Wisconsin Statewide Fishing report 9.24.10Most of the heavy rain in the last week has continued to be in the northern half of the state. Major river systems, including the Upper Wisconsin, Flambeau, Menominee, Chippewa and Black continue to run very high for this time of year. The Lower Wisconsin, Kickapoo and Rock rivers also continue to run above seasonal norms for this time of year.
With many hunting seasons open, fishing pressure has started to drop off on northern lakes, but there have still been quite a few musky anglers out and they have been enjoying pretty good to excellent success. Artificial baits continue to be the lures of choice, but more and more anglers have been using suckers and their success has also been good. Walleye fishing has continued to slowly improve with greater numbers of fish showing up in the shallows. And a reminder to inland trout anglers, they have one week left to get out and enjoy fishing, with the inland season closing next Thursday, Sept. 30.
The Lake Michigan tributary fall salmon run is starting to pick up, with chinook caught this week on the West Twin, Sheboygan and Root rivers, but runs have still not moved into high gear. Fishing pressure was very high on some harbor piers this week, but action was slower. Lots of fish are staging off shore but anglers had difficult time getting fish to bite. Fishing out on the lake continued to be slow this week.
Upper Chippewa Basin fisheries report (Price, Rusk, Sawyer Taylor and inland Ashland and Iron counties) -
With nearly all of the major hunting seasons open, fishing pressure has started to drop off on most waters across the Northwoods. There have still been quite a few musky anglers out and they have been enjoying some decent weather conditions and some pretty good to excellent success. Artificial baits such as bucktails and stick baits continue to be the lures of choice, and have produced quite a bit of action along the deep weed edges. More and more anglers have been using suckers and their success has also been good. Walleye fishing has continued to slowly improve with greater numbers of fish showing up in the shallows. Jig and minnow combinations worked on the deep edges and crank baits in the shallows near dark have produced the best success. Largemouth bass continue to be found in shallow water, though they've been a bit temperamental in their biting. The best action has been in the late afternoon hours after the water has warmed up over the course of the day. Smallmouth bass have still been active and some nice fish are still showing up in the local rivers flowages. They have still been found near cover along the deep water areas, but look for the fish to go deeper (and become harder to catch) with the declining water temperatures this fall. Panfish action has been good and some nice catches of crappie and perch have been made in the late afternoon hours. The fish have been found along weed edges and near mid-depth cover, with small minnows producing the best success. Anglers are reminded that the general trout season closes on September 30 with most streams, rivers, and spring ponds closed to trout fishing. Many stocked trout lakes do remain open and those can be found in the Wisconsin Trout Fishing Regulations and Guide pamphlet.
Brown County ?
Musky fishing on the Fox River has been slow the last week. Most anglers are having trouble finding fish. Shore anglers have been doing well catching rough fish and a few perch and smallmouth bass. Anglers fishing from the Suamico shore have been catching some good numbers of perch off the boat ramp. Walleye fishing has been slow but some anglers are finding luck trolling crank baits. Musky anglers have been finding good numbers of fish trolling for them. The hot perch bite at Bayshore Park slowed a bit recently with the rain that had moved through the area, but perch were still being caught in that 15-25 feet of water range. Perch were being found from the park all the way up to Red River. Anglers were also catching some perch off the pier.
Manitowoc County -
Water temperatures near shore and throughout the area on Lake Michigan have held steady in the mid-50s, with the tributaries holding in the 58-60 degree range. Muddy water around the pier heads with the north winds over the weekend appeared to slow angler success. Temperatures remained in the upper 50s all week with northerly winds at 5-10 mph. Fishing remains hit and miss for shore anglers, but the tributaries appear to be heating up. Boats out of both ports have been averaging two to four fish per boat. Boaters out of both ports have had little success around the pier heads, with most boats landing 2- to 4-four year old chinook salmon. J-Plugs have been the common theme, but there hasn?t been any hot color. A few boats tried out deep to get away from the near shore boat traffic, having some success with a few rainbows and 6- to 8-pound chinook. Orange spoons on surface lines between the cities in 250-350 feet of water will get you the nice rainbows. Drop riggers down deep trying flasher/fly combos and spoons to land the kings. Salmon fishing throughout the past week for pier and harbor anglers has not changed. Anglers will hook into a school of salmon and land five to seven fish within two hours, and then the fishing will slow down. Early morning and mid-day appear to be the best times to be out. Many of the salmon caught off the piers are still silver off of Manitowoc and Two Rivers. Blue and silver champs or just plain silver landed a large majority of the fish over the weekend.
A few large salmon were also landed off the piers using alewives on the bottom. Trout and coho salmon were non-existent from shore this past week. The West Twin River has heated up all the way to the Shoto dam. Nearly a dozen salmon have been caught a day, but the fish have been pretty dark and skinny near the dam due to their stresses of their spawning run. Anglers have been casting small spoons or casting spawn. If you observe any violations, please call 1-800-TIP-WDNR (1-800-847-9367).
Strawberry Creek Egg Collection Facility - There is a lot of activity out at the Strawberry Creek
http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/hatchery/strawberrycreek.html Weir this month as fisheries staff prepare the facility for this fall's salmon harvest. The chinook salmon that will be spawning this fall have started to turn dark. The females are getting "plump" and the eggs are developing quickly. Males are starting to develop the characteristic hooked jaw or "kype." Within the next couple of weeks a few chinook salmon will start to enter Strawberry Creek. These early run fish are usually not ripe and crews typically don't capture fish ready for spawning until early October. With the ample rainfall that fell this past year, there is a pretty good flow in Strawberry Creek already. At this time the facility staff are still planning to use the pump and pipeline to supplement the flow in Strawberry Creek but probably won't be turning the pump on until approximately October 1. Predicting the timing of the first chinook harvest at Strawberry Creek this far ahead is difficult because weather, especially rainfall events, play a big role in salmon spawning runs. However, it is very likely that by Monday, October 4, crews will be actively harvesting chinook at Strawberry Creek and collecting eggs for the Wisconsin hatchery program. Once spawning begins, Mondays are generally scheduled for harvest days at Strawberry Creek so October 11 and 18 are also likely harvest days. Depending on the strength of the run, it is usually necessary to harvest at least one additional day per week, but which day is less certain.
Kewaunee County -
This week the weather was mostly cloudy with a few days off partly sunny skies. The wind for the majority of the week was from the east and blew in some warmer water. The water temperature at the end of the week in both Algoma and Kewaunee were 60 degrees right off the pier. The fishing off the Kewaunee pier and the basin area remained very slow this week with only a few reports of fish being caught. The majority of the catch seems to occur in the morning between 6 and 7 a.m. Fishing pressure was high, with a few days the pier having more than 50 people trying their luck.
There does not seem to be a single color out performing others but Cleo spoons seem to be the best type of spoon to throw. There continue to be a few salmon being caught in the Footbridge area with the majority of the fish being caught on spawn sacs. The fish in this area tend to be a little darker than the fish landed off the pier. The fishing pressure has increased tremendously behind Bruemmer Park with a lot of fly fishers trying their luck. The anglers are reporting a lot of fish being spotted and being hooked but the fish seem to be eluding the nets. It hasn?t been uncommon to hear anglers having four to five fish on but only landing one fish. The fishing remains slow for the boats trying their luck out on the waters near Kewaunee. The average catch has been fewer than one fish per boat right now with many of the boats returning empty handed. The boats are marking a lot of baitfish and larger fish out in about 140-180 feet of water. The fishing from the Algoma piers slowed down this week after the wind switched from the west to the east. The pier averaged about three to four fish a day with the majority of the fish coming from the north pier. The main catch was chinook salmon but a few brown trout and northern pike are being caught. The fish don?t seem to be following any color pattern at this point with fish being caught on almost any color and any spoon type. The park off of Washington Bridge continues to see an increase in fishing pressure as word got out that there are fish up stream. The majority of the catches are chinook salmon but a few smallmouth bass have been caught in the area. The fishing on lake has not gotten any better compared to last week with the average catch being less than one fish per boat. Anglers finding success are going out to about 300 feet of water to hook the fish. There are a lot of reports of fish stacking up on the bottom between 100-140 feet of water but anglers are struggling to get hits.
Lake Michigan fisheries team report
Sheboygan County -
In Sheboygan trollers have been catching a few chinook, coho and rainbow and lake trout. Fish have been scattered, and boats have taken fish in and around the harbor, as well as between 65 and 90 feet of water, or out as far as 200 to 300 feet of water. Shore anglers in Sheboygan have been catching chinook and a few brown trout off both the north and south piers. Fishing the harbor side of the piers has been most productive, and both spoons and crank baits have taken fish. A few chinook have also been caught by shore anglers in the marina. On the Sheboygan and Pigeon rivers, water temperatures are in the low 60s and the rivers are fairly low. Fishing has been slow on the Pigeon, but in the Sheboygan chinook have been caught on spinners and crank baits at the Kohler dam and downstream near the Wildwood Athletic Complex.
Ozaukee County -
In Port Washington, shore anglers have been catching fair numbers of fish. A mixed bag of chinook, coho, rainbow and brown trout have been taken near the power plant on spawn sacs and skein. Chinook have also been caught in the north slip on skein and off the harbor side of the pier on spoons. Fishing on Sauk Creek has been slow and water levels remain low.
Milwaukee County -
In Milwaukee fishing has been relatively slow for boaters, with a few brown trout taken in and around the harbor. Shore fishing in Milwaukee has also been slow, although effort has been relatively low. Fishing on the Milwaukee and Menomonee rivers remains slow, but anglers fishing Oak Creek have taken several chinook below the dam and a few near the mouth in Grant Park.
Racine County -
Racine trollers have had some success working the area in front of the harbor. Mature chinook have been hitting white J-plugs, but fish have been spooky. Racine shore fishing has picked up, with some chinook, coho, and rainbows taken in Reefpoint Marina and in the small boat basin near the boat launch. Spawn fished near the bottom has been productive, as have small blue & silver or orange spoons. This weekend on the Root River, despite relatively low water, trout and salmon anglers produced some fair catches. Although fishing was a little slow at times, there were some nice chinook salmon landed as well as a couple brown trout and one recorded coho salmon. Angler pressure was most concentrated around Lincoln Park with a few anglers scattered downstream around Island Park and near N. Memorial bridge. Most harvested chinook weighed between 9 and 15 pounds, brown trout averaged 6 to 7 pounds, and the coho weighed in at 3.75 pounds. Many successful anglers were either fly fishing with red or orange flies or casting small bucktail spinners.
Kenosha County -
Shore anglers in Kenosha continue to catch occasional chinook and brown trout in the harbor near the Best Western, and fresh skein and white tube jigs have been producing. There have been a few chinook taken on spoons near the mouth of the Pike River as well, but there has been minimal chinook movement upstream.
Grant County -
Fishing continues to be slow, a few bluegills taken through out pools 10 and 11 with the best success near lily pads and arrowhead beds. Bass anglers reported catching and releasing several small sized largemouth bass noting fishing was very spotty. Youth hunters saw fair numbers of blue winged teal and wood ducks, and noted that many backwater areas are choked full of duck weeds and other weeds with little open water areas.
Lafayette County -
Anglers were catching walleye and crappie on Yellowstone Lake over the weekend as water temps have dropped.
Minocqua Area Fishing Report
http://www.wisconsinoutdoor.com/minocquafishingreport.htmChippewa Flowage Fishing Report
http://www.wisconsinoutdoor.com/chippewaflowagefishingreport.htmLake Michigan Fishing Report and tips
http://www.wisconsinoutdoor.com/lmfishingtips.htmCentral Wisconsin Fishing report
http://www.wisconsinoutdoor.com/wisconsinriverfishingreport.htmInformation compiled from the WDNR Outdoor report and private sources
