Member
Posts: 160
Location: Menasha, WI | Was out the last week everyday and we did very well for walleyes and a few nice perch. The funny thing was that one day they wanted leeches and the next it was crawlers. We have been using 1/16 oz. jigs, and orange seemed to be the best color. I tried several things this past week out on the reefs and here is a little insight as to what we did and what we tried.
The evening bite has been best from 5 to 7 pm daily. The morning seems to be rather slow for me.
We cast little cleos, 1/4 oz, gold in color and it produced walleyes. I tried a hammered purple colored little cleo and all I caught was whitebass. They were big whitebass though, WOW.
I tried casting a mepps spinner at a slow speed to see if we could mustar up a walleye. Well we had on a fish, but it got off, no clue what it was. We did also get a few using purple tube jigs, with no bait. That is awesome to use artificials and catch fish. No bait, no downtime, just fishing, and some action as well.
I lost a huge walleye on the reefs this week. It was by far the biggest fish I have ever seen. It was at the surface several times, and then it would see the net or boat, and down it would dive. We fought the beast for about 15 to 20 minutes before she decided enough was enough and snapped us off. I have caught a lot of fish on this pond and this walleye was by far the biggest I have ever seen, and then for it to hit a leech, and be on the reefs was stunning to me.
We trolled along the edges of a vast amount of reefs and noticed that glass shad raps in purple were working well, and also orange bellied wally divers were hot. We ran our cranks anywhere from 20-45 feet behind the boards from 1.7 to 2.3 MPH. We also had a 26 inch, 8 lb, that is not a typo, it was 8 pounds,we weighed her, fish. It was caught on a purple sunset crawler harness with a 1/4 oz in line bead sinker. We were running at 1.0 when this nice fish hit. I have found a few reefs that are consistently producing some nice eyes from 17-21 inches. It is nice to be able to get away from the crowds and get on some of these fish.
I would also like you all to know that the wardens are out in full force. Do not cull fish, do not catch over 5 fish per person in your boat, and do not double bag. They are out there, they are watching and they are writing tickets. Make sure to know the difference between a sauger or a walleye, or you will get a fine. Not knowing the difference is not an excuse, they will just issue you a fine. You have been warned.
I also know Purple Skeeter and his family very well, and he will be missed. He has a lot of knowledge and always tries to help out everyone. I am proud to say he is a friend and a good fishermen. I understand how he feels though. You may get 100 positive E-mails or letters or responses, but the only few you ever rember, are those that are negative. Blow it off PS, come on back, we miss you all here. Your always welcome in my boat anytime, so give me a call soon, we gotta show you how to jig these reefs soon.
Scott "AXL" Ehricke
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West Shore reefs on Bago