Pulling Lead Core on Lake Wisconsin

This post is in response to a question on when to troll with lead core on Lake Wisconsin. The question was asked at a presentation I gave on behalf of the Northern Illinois Walleye Fishing club in Dekalb, Illinois on Feb. 5th, 2013.

I thought about it on the way home and feel I could have given a better answer. So here it is and hopefully, the gentleman who asked that question will see it.

Typically, I’ve had my best success with lead core starting in post spawn. Usually right around the end of April on Lake Wisconsin. When the lead core bite has been good, like back in 2009, we will continue to troll with lead core all the way through May.
For me, I usually put the lead core away at that time and pick it up again in October and if its working, I’ll continue to pull lead core up until the water temps drop down below about 40 degrees.
I know a few guys pull lead core all summer long though and do well on it at times.

For me, these are the times of the year when I’ve had the best success pulling lead core on Lake Wisconsin.

That is weird how different the bite patterns differ from Mille Lacs.
Typically most will not pull LC here till water temps hit about 70 degrees.

Not that it wont work but other patterns produce much better.

Joel,

What kind of depth do you target in the summer. I know on petenwell, most of the fish we catch in summer are either in 13′ or less, or are suspended 8-10′ down over deeper water.

I typically pull leadcore on the river and Pepin pretty much year round, but fish shallow enough on Petenwell that I haven’t found a ton of use for it.

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Joel,

What kind of depth do you target in the summer. I know on petenwell, most of the fish we catch in summer are either in 13′ or less, or are suspended 8-10′ down over deeper water.

I typically pull leadcore on the river and Pepin pretty much year round, but fish shallow enough on Petenwell that I haven’t found a ton of use for it.

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I’ve pulled lead core in every month of the year except maybe January. As said above, some of those months, lead core really isn’t your best option. But at times, when your first, 2nd or third option isn’t working, you move on to the next one.

The months I’ve had the best luck on lead core are definitely late April into May & October into November. That may not jive with others time frames but thats fishing.

In summer, I typically don’t pull lead core. Its not one of my go to tactics at that time. Again, I know of at least one other guide on Lake Wisconsin that does fairly well pulling lead core in summer. Thats what works for him so thats what he does.

In late May and all of June, we find most of our walleyes on Lake Wisconsin in pretty much the same areas as what wimwuen is finding them on Petenwell.

In late May thru most of June, my go to technique is crawler rigs with my best depth being 10-16′ deep.

My other go to technique would be trolling crank baits for suspended walleyes in 10-16′ of water. Generally, I run my baits anywhere from 5-8′ down from the surface. Every year has been a little bit different with this suspended bite, but on a good year the suspended crank bait bite can be nothing short of fantastic and I certainly would not want to miss it.

Secondary techniques for me at those times of the year would be dragging jigs tipped with crawlers.

I’ve heard many fisherman say they believe the walleyes go deep in summer on reservoirs like Lake Wisconsin. The fact is, if we can’t find them in the depths mentioned above, its usually shallower water, not deeper where we end up finding them again.

Agreed, seems that on Petenwell, the brighter and hotter it is, the shallower the fish are. It’s nothing to catch them 5′ down over 30′ deep water on a 100 degree day.

I’m used to this on Winnebago and Green Bay, but hadn’t experienced it on tanic colored bodies of water until recently. Even up on Pepin, I start out pulling cranks a little shallower with some boards running tight to shore (in the morning), but as the day goes on, the leadcore bite from 18-23′ deep seems to be best.

I always have a few core rods shoved in the rod locker, but they aren’t where I typically start a day from May-August.

My best fish last summer when the water temps was in the upper 70s came from 4 FOW or less. I’m not sold on the theory that they go deep in summer, or at least not all the time.

In the spring I tend to vertical jig, fish 3-ways with cranks, floating jig head/minnow or plastic or flies or pitch ring worms rather than pull lead for no other reason than growing up fishing Dubuque, Prairie du Chien, Lynxville and Genoa, that’s what we did. Old habits are hard to break. Incidentally, back then we always called pulling 3-ways “draggin'” and the technique now widely known as “draggin'” was simply drifting jigs -even though we were under power and really weren’t drifting.

In May thru mid-June I spend a lot of time in 3′-5′ pulling Flicker Shads 10′ to 20′ back behind planer boards. It seems like I always have to cover significant stretches of shoreline to find them but when you do there is typically a bunch of very aggressive fish. When they get spooky from being run over too many times I go back through and pick off more either draggin’ with Gulp, casting cranks or pitching jigs/plastics depending on the location. Once you find them you can usually look for similar places elsewhere on the lake and like magic, fish are there too. When that bite either doesn’t develop (or I can’t find them) Slow Death rigs usually work deeper.

I feel as though bright sunny days kick-start the food chain on Lake Wisconsin and some walleyes tend to move very shallow to feed. When the algae blooms I believe you can throw all of the preconceived notions about walleyes and light sensitivity out the window. I think Lake Wisconsin’s dark water + significant algae bloom = welding goggle type visibility allowing them to roam super shallow in relative comfort. I also believe because of this the lures with UV paint finishes will continue to excel under these conditions.

I have found a pretty good summer-time lead core bite that lasts for about a week in 15′-20′ during a period loosely defined as some time from the last week of June through the middle of July. Annually the majority of big fish in my boat come during this period and from this tactic. 2012 was the exception, perhaps due to the drought. I need to pay more attention to the mayfly hatches and see if this plays a role in when this bite takes place. I know I don’t get them during a hatch but am curious if they stage there prior to or after.

However, in late August 2012 fishing in the same area as I usually do pulling lead, but instead using the technique described by Boog for suspended walleyes, my nephew popped an 8lber + more to take home for supper. That day sticks out in my memory as that big fish ate a shad rap just as John Schultz was cruising by in his new rig.