| This past week I trolled quite a bit on both the east shore and the north shore. We did nothing along the east shore. We trolled from Faro Springs road to south of Mud Creek. We used #5 Shad Raps, Thunderstick Jrs. Shallow Runners, Wally Divers and also Flicker Shads. We tried every color and every speed with little luck trolling here. There were and still is plenty of people fishing off of their docks and off of the shore close to dusk. Most are using lighted slip bobbers tipped with leeches. When we trolled here a few times last week, I did not see a single fish caught.
I trolled the north end on 5/12/2007 and used Scootchie rigs and Crawler Harnesses. We started out in fron of the golf course in 15 feet of water and trolled west at .9 to 1.1 MPH. We instantly had a 20 inch and a 17 inch walleye and I thought we finally hit a good trolling bite. We were marking a ton of fish, but after those two fish, we were unable to get any more trolling. We made several passes over this area also. The 2o inch fish was caught on a purple and yellow harness with a #5 hatchet blade in a rainbow pattern on it. The 17 inch fish was caught on a chartruese scootchie rig. Both were running 35 feet behind the boards with a 3/8 oz. inline weight. I was using 6 foot leaders.
We have had good luck jigging this past week and several reports have come in to verify this is well. Haystack Reef, Mansur Reef, Stevens Reef and Little Blackbird Reef have been doing well casting Rapals on the tops of the reefs and the Outer Bar seems to be doing well on Slip bobbers. Most of the boats I have seen out this past week are sitting on the tops of the reefs. We are actually fishing the sides of the reefs and dragging both crawlers and leeches. I have been using 1/16 oz. jigs tipped with leeches mostly. I as most of you know, really like to use orange colored jigs. This past week however, green was really working the best for me.....FYI.
A few reports came in from the south that there has been some perch action, but it does remain pretty slow overall. Small meal worms under a slip bobber seem to be working somewhat. I really do not think the perch are nto full swing yet. The weather has been so on and off, and that really makes for a hard perch bite overall.
The whitebass are really showing up all over the system, and several reports came in that they were filling up coolers. What ever happened to the old days when we would fill up 5 gallon pails? Guess things change, so now I need to pull out a cooler for these fish!!! One thing about the whitebass from the reports I have gathered is that one report will come in and say they are slamming them, and the next says they had little to nothing. I thought this weekend would be the best time, but maybe we need a nother week or so, before these are all over the Wolf River.
Crappies are in the channels and creeks, and near the marinas right now. Some bluegills are mixed in as well. I like to use a small M and M jig, tipped with small minnows for these. The area along Hwy A in Oshkosh is really full of them. I am sure they are in Asylum Bay, but the weed growth is getting bad, and it may be hard to get access to them there.
The Neenah Lighthouse was doing well, but now that the dams are shut due to the recent discovery of VHS in the system, I think this really will slow down here. You need current at the Lighthouse for it to be a good spot, and without it, the action really slows down.
Long Point, Point Comfort, and Kalbus Reefs are doing well for some nicer sized fish. Drifting over these reefs with either minnows or leeches seems to be the best bet. Point Comfort was doing great with casting cranks in close to the very shallow water.
I have not heard how anyone is doing in or around the Garlic Island area. I drove through here twice this week and only saw a few boats and they both appeared to be anchored with slip bobbers. If any has a report from here, please let me know.
That is all I know for right now, so I hope that helps out a little bit.
Ok, now your comments and questions to me..............................
What type of hooks are you using on your Crawler Harnesses?
I use #2 VMC Blood Red Hooks in the Octopus style.
Do you have enough volunteers for the Kids Wish for Fish event on June 3, 2007?
We are still in need of volunteers and we still need funds for this event. We are taking 25 kids this year, and I am really looking forward to it. It is awesome to see them get out in a boat for the first time and actually catch a fish or two. The best part is they do not care how big or what type it is, they are just so happy to be there. I really hope you get involved in this great event and see what a difference you and your boat or your time can make in a child's life.
When do you think the trolling action will pick up out in the mud?
I think we need some warmer weather and some steady weather to get those fish out there. It has been so goofy this year that I think the fish are really still sticking to the reefs and not going deeper and suspending. If I had to choose a time when it will be good I would say June 1 or later.
Well that is all I have for this week, so be safe, have fun and remember to take a kid fishing and get a fishing partner for life. |
brian
