-00
Mike Werner and I spent the entire day working our butts off trying to catch some walleyes & saugers. Early in the morning, we were actually doing okay but once the clouds cleared out and the wind switched over to the north, the ball game was pretty much over with. The rest of the day was terrible!
Mike did catch one good walleye on a crank bait before the bite died down completely. A good looking 23.5" walleye.
Saturday & Sunday, 5-30 & 5-31-09
The walleye fishing this weekend really went down the drain for my boat. The trolling bite died down to only a few small fish. We did manage to put four good eaten size walleyes & saugers in the boat on Saturday afternoon by pulling crawler rigs behind bottom bouncers. On Sunday, not even that would produce anything for us.
Friday, 5-29-09
The numbers of walleyes and saugers we caught trolling pretty much went down the drain today. We did catch a big sauger but other than that, everything else was undersize and not very many of them either.
We ran crawler rigs behind bottom bouncers later in the morning but that didn't really produce anything worth while, just more small walleyes & saugers.
Thursday, 5-28-09
Went out today with Reg & Tyler Acker. It wasn't fast and furious but it wasn't bad either.
It turned into a really good day when Reg fought & finally won the battle with this hard fighting 28-1/2" walleye. She fought so hard none of us thought it was a walleye anymore until she finally showed herself.
Reg released her right after this photo was taken. Thanks for releasing that beauty Reg!
Wednesday, 5-27-09
I went out in the rain today with Rob Hatch. We had to tweak our trolling program a bit from what had been working so well for us the past couple of weeks. We didn't hammer them all day long but changing things up did turn out to be a good move.
Rob took home a limit of eaters in the 15-20" size range, caught & released two very healthy overs, (21-1/2" and 23-1/2") plus four shorties. We also lost a pike in the low 30" range right behind the boat. To top it off, Rob also caught six nice size crappies, two of which went 14-1/2" long.
Although we did change our program, we are still trolling and all fish were again caught on crank baits.
Sunday, 5-24-09
Art Green & Uncle Baldy, (they really won't tell me his real name) joined me in the hunt for some good walleyes & saugers. A hunt is what it turned out to be. Our hot trolling bite is starting to peter out a little bit. We still did okay and the guys also caught a couple of pretty good fish along the way.
We hit several different spots around the lake and in the end, they managed to put seventeen walleyes & saugers in the boat, three crappies and a 32" long catfish.
Sure could have been worse! I'm glad these guys didn't mind running around and hitting a bunch of different spots because that is what it took to catch fish today.
Saturday, 5-23-09
Ron Nelson and I started out at 6:00am this morning and we had our first fish on less than a minute after getting our first trolling rod set up. This fish fought hard and gave Ron all he could handle but in the end, Ron won the battle and he was rewarded with the largest walleye he has ever caught. She measured up at a shade over the 28" mark. Ron released this big walleye right after I snapped several good photo's.
After that though, our bite slowed down. It still wasn't a bad day by any means, just not as good as what we've been experiencing lately.
We ended up with 13 walleyes & saugers, plus five crappies. All fish were caught on crank baits.
Surface water temperatures are running right around 67 degrees in the main lake.
Friday, 5-22-09
Three generations from the Doyle family went fishing with me on Friday. (5-22-09)
The bite was quite a bit tougher for us today but we still caught all our fish on crank baits. We just had to work a lot harder to get bit on this day. Even when we did get bit, many of them fell off before we could get them to the boat.
Oddly enough, we never caught a single walleye today. We did manage to catch fourteen saugers, six crappies & a 32" northern pike. (the pike was released after this photo)
Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the eldest member of the three generations of Doyles. Sorry Joe! I should have gotten a group photo.
The guys did keep six saugers & six crappies and at the end of the day, I showed them how to properly clean their fish so that no bones or red meat was left on the fillets. Nothing but great tasting white meat for a good old fashion fish fry at the Doyle house!
Thursday, 5-21-09
On Thursday, Kevin Lohmeir went out with me. (5-21-09) The bite started out a little slower than the past couple of days but still pretty good overall.
We didn't catch as many slot fish over 20" long but Kevin did catch a lot of keepers size walleyes & saugers. It's kind of funny that it worked out that way because Kevin didn't keep any fish at all. He released everything! Including a chunky 31" northern pike that he refused to have his picture taken with.
All together, we still caught nineteen walleyes & saugers, four crappies & one northern pike. All fish were caught trolling crank baits.
The only picture I ended up getting of Kevin is this one with a nice 23-1/2" walleye.
It was fun fishing with you Kevin. Thanks a bunch from all of us here on Lake Wisconsin for releasing everything today.
Wednesday, 5-20-09
Dave Brown & I went out for a full day on Wednesday. (5-20-09) Despite the wind, we had another real good day trolling crankbaits.
By the end of the day, we caught 22 walleyes & saugers. Dave easily kept his limit of keepers between 15-20" long. Five of the rest were over 20" long and only three were shorter than 15" long. Dave also caught & released a 35" northern pike. Thanks much for releasing that nice pike!
Sunday, 5-17-09
I did not get out on Saturday and considering how strong the wind was, I'm kind of glad about that.
On Sunday, Tim Roeben and I trolled crankbaits from 6:00am to 11:00am. We caught 24 walleyes & saugers all between 12-23" long. We also caught five crappies and one 32" northern pike. All fish were again caught on crankbaits.
Tim easily took home his limit and the rest all went back in the lake. I could have kept my limit but chose not to keep any. Maybe next time I'll keep a few.
I don't believe we made any trolling passes today where we did not catch a fish of some sort. All those fish were caught under clear, bluebird skies which would typically signal poor fishing. That was certainly not the case.
Friday, 5-15-09
Went this morning with Steve Bohler. We trolled crankbaits from 6:00am to 11:00am and ended up with 25 walleyes & saugers between 14 & 22" long.
I went back out in the afternoon with Dwayne & Gary Schultz. We trolled crankbaits again from about 12:00pm to 6:30pm and put another 31 walleyes & saugers in the boat, all in the same size range again.
We didn't get any really big fish today but everyone took home a limit. (except me, I didn't keep any) Despite the lack of big fish, it sure was a blast hammering fish after fish. The walleye fishing on Lake Wisconsin is probably the best anyone has ever seen and it appears as though its going to stay that way until we get our next good size bait fish hatch.
Wednesday, 5-13-09
Went out by myself and fished from 11:00am to 4:30pm. Ended the day with eleven fish. Two under 15" long, three in the keeper slot and six between 20" and 26" long.
Biggest was this dandy 26" saugeye. All fish were caught trolling crankbaits again today.
This was the kind of day where it sure would have been nice to have someone else along. I'm pretty sure we would have been picking up doubles on each pass instead me trying to control the boat and catch a fish at the same time. Don't get me wrong, I totally enjoyed myself out there today. Just thinking it could have been even better sharing it with another angler.
Monday, 5-11-09
I was out for a full day on Monday with Jim, Greg & Jeff Schnoebelen. The fishing was a bit slower compared to yesterday. We caught about half our fish trolling crankbaits and the other half came while vertical jigging large fatheads on H20 Precision jigs. Funny how seven walleyes & saugers ranging from 16-1/2" to to 23-1/2" plus one 35" pike and a handful of crappies constitutes a slow day. A few weeks ago, that would have been a darn good day.
Weekend of 5-9-09
Walleye fishing on Lake Wisconsin was both good and not so good this past weekend. Saturday and Sunday morning were a bit on the slow side but by Sunday afternoon, we were back on them again. The numbers were not quite as good as the week before but at least the ones we were catching were quality fish.
Trolling crankbaits had been our go-to technique for the past two weeks but on Saturday, that accounted for a single 21" sauger.
Dragging jigs & live bait produce a couple of keeper size walleyes for us but we were hoping to find something more. We pulled out the trolling rods again and hit multiple spots but found only a few fish in most of the locations we went to.
Sunday morning was slow again and when we finally did find what appeared to be a decent size pod of fish, the wind kicked up and made it very uncomfortable for us to stay there. We gave up on those fish and headed back to the area where we had been doing good the week before. Turns out we missed out on an early morning hot bite at this location but my afternoon clients, Dick Majcher & Tom Strahota, were able to cash in on a good bite over the second half of the day.
Tuesday, 5-5-09
Nancy, Kayla & I were out today. We put and even 20 walleyes & saugers in the boat. Our biggest today were a 24" walleye & a 23-1/4" sauger.
Kayla is our 3 year old yellow lab.
Same bite, crankbaits are still hot!
Sunday morning, 5-3-09
I didn't think the walleye fishing could get any better. Turns out I was wrong!
Pat Kelly & his son Dan teamed up with Jack Eggers, (Father-in-law & grandpa) to put the smack down on some superb walleyes & saugers this morning. Once again we didn't go 50 yards before Pat hooked up with a good fish. Before anyone else could even think about reeling up there lines, Jack found himself in a battle with a decent fish as well. The end result of that chaotic moment was a nice picture of Pat holding his 26" walleye & Jack with a 23-1/2" saugeye. What an awesome start and it only got better after that. Once again it didn't seem like we went 15 minutes before someone was doing battle with yet another big fish.
When Dan finally got on the board with his first walleye, he did it in a big way. It took awhile for him to subdue the walleye on the other end of his line but when we finally slid the net under this fish, I knew he had a true trophy that of which few people ever get to see or feel on the end of there line, much less win the battle and hold it up for pictures. This behemoth had Dan grinning from ear to ear as he held it up for pictures. She measured up at 30" but it wasn't just the length of this fish that was so impressive. You can clearly see in the pictures the huge girth, width and mass this walleye possessed. To Dan's credit, you might just be able to catch this very same fish yourself. She was released and is swimming somewhere out there in Lake Wisconsin at this very moment. We did not weigh her though but I'm guessing right around 11-1/2 to 12 pounds.
For the morning these three guys put 12 walleyes, saugeyes & saugers in the boat. The shortest was 12-1/2" long. That happens to be the shortest one we've caught in well over a week. They did manage three keepers at 18-1/2, 19-1/2 & 16-1/2.
The rest of the walleyes measured 30, 27-1/2 & 26 inches and the saugers hit the tape at 22-1/2, 22, 21-1/2 & 20-1/2 plus one saugeye at 23-1/2" long.
Probably the best half day of walleye fishing I've ever experienced anywhere in my life.
To top it off, not only did everyone in the boat break there personal best walleye & sauger, they did it numerous times in one day. As a matter of fact, every single person that went fishing with me over the last two weeks has broken their personal best walleye.
Saturday afternoon, 5-2-09
Mark Webb doesn't yet own a boat but he does spend a lot of time fishing from shore. This afternoons half day guided fishing trip was a birthday present and it was pretty obvious from the start that he was going to enjoy this regardless. That was put to the test on the right off the bat. A pretty stiff west wind was creating white caps and we were getting a little bit wet on our ride to the area I intended to fish. Didn't really seem to bother Mark much though. Almost as if he expected it.
Within minutes of deploying our trolling lines, Mark was hooked up with his first walleye and it was a good one. The first walleye over the side of the boat hit the tape at 26" and after a couple of quick pictures, back in the lake she went. For the rest of the afternoon, I don't think we went more than 15 minutes between hits. We didn't land them all and the biggest one got away before showing herself. But despite that it was one of the best afternoons of walleye fishing that I can ever remember. Our catch total for the afternoon was ten walleyes & saugers caught and three more lost before they got in the boat.
Mark had been saying all afternoon that he wouldn't mind taking one home for supper but none of the fish we were catching were under 20 inches long. On the final pass of the day, the last fish we caught measured 17" long and Mark did get to take one home. The average size of these walleyes we're catching right now is just awesome. The walleyes we caught measured 26, 23, 24-1/2, 21, 22 & 17 and the saugers measured 21, 21-1/2, 22 & 21-1/2" long.
Saturday morning, 5-2-09
Doug Kuiper (the crappie nut) as many of you know by now has been chasing crappies with me for the past couple years. That was our plan today as well but we just were not doing to well at it this morning. Maybe the cold night had something to do with it but after about 2-1/2 hours of fishing several different spots, Doug asked if there were any walleyes biting lately. Whoa baby....I'm ready to hang up the crappie rods & pull out the walleye gear anytime you are Doug! That was all it took. Goodbye crappies, hello walleyes.
Doug had so much fun over the next two hours that he has now fallen in love with walleye fishing. And quite frankly, it's a good thing the walleye bite has been so good this past week because I just have not been able to get on a decent crappie bite so far this spring.
We've put seven or eight in the boat here or there but that's just not good enough as far as I'm concerned.
For those of you who are looking for crappies, I do expect that bite to pick up dramatically this coming week. I have witnessed the shore fisherman around Moon Valley doing fairly well in the evenings so things are picking up. Surface water temps are finally climbing up to 57 or 58 degrees in the main lake and slightly warmer in the bays.
Friday, 5-1-09
Hooked up the boat after work and hurried over to Lake Wisconsin for a few hours of trolling for walleyes this evening. I ended up with two walleyes and one catfish. The catfish was 30" long and put up a very good fight as expected. The two walleyes went 22" & 28-1/2" long and the bigger one put up a very good fight as well. It really does seem as though the walleyes fight harder at this time of the year verses summer or winter.
My clients & I are now up to three walleyes over 28" long for the year.
Wednesday, 4-29-09 Boog's "Half Tail" Walleye
Whenever I or a client has popped a big walleye in the past, I always try to get out and hit the area again. Many times it will pay off with another good one. That has been driving me nuts this week at work. Yesterday I left a little early, hooked up the boat and headed out to the lake.
This is the result of that short, late afternoon trip.
My new personal best walleye from Lake Wisconsin put up one heck of a fight and hit the tape at 30-1/2 inches long. She was released after a couple pictures.
I would love to hear about it if anyone else ends up catching her. She has a pretty distinct tail which doesn't seem to affect her ability to put up a great fight.
Sunday, 4-26-09
Sunday afternoon I spent four hours fishing with Don & Jeremy Birkholz. They have both fished on the Wisconsin river below the Dells dam but this would be there first time on Lake Wisconsin.
We started off the day using draggin jigs & ringworms again. That produced a nice 17" walleye right off the bat for Jeremy. On the next drift, I nailed a 18-1/2 incher on a draggin jig tipped with a minnow. Several more drifts after that fish produced nothing more for us.
I work closely & share information freely with two other local guides here on Lake Wisconsin. Dan Miller & Darren Dykstra have both come through for me several times over the past year or two. On this day, my clients and I both owe a great deal to Dan Miller for the information he shared with us. Without that information, we would more than likely have been in for a very tough day of fishing.
Dan had figured out a pattern that was just starting to produce well for him. We put away our ringworms and switched over to his program. That was a wise choice!
Since this was Dan's program, I'm not going to disclose the technique we used to catch the rest of our fish today. Sorry, but your going to have to wait for now!
Using Dan's pattern, we put three more quality fish in the boat. A 19-3/4" sauger, a 20 inch and a 29" walleye.
This 29 inch spawned out fatty is Don Birkholz personal best to date. Awesome fish Don. Congratualtions!
Thanks again Dan, I owe you one.
For those of you who are wondering who the guys are that I use when booking a trip for more people than my boat can hold, Dan Miller & Darren Dykstra are those guys. If you want to book a trip requiring more than one boat, you should know that no matter which boat you end up in, your going to have a quality guide taking care of you.
Saturday 4-25-09
Kevin Key & I got out for a couple quick hours of fishing between storms on Saturday afternoon. 1/8oz Draggin jigs & ringworms from B Fish N Tackle caught four of our five fish and the other one came on a Draggin jig tipped with a minnow. We picked up five fish over a 3 hour period. One shortie, two keepers & two overs
The spawned out fatty that I'm holding in the picture on the right went 23.5" and was caught on a 1/8oz black Draggin Jig tipped with a chartreuse/green core ringworm from B Fish N Tackle Company. The 20 incher that Kevin is holding was caught on a 1/8oz draggin jig tipped with a minnow.
B Fish N Tackle Company is a sponsor of Ballweg's Guide Service as of March 2009. Don't let that fool you, I'm not pulling any punches in my reports. It takes a lot of hard work to get a sponsorship from any tackle company and if the company doesn't actually make baits that I believe in, acquiring a sponsorship from them wouldn't be worth the time and effort involved.
Clients who have fished with me over the past few weeks, (last few years for that matter) can certainly testify to number of different colored ringworms, paddletails & jigs from B Fish N Tackle Company that we use in my boat. If these baits didn't work, I would be fishing with something else.
Saturday, 3-18-09 & Sunday, 4-19-09
Slow, slower and just plain tough. That's how good the bite was this weekend. If you stayed home instead of going fishing this past weekend, then you don't have to feel like you missed anything worthwhile. Every single client that went out with me this weekend received a discounted price or a half price trip in the future because I just could not get anything going.
On Saturday, we probably spent to much time chasing back & forth between walleye fishing & crappie fishing. Should have just stuck with one or the other. We would have done better if we had. That's entirely on me and no one else. We ended the day with seven crappies. Pathetic! Unless you went into the fingers & played bumper boats, the rest of the lake was unwilling to consistently give up any pre-spawn crappies.
Sunday, we concentrated solely on walleyes and got our butt's kicked again. Sunday morning we caught two fish. Fortunately, they were both decent fish. One was caught on a 1/8oz "Draggin Jig" from B'Fish'N Tackle Co. tipped with a fathead & the other came on the same jig combined with a chart/green core ringworm.
Sunday afternoon was even worse. We never boated a fish at all!
Man, I can't wait for some warmer weather and a better bite! This weekend should be a lot better. It would of course, be hard to get any worse than it was last weekend.
Night fish for the week of 4-6-09 through 4-9-09
The first week or two of April is kind of like the peek of our spring night fishing season. The walleyes are reaching the point where they can & will spawn at anytime, and by the end of the week, that's exactly what they were doing.
I missed out on a great night of fishing last Monday evening when I stayed home to, hopefully, watch Michigan State knock off the top ranked team from the ACC in the championship game of the NCAA basketball tournament. That was a big mistake as Jeremy & Jack Williams hit the river and had a great night fishing. They caught quite a few decent walleyes and some of the the biggest muskies of the year showed up as well. I don't remember the exact numbers but I do know that I was kicking myself after hearing about it from them. As always though, the biggest walleye got away just in the nick of time. Jeremy claims it may have gone 30" but there is no way of knowing that now. Jack was the unlucky angler who had it on briefly only to lose it just a few feet from where he was standing in the water. Jack did land two other decent walleyes, one that went 23" & another that went 25" long.
Jeremy on the other hand caught some great muskies. All of them were returned to the river unharmed and ready to do battle with another lucky angler later this year. The biggest went 47" and broke his rapala in two pieces.
I hit the river by myself on Tuesday and did okay on average size walleyes. Tom Meyer joined me on Wednesday and he landed a very fat 25" female walleye right off the bat but after that, the only other decent fish we had was a muskie that I caught. This fish was just to mean to get a measurement and instead of trying to force the issue, we decided it was best to just unhook the ornery critter and send her on her way before I got stuck with one of the hooks. Tom caught several other walleyes, one of which was around the 21" but I didn't catch anything else at all.
On Thursday, the only fish I caught was my best walleye of the spring. She was spawned out and stretched the tape at 27" long. If I only caught one fish a night and I knew it would be a walleye over 25" long, I would be more than happy to pull on my neoprene waders and head out for the river.
My best baits this week have pretty much stayed the same. Rapala's like the F-11, #8 & #10 husky jerks & countdowns have been the mainstay or our night fishing excursions for years. We have been using them for as long as I can remember. We didn't pull these lures out of our tackle boxes to target muskies, it's more like the muskies decided to target us and what ever we threw at them. When I pull on my neoprene waders and head out the door each night, my primary target has always been and will always be walleyes. Preferably, big walleyes! I would also like to point out that we don't keep any of the fish we catch. Tom Meyer & I have been releasing all the fish we catch at night for many, many years. Putting fillets in the freezer is "not" why we do this!
I have heard several theories as to why the muskies are hear in large numbers this spring. I'm not sure if anyone knows for sure why they showed up this year but it does appear to me as though they are targeting the walleyes as they're primary food source. In my opinion, the most likely reason they showed up is because they didn't have a good food source elsewhere and they just went where they found the best opportunities to feed readily.
4-4-09 & 4-5-09 Night fishing on the Wisconsin river
Night fishing is by far the most consistent bite I've had going lately. On an average night, we will land two to four muskies, lose two or three more and catch anywhere from one to seven walleyes. Our best night so far this year was six muskies between three people. The pictures from that night are stuck on an SD card. For what-ever reason, I can't down load off of an SD card, only MMC cards. Considering that we rarely spend more than three hours fishing after dark, those numbers aren't to bad.
Catching a musky is no longer considered a fluke or incidental catch and although we are not targeting them, we do expect to catch some while we are out on our night fishing excursions.
Saturday night I spent a few hours with my night fishing mentor, Tom Meyer & his son Cody. I had a hit on my first cast but lost that fish within seconds. On my second cast, I hooked into a 37 incher. Shortly after, Tom hooked up with the best one that we have pictures of this year. A very chunky & healthy 42" female. This beautiful fish was quickly released unharmed after a couple quick pictures & measurement.
A short while later I hooked up with a nice walleye that went right around 21 inches. We have been catching an unusual number of walleyes in the low 20's this year. Most of our walleyes run right around 17" mark with about one out of every six or seven going over the 20" mark.
I've kind of stopped measuring many of the smaller muskies for a couple of reasons. My hands get cold being out of the gloves, it takes longer to get the fish back in the water & it's hard to measure a musky when you're fishing by yourself and while standing in a foot of water. So if you don't see a measurement with the photo, that's why. If your wondering why Tom doesn't just take the photo for me, it's because in many cases, he's 50 or more yards down stream and it's to big of a pain to come back for a fish that won't stretch the tape to the upper 30's or more. In those cases, I put my camera on the tri-pod, then set the timer for 10 seconds. Next I get a grip on the fish with one hand, push the shoot button and hold the fish up. I never remove the lure from there mouth until after all the photo's are taken. I shove the rod under my arm pit and allow the fish to swim around while I get the camera ready. That took some practice at first but now it seems to work pretty well.
None of the photo's on the right are duplicates of a previously photographed fish. They are all different muskies.
4-4-09 Wisconsin Dells
Got out on Sunday morning with Greg Prucha & his future son-in-law Kevin Durbon. The fishing was not fast and furious by any means but we did managed to put six in the boat. Ringworms were our best bait this morning.
Greg caught his personal best walleye using a 1/8oz Precision H20 jig & Oystershell colored ringworm from B'Fish'N Tackle. It hit the tape at 20-1/2" long and put up a very good fight. That was our first fish of the day. A short time later, I popped a good one using a 3/32oz Precision jig & Firecracker ringworm.
Later on, Kevin put an eater size walleye in the boat using a Precision jig & ringworm. I can't remember anymore what color he was using. Dang memory is fading fast as I get older.
We also caught several short fish slow trolling stick baits later in the morning.
If you look closely at the picture of Kevin with his walleye, you can clearly see that it was milking prior to being released.
3-29-09
Spent some time on the river below the Dells dam on Sunday. We arrived around 10:30am and fished until dusk. Overall, the bite was pretty slow but despite that, we actually had two doubles. The first double occurred shortly after we setup. Kevin Clark pulled in a very nice 19-3/4" walleye that drilled a chartreuse/pepper colored ringworm from B'Fish'N Tackle and I hooked up with a 19-1/4" walleye on a split shot/minnow rig.
Around 12:30pm, a dandy slot walleye drilled my ringworm from B'Fish'N Tackle. This fish just crushed an oystershell colored ringworm from B'Fish'N Tackle. She had the entire bait so far in here mouth that nothing was visible until we pried her jaws apart. No worries though, she was returned unharmed right after posing for this photo.
After that though, the bite shut off for us and we spent the next couple hours cruising around looking for another bunch of active fish. We did find some more active fish but unfortunately, some were just to small and the others were the wrong species.
A pair of smallies decided to provide the second double of the day for Kevin Clark & I. Both came on ringworms. This time I was casting a Firecracker colored ringworm & Kevin was throwing a Fire-N-Ice/chartreuse tail ringworm, both from B'Fish'N Tackle.
Mean while, Kevin Sime, the third guy in our boat, managed to pull in a couple of shorties vertical jigging with a gold/cracker colored ringworm. (that was between taking pictures for us)
A bit later in the day, Kevin Clark pulled in our last decent walleye which also hammered a ringworm. I'm not sure what color he was using by that time. We went thru at least two dozen different colors by that time.
Tough day or not, it was nice to get back out on the river below the dells again.
3-18-09 thru 3-21-09 Mississippi River at Red Wing, MN
I've been wanting to fish on the river below the dam at Red Wing, MN for a long time now. Last week I finally did just that. Dewey Schultz made the trip with me last Wednesday morning and we met up with John Schultz, Kevin Sime & Kevin Clark at Evert's Resort which sits about a mile below the dam on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi river.
We arrived on Wednesday afternoon, met up with Dean who owns this fine establishment, unpacked our gear, dumped the boat in the river and headed out for some fishing.
Being that this was our first time ever on these waters, we headed straight up to the dam. Unfortunately, the rest of the afternoon didn't go all that well. For some reason, the bow mount sonar would not work. It worked fine the day before we came but it never did work on this entire trip. Plan B was going into effect pretty fast. I was going to have to run the boat from the back of the boat so that I could see my sonar and GPS.
We tried vertically jigging plastics but a strong southeast wind was kicking my butt and finally we headed down river for some exploring, stopping here and there to cast blades while Dewey vertically jig plastics. Nothing doing on day one.
Day two was better but not right away. We picked up a few down river by Young's Cabin while vertically jigging in 20-21' of water with a perchy colored hair jig from B'Fish'N Tackle then switched our program completely when that bite quickly died down.
Our new program was trolling #7 rapalas behind 3oz bottom bouncers. Firetiger proved to be our best color and Dewey was holding the hottest bait. Two exact lures and one was pretty much getting all the bites. We ended day two with six keepers between 15-20" while releasing two other nice female saugers in the 20-21" range.
On Friday, we started out vertically jigging in 18-20' of water and that produced two more keepers but once again a strong southeast wind kicked up. Dewy & I both decided that winds like this would feel better on our backs than in our faces so we put away the jigging rods and pulled out the trolling rods. John Schultz (mendotaeye) and his crew of Kevin's joined us down by Young's cabin shortly after. They picked up on our trolling pattern pretty quickly and it probably ended up being our best overall day for numbers. I'm not sure what mendotaeye and the two Kevin's put in there boat but we had nine keepers and one or two more that went back in the drink.
Ben Garver jumped in the boat with us on Saturday and we all decided that it was time to try and pop a big fish or two. We headed into the back channel and found a nice spot where we spent half the morning casting 1/16oz & 1/32oz H20 Precision jigs tipped with ringworms to shallow water. That produced two bites for me and one hook up with a 19" female walleye. That was the only one though and by late morning, we went back to trolling. The area near Young's cabin was pretty crowded so we headed down stream to find some new water.
The trolling bite produce a couple of eaten size saugers for us but it was slow going overall. After a couple of hours we went back to casting a combination of blades and plastics just up river from Young's cabin. That was fruitless also.
And hour or so before sunset, we headed up river to a spot close to Evert's Resort and finished the day casting plastics in a spot that Ben Garver showed us. Nothing again.
With the boat nearly out of gas, we stayed close by on Sunday morning. Dewey & I put out the bottom bouncer rods in the area that Ben showed us the evening before and found the saugers were hot & heavy for #7 rapalas in black & gold. We gave Mendotaeye & Whisker Kev a quick call on the cell phone and they joined us shortly after but once again the bite petered out fairly quickly and by 10:30am we all decided to call it quits and pack our bags.
Big fish of the week went to Wisker Kev who pulled in a very nice, very fat 26-1/2" walleye that weighed in at 9lbs 6 ounces while dragging a ringworm out the back of Mendotaeye's boat on Saturday night. Congratulations on that beauty Kevin!
Dewey & I had a great time sharing a cabin with Mendotaeye, Whisker Kev and Kevin Clark. That was a great time guys and yes, we probably will do it again next year.
It was a pleasure to finally meet up and shake hands with Dean of Evert's Resort. Great place Dean! We sure do appreciate all your help and fishing advice and we look forward to coming back asap.
Sharing a beer or two with Dustin Stewart around the camp fire at Evert's is something I won't forget anytime soon. Sure was a nice to shake your hand and a few stories Dustin.
Dewey and I both enjoyed sharing the boat with Ben Garver on Saturday. It was a fun day even though the fishing was tough, we look forward to doing it again some day and thanks for showing us that spot Saturday evening. It was definitely a good spot on Sunday morning.
That's it for now. Time to go to bed and catch up on some sleep.
3-10-09 Wisconsin Dells
Long time friend Wayne Henn and new friend Darren Dykstra made the trip with me to the Dells from 8:30am to 4:30pm today. Overall, the bite was kind of slow but we stuck with it and popped a fish here and there through out the day.
Started out with a minnow rig right over the side of the boat and casting either another plain minnow rig or a jig/plastic combo. The plain minnow rig ended up catching all our fish today. We just could not find the right combination of jig/plastic to entice them into eating.
By the end of the day, we put a total of 18 walleyes in the boat and zero saugers. All of them were caught between 10-20' of water. Eleven of them were less than 15" long, three were in the keeper size range and four more were over 20" long. The four overs were 20-1/2", 21", 23" & 25" long.
The weather man missed by more than four degrees today in my opinion. We all though they predicted it to be in the upper 40's and none of us thought it actually got above 40 degrees. Still, other than some cold hands due to the damp air, it was certainly tolerable.
3-8-09 Night fishing report
Caught the tail end of the snow storm this evening. The fishing was very good tonight. Started out by getting bit within 10 minutes then caught nothing over the next half hour. The bite picked up around 8:00pm and didn't let up until about 9:30pm. By that time, I was bit off once more but also landed 32" & 39" muskies as well as two hen walleyes that went 20" & 23" long. Also landed about a dozen more male walleyes between 15-17" long.
It's starting to become very, very clear to me why I used to love this night fishing stuff so much!
3-7-09 Night fishing report
Well I dug out all my night fishing equipment for a test run the other night. All in all, things went pretty well. It did take a bit of practice to figure out just how in the heck I can take pictures of myself while trying to hold a large fish. The ultimate goal is to keep these fish alive and healthy and no worse off than they were before I hooked them. Mission accomplished! Although it did take some practice.
I fished below the Dam at Prairie du Sac last night from 7:00pm to 10:00pm. Ended up catching two muskies and three walleyes. Had another muskie bite one of my lures off and missed several other fish that just didn't end up with the hook stuck in there mouth. I'll call that "rust" from lack of recent practice.
38" muskie.
32" muskie & 22" walleye
20" & 23" hen walleyes
(3-8-09)
32" & 39" Muskies
(3-8-09)
Darren with a 18.5" walleye
21", 23" and 25" walleyes - all caught & released
We didn't take a picture of the 20-1/2" walleye.
Whisker Kev's 9lb 6oz, 26-1/2" walleye
A couple of 21" saugers that were caught & released
This 19" walleye bit on a cotton candy ringworm from B'Fish'N Tackle
A couple more good saugers from the week at Evert's Resort on the Mississippi river.
Ben Garver with an eaten size sauger caught trolling
Kevin McGinley from cabin #2 caught this big walleye on Sunday morning.
A nice double - 19-1/4 & 19-3/4" walleyes
Another double taken on ringworms from B'Fish'N Tackle
A healthy 21" walleye caught on a ringworm
Greg's P.B. walleye
20.5 inches
Kevin Durbron
Another slot fish
21-1/2 inches
Two cookie cutter walleyes - both right around the 21" mark
Tom Meyer's 42 incher
This one went 37"
35 inches
Another male musky
Another female musky
4-6-09 Jeremy Williams 47"
4-6-09 Jeremy Williams 43"
4-8-09 Boog
4-9-09 Boog 27 inches
4-8-09 Tom Meyer 25"
4-6-09 Jeremy Williams 41"
4-6-09 Jack Williams 25"
4-19-09 Jimmy's 24 incher
4-19-09 this one went 23.5 inches
Jermey Brikholz with an 18 incher
Don Birkholz 29 incher
Another 20 incher
Kevin Key with a 20 incher
Boog with a 23-1/2 incher
One more shot of Don's big girl
30-1/2" long & eleven pounds
28-1/2" 30"
22"
22"Doug Kuiper show's off three good ones. 24", 23-1/2" & 22-1/2"
Mark Webb with his three best walleyes.
26", 24-1/2" & 23" long.
Dan Kelly with his monster 30" walleye
Jack Eggers & Pat Kelly
Pat Kelly holds up a 27-1/2" walleye
22", 23-1/4" & 24 inches long.
Tom Strahota put his two personal best walleyes in the boat today.
24-1/2" & 28 inches.
Both were released.
Dick Majcher, 25-1/2" saugeye, 23" & 21-1/2"
Greg 35", Jim 23-1/2", Jeff 21-1/2"
26" saugeye
Gary & Dewey Schultz with a pair of 21-1/2 incers
Tim Roebens 22.5" sauger & 32" pike
Dave Brown, 21" walleye & 23" sauger
Dave crp'd this 35" pike
Kevin Lohmeir with a 23-1/2" walleye
Pat Doyle holds up a nice white crappie
Sean Doyle gives his son a hand with this 32" pike
Ron Nelson's 28" walleye which he released after this photo
Art Green, 32" catfish
Uncle Baldy, 24" Walleye
Rob Hatch with two 14.5" crappies
23-1/2" walleye
Reg Acker
28-1/2" walleye
Lee Heffernon
22" sauger
Mike Werner
23.5" walleye
Kurt Guenther, 23 inches
Logan Guenther
Mike Gurklis with a fat 20" plus walleye
Mark Bergstrom, 14" & 22"
Tim Grossnickle, 20" plus
Mark Mowbray 21" sauger
Mark Mowbray 27" Walleye
Bill Urban with his 26" flathead & 27-1/2" walleye
Tom Bartels, 21" sauger
Rich Schoenberger,
19" sauger
Dick Majcher, 22.5 inch sauger
Dick Majcher, 21.5 inch sauger
Mike Werners beautifully marked 20" plus sauger
Brad Zernov
21 inches
Clarey, 20.5" sauger & 21" walleye
Debbie's 1st walleye ever and 22.5" sauger
Victor's 1st ever walleye, 15.5"
Victor with a 20" sauger
Tony with a 21.5" sauger
Justin Freitag's 21" channel catfish
Jim Sawyer caught a 23" walleye, and 22 & 21.5" saugers.
Mark Seider caught a 26" walleye & a 21" sauger
Devin Koppe's new personal best walleye measured 26 inches.
Austin Lins holds up a 22-1/2 & 21" saugers
Austin & Tim with a couple more 20" plus saugers
Greg Cooke caught this 23.5" walleye
Eirc Cooke caught these 22.5" & 21" walleyes
Tyler Schmitt's personal best 25" walleye
Larry Caulkins caught this 35" channel catfish on a jig & crawler.
Nine year old Luke Bartels with his 1st ever sauger.
Dan McCarthy, Don Kronenberg & Bruce Gazda
22-1/4" sauger caught on an ultra-lite rod/reel
Jeremy Birkholtz & I each with a nice bluegill
Ken Hunt with a nice crappie he caught
Matt Hunt with a decent bluegill
Nancy's ultra-lite walleye & smallie
A nice bluegill & crappie that both fell victims to ultra-lite setups.
Cameron wouldn't hold this big crappie without the glove.
Cole & Cameron Gustin with a couple of good crappies.
Cathy Schields caught this nice crappie on 10-03-09
Irene Heeg with another nice crappie
Carla, Irene & Jeff Heeg
Derek, Marc & Jerry Hopper
Ed Junkeris, 27" walleye & 21.5" sauger
Glen Harrington, 20.5" sauger
23" walleye
Mike Benthause with a nice kitty.
All three of the fish pictured above fell for blade baits. 22.5" walleye & a pair of 21.5" saugers.
Jeff Gearhart with a pair of 16.5" saugers he caught trolling crankbaits behind lead core.
A fat 21" hen walleye & a skinny 21" buck sauger
MIke Hanrahan enticed this nice 20-1/2" sauger with a jig & minnow combo.
Brad Benson 21.5" blade bait sauger
Joel Benson 21" blade bait walleye
Mark Mowbray 22" jig/paddletail/minnow walleye
Tom Jasinski - 19.5, 20.5 & 21.5" saugers
Paul "Coot" Williams 19"
Axl, Sheila & Coot
11-03-09
Sheila's 15.5 incher
Boog 26 & 21' - Dewy's 21 incher 11-05-09
Jason Romanyk 20.5", 21" & 22.75"
Mike Benhause 22" 11-06-09
Adam Lynch 21 sauger & cat Roger Lynch 20 inch sauger
Art Green 20-1/2", 21-1/2" & 21-1/2"
Boog with 27" & 28" walleyes that fell for chartreuse pepper paddletai
Pat Collins 26", 8lb plus walleye and brother Michael with 21.5" & 21.75" saugers.
Michael's 33" pike and 22.75", 21.5" saugers
