Wisconsin Statewide Fishing report 4.6.11Colder weather in the last week has continued to let the last vestiges of winter hold on, with 6 to 8 inches of snow remaining in northeastern Wisconsin, and up to 18 inches of ice still on some northern lakes. Lakes in southern Wisconsin continue to open, with Monona and Koshkonong open and most of Lake Mendota ice-free in Dane County. Temperatures are forecast to rise into the 60s and possibly 70s by the weekend, with some rain in the forecast, so remaining snow and ice may disappear quickly.
River systems in the south continue to run very high. The Mississippi River was above the 16-foot flood stage at Prairie du Chien, and forecast to hit 18 feet this week. Generally all boat landings are under water. The Rock and Crawfish rivers are at flood stage and slow-no-wake ordinances are in place in Jefferson and Rock counties. The Kickapoo River has crested and is now dropping. The Wisconsin River has been fluctuating, but has generally been running high.
A few ice anglers remain on lakes that are still froze, but ice fishing has been slow, and recreational safety specialists are urging people to stay off what ice remains. Open water fishing opportunities are expanding, with the Winnebago system walleyes now making their spawning runs up the Fox and Wolf Rivers. Fisheries crews have been tagging walleye with sonic tags that will enable them to study walleye movement patterns in the Winnebago system. The fish are marked with yellow streamer tags by their dorsal fins and anglers who catch any of these tagged fish are asked to release them. Local fishing clubs and other organizations raised the funds needed for this study.
Lake Michigan tributaries have been high and muddy after significant rainfall last week. Water temperatures have been in the 37 to 39 degree range. Before water levels rose, anglers had been catching steelhead on the East and West Twin, Manitowoc, Pigeon, Menomonee, Root and Pike rivers. Shore anglers have been catching mainly brown trout, along with a few steelhead at the Sheboygan and Port Washington harbors. More boats launches are open, but so far trollers have had just little success.
The 27th Annual Kids? Free Fishing Clinics take place on Saturday, April 16, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The clinics offer free fishing instruction for children 15 years and younger and are taught by members of local fishing clubs. Fishing equipment is available, but bring your own rod and reel if possible. Locations and more information are available on the DNR website
http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/kidsparents/FishingClinics.html.
The annual Department of Natural Resources Spring Fish and Wildlife Rule Hearings and Wisconsin Conservation Congress county meetings will be held in every county of the state this coming Monday, April 11 beginning at 7 p.m. The hearings provide Wisconsin residents an opportunity to share their opinions on proposed fish and wildlife rules changes, present new ideas in the management of fish and wildlife resources and elect county delegates to the Conservation Congress, a statutorily established advisory body to the state Natural Resources Board and DNR. The complete list of questions that will be voted on, meeting locations, and information on how to submit proposed rule changes can be found on the spring rules hearing page of the DNR website.
Upper Chippewa Basin fisheries report (Price, Rusk, Sawyer Taylor and inland Ashland and Iron counties)
Unseasonably cool weather continued through the last week. The spring thaw is still on hold across the north and ice conditions remain pretty much unchanged in the last week. Some open water areas are showing up on most rivers and around inlets/outlets, but lake ice depths have been holding in the 15- to 18-inch range. With firm ice still on most lakes, a fair number of panfish anglers have still been getting out for some late season ice fishing. Perch and bluegill have been providing some pretty good action, while crappie have been tough to come by. The perch are being found on the mud flats and near weed beds in 8' to 14' of water, and small minnow have been the most productive bait. The bluegill have been found suspended up off the bottom, and often just 5 or 6 feet below the ice. Small ice jigs tipped with a waxworm or spike have been the best bait. Just a few reports of crappie catches have come in, those indicate that the fish are also suspended up off the bottom but have been real finicky in biting.
Brown County
Shore anglers on the Fox River are finding success casting jigs or stick baits. Most shore anglers have been concentrating their efforts along the shoreline at Voyageur Park. Anglers have also been fishing from the metro ramp and catching a few walleye. Boat anglers have been vertical jigging along the river channel with excellent success over the last few weeks. Also, crank baits have been a good option as well. The water had muddied up a bit this week slowing the action some but as the water clears, the action should heat back up. Anglers have also been catching a few bonus whitefish as well.
Manitowoc County
Temperatures in the mid-30s most of the last week warmed to 40 degrees by the weekend. Light northwest winds for most of the week picked up out of the southeast on Sunday with wind gusts to 30 mph. Heavy rain Sunday mixed with sleet and snow should increase water levels even more after water levels increased nearly a foot this week due to winter run-off. Angler success slowly picked up by the weekend with the higher, murky waters. Water temperatures increased throughout the week to 37 degrees at Silver Creek and the East Twin River. Water temperatures increased to 40-42 degrees on the Manitowoc and West Twin Rivers, which should increase the success for steelhead anglers in the next week. Steelhead anglers fishing the West Twin River had some success this past week fishing downstream near the Shoto Conservation Club. Many anglers landed two to three steelhead up to 8 pounds floating spawn. Mixes of Ganaraska and Chambers Creek strains have been seen along with an occasional brown trout. A smaller number have been caught near the Shoto dam, and many of the trout caught have been less than 15 inches. Anglers landed a few steelhead near the Mishicot dam by floating spawn, but an average of only six to eight steelhead per day were taken. Through the high waters at the Clarks Mills dam on the Manitowoc River, a few anglers were having luck landing several steelhead floating spawn. These fish have been averaging 2 to 6 pounds with great color. The warmer weather this week has opened up the Two Rivers harbor and a few boats made their way out using the Seagull Marina boat launch. Boats have landed one to three brown trout trolling off the Point Beach nuclear plant and trolling between Two Rivers and Manitowoc in 6-12 feet of water. No hot colors have been reported yet, but success has been reported on high lines using crank baits. The Manitowoc Marina boat launch remains closed. Please remember hook and line fishing is prohibited from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise in the tributaries from Sept. 15 to the first Saturday of the following May. Also during this time, you may not use hooks that have a gape size larger than one-half inch from point to shank in tributaries. If you observe any violations, please call 1-800-TIP-WDNR (1-800-847-9367).
Oshkosh
Walleye are starting to move on to the marshes on the Wolf and upper Fox rivers for their annual spawning ritual. Fisheries crews worked last week on the upper Fox and were able to get 30 fish surgically implanted with three year sonic tags below the Eureka dam. Anglers who catch one of the sonic tagged fish are asked to release it so biologists can continue to track it for the next three years. The upper Fox is always about a week or more ahead of the Wolf and fish are probably spawning this week on the upper Fox. Crews moved to the Wolf this week and started looking for fish with electrofishing boats, and set nets on a marsh in each area as well. The numbers of fish on the marsh is pretty low at this point although that is expected to build exponentially over the next few days. The temperature on the Wolf and in the marshes is up to 38.3 degrees and the walleye need temps in the 40s to do spawn. The weather forecast is calling for highs around 50 or more for the rest of this week and in the 60s this coming weekend. This will definitely move things along and walleye should be spawning in earnest by the weekend and early next week; with the fish pretty much wrapping up the majority of their spawning by the end of next week (unless the weather gets really cold next week which would extend things). In any event there should be fish coming off the marshes pretty well making their run back to the lakes by the end of next week - which will initiate the real fishing opportunities for anglers on the river. Crews will be tagging fish this year as usual from New London up to Shawano on the Wolf River. Winnebago system walleye spawn not only on their traditional spawning marshes on the Wolf and upper Fox Rivers but also every year directly on gravel beds in the rivers and along the rocky shorelines of Lake Winnebago. Spring flows look good this year. There is nice flow going through most of the Wolf floodplain, marshes and bottom-land swamp maple stands along the Wolf. The fish will use all of these areas for spawning providing there is flow and grass or old leaf litter that they can lay their eggs on. The rain last weekend helped a lot and if the forecast is right it appears there should be enough rain over the next week or so to keep things going. The last good spring flow year was 2008, which produced one of the largest year classes of walleye ever measured on the Winnebago System. As expected, a lot of males from that year class (making their first spawning run, at 13-15 inches) are in the samples this spring. The females from this year class are not mature yet and won't show up in force for two to three more years. Anglers who catch one of the regular floy tagged fish (one of the 10,000+ being tagging this spring with normal yellow plastic dart tag inserted along the base of the back dorsal fin), please send the tag along with name and address, the location and date of capture, and the tag, to the address on the tag to(DNR, 625 E Cty Rd Y, Suite 700, Oshkosh, WI 54901). These tag returns are critical to the Winnebago walleye management program.
Lake Michigan fisheries team report
Sheboygan County - ? In Sheboygan, after significant rainfall on Sunday, the Sheboygan River is high and muddy, and water temperatures have been in the 37 to 39 degree range. Before water levels rose, early morning anglers had been catching steelhead and northern pike. The Pigeon River has seen generally lower fishing pressure, but anglers there have been catching a few steelhead as well. In the Sheboygan harbor, anglers fishing off the south pier have been catching mainly brown trout, along with a few steelhead. Most fish have been taken on spoons or crank baits in the morning hours. Sheboygan boaters have been catching brown trout while trolling in 20 to 50 feet of water.
Ozaukee County - In Port Washington, shore anglers fishing at the power plant have had consistent catches of brown trout and some steelhead. Spawn sacs, spoons, and crankbaits have all produced. Fishing in Sauk Creek has been slow, and the water temperature is 41 degrees. Boats going out of Port Washington have had little success trolling in 30 to 40 feet of water.
Milwaukee County - In Milwaukee, McKinley Marina is open and the boat launch piers are in the water. The Bender Park launch is currently closed, with dredging slated to take place later this month. Shore fishing in Milwaukee has been slow at the lakefront, but anglers fishing steelhead on the Menomonee River and Oak Creek have had some success. Skein has been the most consistently productive bait.
Racine County - On the Root River in Racine, fishing this past weekend was fair. The river flow came down substantially from last week, and the lower water depth allowed more anglers to wade into the river safely near the dam and downstream. The water has also warmed up and ranges from 42 to 44 degrees. This past weekend, anglers were spread out from the Horlick Dam all the way downstream to Washington Park. The best fishing took place Saturday at Lincoln Park and Quarry Lake Park. Decent numbers of steelhead have been caught throughout the river, along with a few small, 1.5 to 4-pound brown trout taken below the Root River Steelhead Facility. Small woolly bugger flies and spawn sacs have both taken fish. Anglers also reported a couple incidental catches of suckers. The Root River Steelhead Facility is up and running for the spring season. DNR crews processed fish for the first time on Wednesday, March 30. Some Chambers Creek strain steelhead were spawned, and an additional 72 steelhead were released upstream. Fish will be processed again on Tuesday, April 5. Racine boaters launching at Pershing Park and making the run to the Oak Creek Power Plant have been catching decent numbers of brown trout while jigging. Please use caution if you choose to venture there, as conditions on the lake can change very quickly.
Kenosha County - In Kenosha, shore fishing has been slow near the boat launch, but anglers fishing near the Best Western have been catching a few brown trout on small spoons. Flows on the Pike River are good, and a few steelhead have been seen.
Crawford County - The only problem with high water or flooding exists on the Mississippi River right now. Many of the local rivers have settled down well below flood stage. People living in low lying areas along the Mississippi River need to take precautions to protect property and lives as the river continues to rise. The Mississippi River started rising three weeks ago after ?bottoming out? at 8.44 feet. As of Monday the Mississippi River was up to 16.98 feet and rising. Action and flood stages on the Mississippi River are 13 and 16 feet respectively. The forecast for the Mississippi River is for it to continue rising to the 18 foot mark. It is unknown at this point in time when or how high the river will crest. The Kickapoo River is in pretty good shape for this time of year. The river stage in Steuben is at 9.27 feet and holding steady. Action stage in Steuben is at 10 feet. No report was available in Gays Mills. The Wisconsin River is currently at 4.52 feet and slowly rising. The Wisconsin River has fluctuated a couple feet up and down the past several weeks. Flood stage on the Wisconsin River at Muscoda is at 9 feet. All the ice in the back waters is now gone. Moderate temperatures, run off and increasing water levels caused the ice to either melt for float downstream. Boat landings on the Mississippi River are closed down for the most part. Ambro Road on the north side of Prairie du Chien is closed due to high water as is the Gordon?s Bay boat landing. Fishing was generally poor last week. Bluegill, crappie and perch fishing is pretty much shut down. High water in the Prairie du Chien area has caused the Ambro Road to be closed. The upper stretches of the Ambro Slough Complex are completely under water and swift current is flowing through the area. Areas like the Big/Little Missouri, Upper and Lower Doubles and Fish Lake are not producing fish because of the high water. The same is true on Spring Lake and the Fennimore Cut. Sturgeon Slough and the McGregor (Horseshoe) Lake area are under water. Action at Cold Spring really slowed down. Last week some very good perch action started, but it has slowed. The boat landing now has water creeping into the parking area and launching boats there is difficult. The boat landing at Gordon?s Bay is now under water and the access road to it is closed. Generally speaking action has been slow as few have been out. Now that the ice has left the river systems are seeing a variety of birds. The most notable migrants have been robins, red-winged blackbirds, bluebirds, and Sandhill cranes. On the river a variety of waterfowl can be seen. Diver ducks like canvasback, redhead, scaup, golden eye, buffle head and mergansers are showing up by the thousands. Numerous eagles can now be seen in/around the Prairie du Chien area and up and down the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers. Eagles are now actively incubating their eggs.
Minocqua area fishing report
http://wisconsinoutdoor.com/smf/index.php?topic=4318.0Lake Michigan Fishing Report and tips
http://www.wisconsinoutdoor.com/lmfishingtips.htmInformation compiled from the WDNR Outdoor report and private sources
