Weekend Prospects

Well gang, its looks to be a might rocky ahead.

The rain tonight and tommorrow is set to be followed by a rather nasty cold front. Temps in the 70's will drop to the 50's, with some cool nightime temperatures. Frost is even possible.

The fish will likely slow down the bite for a few days. They'll still bite, and will be plenty catchable, but you'll need some extra patience. After a couple of days, they'll be right back to where they were.

This weekend is the last before the opener. That means panfish on the local lakes.

Crappie have been biting on most area lakes, and very well on Okauchee, Garvin, Lac Labelle, Fowler, Kessus, and Buelah. Look for them around scattered weed "clumps" of green weeds in shallow (3-8feet) of water. With the front on the way, bring some waxworms and icefishing jigs. The down sized presentation can be just what it takes to get them going.

Bluegill have been coming shallow in smaller schools on many area lakes. Ashippun, Nag, the Phantoms and the Genessee lakes have been pretty good for bluegill. Waxworms, panfish plumpers or redworms are probably your best options. Two places to look for gills right now include shallow weed flats with scattered green weed patches (same as the crappies) or suspended over deeper water adjacent to shallow bays. Don't overlook the suspended fish. The schools can be hard to find, but if you get on them, the fishing can be fast and furious.
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If you have to scratch your bass fishing itch. Lazy Lake in Columbia county has an open season for bass. I'm thinking about heading up there on Wednesday for my annual birthday fishing trip.


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River walleye fishing is wrapping up in most areas. Most of the fish have spawned and are moving back down the rivers. Very high water in both the Dells (Wisconsin River) and the Jefferson/Ft Atkinson (Rock River) areas has kept many anglers from fishing. The rivers appear to have crested and are predicted to begin falling over the next few days. If this occurs, expect some incredible whitebass fishing ahead.

Whites love high water years, and they are actually easier to target as they'll use flooded creek mouths as holding points. One trick to remember when targeting whites is that they like to chase baitfish onto a ledge. If you can find a small drop off close to the main river channel, and you're seeing baitfish (either visually or with your electronics) chances are good there's whitebass nearby.

Three way rigs with floating jigheads, inline spinners, small rattletraps, jig and minnow, or jig and plastics are fairly common setups to use for whites, but don't overlook small rapala shad raps.