Thinking out of the box for Wissota Walleyes

Well, the July swoon is upon is. Walleye fishing is getting pretty tough on Lake Wissota. With a free day on my hands, I resisted the urge to chase smallmouths as well as the temptation to stick with my usual routine. I decided instead to break out of my comfort zone and think outside of the box in an effort to scratch out a few Wissota walleyes.

First on my agenda was to hunt for some suspended eyes. In a normal year (one with reasonable amounts of rain), Wissota tends to not stratify (at least that’s what the Lindners claim in their books) because the flow through the reservior system lends itself to good mixing of the thermal layers. Well, we’ve got one dry year on our hands, and I had heard through the grapevine that the lake had stratified and that walleyes could be had just above the thermocline. So, off to find the thermocline I went.

Took me a bit but I did find it. It’s deep. You’ll see it pretty obviously in the photo above, in the high 30s to near 40 ft. This is limited to the original river channels that cut through the main body of the reservoir. I wasn’t able to find the thermocline on any of the other areas of the lake I checked.

Although I found the thermocline, I wasn’t able to find any walleyes associating with it. So, time for plan B.

During our recent Wissota fishing league Events, my parter Jason Sullivan and I have been running to fish the Chippewa River. Last week, we cruised over some interesting looking features in the main lake that I had never investigated. Checking these features out with crankbaits was my plan B.

This area is on the south end of the lake, and has a series of beautiful undulating humps that top out near 22′ and drop down into the mid 20s, with 30+ feet nearby. On top of these humps were very appealing-looking pods of fish, like this one, in addition to large, dark red sonar hooks. Could these be what I was looking for?

I ran a spread of 3 lines including 2 leadcore lines to target the bottom-associated fish and one flat line for any high-riders. My first pass through this area provided two fish, including this well-fed 16+ that came to the boat on leadcore.

The crankbait bite slowed, and I was able to scratch out a couple eaters on crawlers rigged on Phelps Floaters with 2 oz bottom bouncers.

It was a warm July weekend, and before too long, the cruiser armadas arrived. They chased me up into the Chip, back into my comfort zone. UP above the lake, I was able to scratch out a nice bag of fish pitching and dragging crawlers, including this 18+” eye, 3 more slot fish, 2 smallies and one channel cat.

Spending time outside of your comfort zone can be, well, uncomfortable and even frustrating. It is the ONLY way, however, to make yourself a more complete angler. I learned a few things today that will definitely help me during future Wissota walleye outings. Next time you’re on the water, step outside of your comfort zone, and start reaping the returns!

Nice report Jason, I always wondered about deep channel muskies on Wissota in the heat of summer, if the walleyes are there surely the muskies are not far behind….

Nice report Jason!

Nice Report I wondered the same thing when I used to fish this lake!

Hey Jason, have you been having better luck with crawlers than leeches?

When I’ve had them both, yes.