Memorial Weekend on Lake Wissota

The fish were as hot as the weather this Memorial Day weekend. I can say the fish on Lake Wissota were more than willing to take a wack at your bait. I only was able to get out for a few hours on the lake, but it was well worth it. I even got the "bride to be" out on the water and to relax a little bit. Although we were out for panfish anything was possible this day.

I started off the day mainly looking at shallow water. My main target was the beautiful crappies Lake Wissota has to offer. I had some camera issues also so most of the photos were taken once we got home.(someone forgot to put batteries in the camera…oops)

The main bait I used was a 1/16 oz Fireball Jig, tipped with either a leach or a crappie minnow under a bobber. When I started fishing in the morning the bite was a little tough. Most of the crappies were in very, very shallow. They were in less than one foot of water. They were also not schooled up and suspended in a little deeper water like I thought they would be either. If you did find them though they were some big fish like the one pictured here. Most of the fish were in the 10"-11" range. I was lucky enough to catch a couple that were in the 13"-14" range. I also saw a ton of gills crusing the shallows too. I wasn’t very lucky at hooking them though most were 5"-6" in length.

I did find a protected area away from boat traffic with a ton of brush and logs in the water. This was the most productive place. I watched one angler fishing and he had caught several…more like maybe 50-60 gills. It is nice to see they are making a strong come back. I didn’t see him keep but only a couple fish. Which was really nice to see…

A lot of my time was spent in close to shore doing some sight fishing. Most of the time I would take my leach and plop it in the water just in front of the fish and they would attach it. That is what brough this big 14" beauty to the boat. I had actually thought it was a bass when I first saw him. He was so dark and black…it was unreal to see a fish of this color. The dark stained water makes for some beautiful fish. It was days like this with the fish in the shallows that I wished I had a cane pole. The 6′-6" pole just didn’t quite reach far enough.

I only kept three fish and these all had swallowed the hook and had done some major damage leaving them doomed. They did make a nice meal. I’m hoping to get out more on the Chippewa River and local lakes to give some more reports after the wedding. Hoping to have a good report up from the honeymoon fishing trip in Canada. Stay COOL and good luck fishing!