With the warming temperatures, both walleyes and saugers on Lake Wisconsin and the Wisconsin River have started to transition into summer patterns. It was a challenge throughout the month of May to establish any kind of a pattern that lasted more than a day or two. The seemingly “every weekend another cold front”, and abundant flow coming down from the Kilbourne dam has impacted fish locations on a day-to-day basis, and we’ve found it necessary to keep moving to contact active fish. But now it’s June, and we’ve finally turned the corner into easier and more consistent fishing.
I’ve been finding success using two techniques lately, trolling size 7 Berkley Flicker Shads behind planer boards in 8’-10’ at 1.7 to 2.8 mph (SOG) and pulling Slow Death rigs on bottom bouncers in the channel in 15’-20’ of water at 0.7 to 1.0 mph (SOG).
The trolling bite has been steadily improving, though I’ve found it necessary to make either a lot of turns, or play with the throttle constantly to trigger bites. When trolling, if you turn to port, the “outside” lines, or starboard side baits will speed up and the “inside” lines or port side baits will slow down. If you turn to starboard, the opposite is true. This sudden change of speed and direction WILL get you bit more consistently. If there is significant boat traffic or other obstacles that prevent making a lot of turns, simply rapidly increasing/decreasing your speed every few minutes will work too although the directional part of the equation is removed, it is still effective. An example would be if you’re pulling baits at 2mph, goose the throttle and speed up to 3mph for 5-10 seconds then slow down to 1.5mph for 10 seconds before resuming your 2mph speed. If you get bit, make sure to note both the speed and direction as we’ve found many days where we get hit far more going one direction vs any other. Experiment with both speed and direction, but pay attention so when you find something that works, you can repeat it. I have seen what appears to be a definite color preference on some days, but most days these baits are not heavily scrutinized before getting hit, so just stick with the chromes, chartreuses, oranges etc… and you’ll do fine. Most days nearly every color we put out catches a fish.
While fishing Slow Death rigs on bottom bouncers, the amount of current, and whether the river is rising, falling or steady, has had a decided impact on locations for walleye and sauger in Lake Wisconsin and the Wisconsin River. I’ve been finding the most success, either when the current is steady or falling. When the river is rising, the increased current tends to push walleyes and saugers out of the channel to shallower locations where current breaks exist. You can still catch them, but they become more difficult to locate and often other techniques are necessary to do so. When Slow Death rigging, carry multiple versions or shades of chartreuse and orange beads in sizes 4mm and 5mm. Again, some days it seems that one particular color is “hotter” than the other, but we routinely run both and catch fish on either color.
Tight lines,
Gary Sanders
Lake Wisconsin Walleyes, LLC
www.lakewisconsinwalleyes.com