Has anyone on here caught any walleyes during winter? I’ve fished all over Moon Valley without any success, also over by the island in front of Lakeside. I’m starting to think the fish hibernate under the mud during the winter months lol…Also, what’s a good spot for crappies during winter? I’ve heard that the two fingers around is good but I don’t know where that is…
Yes. The bite has been pretty good on Lake Wisconsin this winter for a change. I’ve heard many reports of slot size walleyes caught and caught 23 sauger & one walleye last weekend, but a couple were slot fish and some keepers.
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Nice fish, I should try northeast of the trestle. I’m assuming the ice is fine in that area right now.
“The fingers” are located in Harmony Grove and if you look at a lake map it will be obvious why they are called that. That is a shallow water bite best on both early and late ice.
Crappies can be found all over the lake in winter. Targeting wood in the stump fields you can usually pull one or two out of a hole and move on to the next. If you do not have any of these locations GPS’d, you may have to just fish the remaining visible wood that sticks up through the ice. Mobility is the key and you will need to cover a lot of ground so would need an ATV or a sled. If you don’t mark fish or get bit in a few minutes you need to move along and repeat until you find them. From Merrimac West, it’s much deeper. Pop holes to find the channel and channel edges and search for fish. Lots of wood on deep flats as well. Study a Hot Spots map to narrow your search and save some energy.
Nice fish Gary, even sideways.
Thanks for the tips, I’ll report back after this weekend.
Been fishing every weekend since safe ice. Did good for early ice pike with a handful around 33-36″. Right around the first week in December I started chasing crappies/walleyes/saugers out on different bays and parts of the lake. Crappies would be biting really good one day, the next day would be completely different. But to me, it seems the bite has really tapered off since the beginning of January. Been drilling a lot of holes every time out until I mark fish. Have only had 1 skunk so far of not catching a legal walleye/sauger. All my fish have been saugers so far.
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Fished Saturday and Sunday. Saturday had high hopes with the front coming through and wasn’t let down. As the sun started to set, flags started to fly until about 6:30 then it died off. Sunday was a little bit slower, but started marking fish. Couldn’t get them to commit so I changed up to some different size baits and that was the ticket. Got into a couple decent schools of crappies/yellow bass. Had to leave at 11. As soon as I was packed up and leaving, a guy on a ATV moved right to where I was fishing. Came back out around 1 and fished till 6pm. Only action was from 4-4:30pm and it was quick. 1 keeper and 2 shorts. Thanks to Jeff for cutting the hooks on my jigging rap.
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Late update from last weekend. Went out to the main channel without any success. Again, drilled many holes, found stumps and no fish. Going to try west of Merrimac now…will keep you guys updated
Fished Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Saturday, a buddy came up and we caught 7 keeper saugers and many shorts. He definitely had the right bait as he out fished me 4-1. After shoveling myself out for a couple hours Sunday Morning, the plows finally came through and plowed our street. Decided to fish the storm. Didn’t bring the tip ups and hiked it out to where I was the day before. After setting up and getting the heater going, it was game on. Caught just about everything including a couple keeper walleye and some nice crappies. At about 4pm, my flasher was lit up and I couldn’t get my bait down there fast enough. Ran out of propane and called it a night about 5pm. Monday Morning, I ended up with one 18″ sauger and 1 11″ crappie. They seem pretty tight lipped. The snow made walking miserable as there were a lot of drifts.
Tried a new spot last night and it paid off. Lost a couple fish due to poor hook sets. This walleye hit the bait twice and on the third time I finally got hooks into her about 7′ from the bottom. Right around 21″ and was the last fish of the night. They seemed pretty hungry last night. 16′ fow with some quick drops and humps. Marked fish every ten minutes or so and they usually would commit right when they would show up. Heading back out today to see if they’re still there.
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Nice catch Breezy!
You guys are all doing an excellent job of putting to rest the long held belief that Lake Wisconsin does not produce thru the ice of winter.
Nice job!
2 man limit. Less then 3 hours tonight. Lost another nice eye right at the hole on a tip up. Same place as yesterday just a few different tweaks. Until next weekend….
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A buddy and I fished Saturday with high hopes of fish still being in the area. Fishing pressure has started to increase, that’s for sure. From 1-3:30 we landed 7 keepers, with about 5-6 shorts mixed in. Lost two bigger walleyes right at the hole. His came unhooked and looked to be a low 20’s fish and mine was a bite of right as she took a second run after getting to the hole. She had a big head and a fat body, definitely was a heart breaker. Fished Sunday by myself and decided to check out some new spots. Wasn’t really expecting much, but did manage to catch a coupe small crappie and a few short sauger. Quite a few trucks out there, even heard of one out in the channel by the stumps. Stay safe people, even though it’s been cold, there is a river flowing through there.
Was out all weekend but wasn’t so angry at the fish. Needed to do some relaxing so did some tip up fishing with a buddy and my cousin. It was slowwww. We had only 3 keepers all weekend with a few shorts mixed in. Lost 2 fish that felt heavier then normal, and performered the slow t-bar roll. You know that feeling when walking up to it. Excitement got the best of us and pulled the trigger to soon which left us wondering what it could’ve been. Best part of the weekend was the DNR was out checking licenses and snowmobile enforcement. About 10:00pm saturday night, enjoying a beer from the house , I watched a group of snowmobiles leaving sunset. Noticed a sled pull up along the trailing guy of the group And all of a sudden red and blues. With the radar runs out of lakeside, I can only imagine how busy they were that nighy. Just glad to see them out and just might be seeing them a little more often this year.(in a good way of course)
***drilled a hole where some truck tracks were and found 10″ of ice. I also found up to 26″ of ice in some spots. Lots of current under the ice out there. Please use caution when driving out.
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