Wisconsin Statewide fishing report 5.21.10Changing and variable weather conditions in the last week continued to keep anglers guessing, but the recent warm and stable weather pattern should provide for more consistent fishing action in the coming week. The current warm spell has increased water temperatures into the upper 60s on northern lakes and this has spurred on a slug of bass and panfish spawning activity. Both largemouth and smallmouth bass are well into their spawning period and many dished out areas can be observed in the shallows. Crappie are also full into their nesting period and many dark-colored males have been observed in the shallows along weed lines and brushy cover. Larger bluegill have been congregating near shallow water and spawning colonies may start showing up by the end of the weekend. Walleye fishing success has been erratic with just a few reports of good catches being made.
Water temperatures on the Green Bay were a chilly 51 degrees, coupled with wind and clouds made for tough fishing on the pond. Peshtigo Harbor anglers are enjoying success with smallmouth bass. The Menominee River has been producing some nice walleye The Stiles dam area on the Oconto River continued to see some nice smallmouth being caught.
Along Lake Michigan, high temperatures in the 40s with heavy rain early in the week gave way to calm easterly winds by the weekend. Water temperatures rose to 48 degrees lakeside and to the mid-50s in harbors. Coho salmon fishing has shown signs of life as far north as Kewaunee and Algoma. In the southeast trollers have been catching chinook and a few coho at Sheboygan and Port Washington. Milwaukee trollers have been catching decent numbers of chinook, coho, and rainbows. Racine trollers fishing have been catching limits of coho, along with a few chinook and rainbow.
Anglers have been having good luck catching white bass on the Crawfish River north of Hubbleton. The Mississippi River has been rising slowly and was at 9.39 feet Wednesday at Prairie du Chien and is expected to crest at 9.8 feet by the weekend. The Wisconsin River is up but steady. With the rise in water levels panfish activity has been spotty but walleye and sauger action was pretty good, with some anglers are targeting wing dams now that the walleyes are done spawning.
Upper Chippewa Basin fisheries report (Price, Rusk, Sawyer Taylor and inland Ashland and Iron counties) ?
Changing and variable weather conditions late last week continued to keep anglers guessing on most waters across the Northwoods - but the recent warm and stable weather pattern should provide for more consistent fishing action in the coming week. The current warm spell has increased water temperatures into the upper 60s on many lakes and this has spurred on a slug of bass and panfish spawning activity. Both largemouth and smallmouth bass are well into their spawning period and many dished out areas can be observed in the shallows, with the males often sitting tight and guarding the nests against predators. Crappie are also full into their nesting period and many dark-colored males have been observed in the shallows along weed lines and brushy cover. Larger bluegill have also been congregating near shallow water and spawning colonies may start showing up by the end of the weekend. Walleye fishing success has been very erratic with just a few reports of good catches being made. Jig and minnow combinations continue to be bait of choice, though leaches and crawlers are quickly becoming more popular. The first few mayflies have also showed up on a few lakes, so the leach and crawler bite will only get better as the spring season progresses. Casting stick baits along shore near dusk has also produced a few walleye, and this method usually produces a little bigger fish than the live bait rigs. Northern pike action has been good with the fish being very active with the warming water temperatures. Just look for newly emerging weed beds and roll a spinner bait over the tops the freshly growing weeds.
Peshtigo
Water temperatures on the Green Bay this past week were a chilly 51 degrees, coupled with wind and clouds made for tough fishing on the pond. Fishing pressure was heavy on the weekend with walleye catches below normal.
Marinette County -
Peshtigo Harbor anglers are enjoying success with smallmouth bass using crank baits fishing structured areas. The Menominee River has been producing some nice walleye for anglers trolling or jigging in and around the Boom Island area (41 bridge to turn basin). Musky anglers are reporting some success in the Menominee River using crank baits fished close to structure.
Oconto County ?
The Stiles dam area continued to see some nice smallmouth being caught on small Rap's as well as floating crawlers in current seams. A few browns trout were also being caught in the area of the Highway Bridge. A few walleye were being caught out of the landing from Pensaukee, cold windy weather has slowed the bite considerably from what it was. Panfish and pike were being caught in the slip at Oconto Park II, worms and minnows are the baits being used.
Green Bay
Manitowoc County -
High temperatures in the 40s with heavy rain early in the week gave way to calm easterly winds by the weekend. Water temperatures rose to 48 degrees lakeside, with temps rising to the mid-50s in the Manitowoc and Two Rivers harbors. By Sunday, water clarity improved and the calm winds allowed boaters to get on the water resulting in the first signs of successful chinook salmon fishing. Boaters out of both the Manitowoc and Two Rivers ports continued to try their luck with brown trout with no little success. Most angling pressure concentrated south of Manitowoc in 8-14 feet of water resulting in no reported fish this past week. Salmon fishing has shown signs of life with a few fish being caught off of Hika Bay in 130-160 feet of water. Any green spoons and a pearl/white dodger fly combo has had the most success on the downriggers. Sunday showed the first consistent salmon fishing this year north of Two Rivers. The cold water appears to have scattered the fish in this area with fish being reported caught anywhere from 90-150 feet of water or starting outside the trap nets. Most success came on the downriggers 70-110 feet down on various dodger fly combos with little success on spoons. Several large carp and an occasional brown trout have been caught using night crawlers on the bottom off of the Manitowoc piers. Anglers were still reporting success landing steelhead mixed in with several smallmouth bass using plastics and crank baits near the Shoto dam on the West Twin River.
Sturgeon Bay
Kewaunee County ?
Last week started off with the average temperature in the mid 40s with heavy rains but eventually the sun came out and the winds calmed down. The water temperatures in both Kewaunee and Algoma harbors were in the upper 40s at the beginning of the week and rose to an average of 51 degrees towards the weekend. A few rainbow trout and chinook salmon have been caught out on the lake from the boats that have been launching out of the city ramp. The most commonly hit lure being used were either green spoons or a combination of large flashers and flies. Most successful anglers have reported success in deep waters about 5 miles off of shore. The Kewaunee pier has seen no success from the few anglers that have tried their luck. A few anglers have reported rainbow trout still being caught behind Brummer Zoo on stick baits and earthworms. The fishing by Clydes Hill seems to have cooled off as a few anglers have still landed some small brown trout but the amount of fish being hooked has diminished. The Algoma Pier still has seen very little fishing pressure but a few people have reported success on catching catfish on the northern pier with earthworms. The Algoma ramp has seen an increase in use and fishing pressure due to the increasing amount of reports coho and chinook are being caught. The anglers have caught the salmon on spoons with the most successful color being green.
Lake Michigan fisheries team report
Sheboygan County -
In Sheboygan trollers have been catching chinook and a few coho around 100 feet of water or deeper. The chinook have been found from 60 feet down to the bottom, and the coho have been in the top 25 feet of water. Shore fishing in Sheboygan has been relatively slow, although a few whitefish have been taken off the south pier on alewives.
Ozaukee County -
Trollers in Port Washington have found a mixed bag of fish scattered from 80 to 240 feet of water. Both spoons and flies have been effective anywhere from 20 to 90 feet down for chinook, as well as a few coho, rainbows, and lake trout. Shore fishing in Port Washington has been slow.
Milwaukee County -
In Milwaukee trollers have been catching decent numbers of chinook, coho, and rainbows. Peanut flies fished 60 feet down in 120 feet of water have taken the most fish. Overall, Milwaukee shore fishing remains slow.
Racine County -
In Racine trollers fishing offshore have been catching limits of coho, along with a few chinook and rainbow, in water 140 to 240 feet deep. The coho and rainbows have been hitting in the top 50 feet of water, and the chinook have been 80 to 120 feet down. The coho have been hitting orange dodgers and blue or green flies, and the chinook have been taking white or silver flashers with blue flies. Near shore waters in Racine are still muddy after last week?s rains, but shore fishing should improve as the water clears.
Kenosha County -
In Kenosha trollers continue to catch good numbers of coho from 180 to 200 feet of water. Cracked ice or blue spoons or orange dodgers with small flies fished 70 to 90 feet down have been taking fish, and early mornings have been best. Shore fishing in Kenosha remains somewhat slow, and near shore water is dirty.
Jefferson County -
Anglers have been having good luck catching white bass on the Crawfish River north of Hubbleton. The fish were biting the best on twister-tails but small spinners and jigs with minnows have also been effective. Anglers are catching some nice catfish in the one to three pound range on the upper Rock and Crawfish rivers. A variety of baits have been used including stink bait and worms. A few late season morel mushrooms are still being found but numbers are limited. Water levels are good for this time of year on the upper Rock and Crawfish Rivers. Boating activity on the local lakes and rivers is picking up with the warmer weather.
Crawford County -
Local river systems received a lot of rain last week. The Mississippi River is rising slowly. As of May 19, the Mississippi River stage was at 9.39 feet and is expected to crest at 9.8 feet by the weekend. The Kickapoo River in the Gays Mills and Steuben area rose rapidly after the rains. The river approached the action stage of 10 feet but is now rapidly dropping. The river stage in Steuben is at 7.59 feet. The Wisconsin River is up but steady. Fishing activity is as follows: Prairie du Chien Area?s Lower bottoms and Ambro Slough Complex: Now that the water level rose fishing activity has been spotty. Anglers were trying some panfishing in the lower bottoms south of Prairie du Chien with limited success. Some crappie and bluegill action has been reported. Anglers fishing in the Ambro Slough Complex have taken some perch, crappie and a few bluegills. Crappies have been caught on small minnows. Cold Spring: The Cold Spring area remains very slow. Most anglers are venturing under the train bridge to the Mississippi River where small mouth and large mouth bass and walleyes are being taken. There has been some bluegill, perch, and crappie action, but generally it?s been very slow. Boat operators are reminded that the Cold Spring area is a slow-no-wake area. Also, Cold Spring (east of the railroad tracks) is considered inland waters. Mississippi River: Walleye and sauger action was pretty good this week. The Lynxville dam area and the McDonald cut were producing some walleye and sauger along with a few perch and northern pike. Some anglers are targeting wing dams now that the walleyes are done spawning. Walleye tactics include dead lining, drifting with jig and minnow, trolling crank baits, or anchoring above a wing dam and working live or artificial baits. Another place to check for walleyes is the ?S? curve by Harpers Ferry. Walleye activity has been decent there. Anglers fishing at the mouth of the Wisconsin River have had limited success. Trout anglers are finding that local streams rose rapidly after last week?s rain. Fishing was tough, for a while, in many local streams. Last weekend the streams settled somewhat which made ideal fishing conditions. Turkey hunters ended the fifth period hunt. The toms are actively gobbling early and late in the day. Weather conditions weren?t the best for turkey hunters this time period, but many hunters were able to fill their tag. Left over tags are still available for the later turkey period in Zone 1. Most song birds are either actively building nests or tending their eggs or young ones. Many baby robins have been born and some Canada geese are tending their goslings. Local waterways, especially the Mississippi River continue to be a great viewing area for ducks, geese, swans and eagles. Eagles are actively tending their young along the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers.
Milwaukee Fishing Salmon Reports 5/19/2010
http://wisconsinoutdoor.com/smf/index.php?topic=3765.0Information compiled from the WDNR Outdoor report and private sources
