Green Bay Fishing Report, end of June

The month of June has seen many fish accessible in many locations, as well as several techniques. We have seen great fishing from 6' of water trolling crankbaits on out to 20'-25' trolling crawler harnesses, both of which are producing numbers and size.

Our most consistent location as of late has been the Geano Reef area from 18' on to 23' of water. The school which has parked itself there each year has been impressive to say the least, this year is no exception. We have been targeting these fish from 7' down to 15' down using 1 oz weights to present our spinners in the strike zone. Speeds from 1.1-1.2. mph have been our best producer. Our best colors have been Purple Hot Tiger blades from Bait Rigs Tackle, along with Warrior Lures: Happy Hooker, Perch, and Huckleberry patterns in multiple colors.

Over on the other side of the Bay, the East Shore, we have still been finding success in the Vincent Point area, both on the rocks and out in deeper water. The rock fish have been falling for crankbaits while the deeper water has been god utilizing crawler harnesses. Most of these fish have been "eater sized" (15''-19'') fish, yet there is a lot of action to keep you busy. We have even seen success drifting over thee fish with small jigs and Night crawlers or a Lindy Rig. Best bait here are our old trusty Reef Runner Ripshads and Berkley Flicker Shads. We have also found that some larger minnow style baits have been effective for the little larger fish and it helps in keeping the Sheephead catches down to a more manageable, less frustrating, number.

Down to the Southeast there is another large school of fish still using the Eagles Nest area and the entire Eastern shoreline from University Bay north to Point Sable. Again we have targeted these fish with crankbaits from the 6'-8' depth range. There is a lot of fish in this area yet there are a lot of fish in this area which are smaller fish. We have even seen several fish in this area which are not legal sized fish, which is a great sign for years to come.

Looking ahead into July we should be looking at fish moving into the deeper water and becoming suspended. Areas to the north where water has been cold should begin to warm and see the fish spread out more. Looking at the present there really seems to be great fishing within 5 miles of every boat launch in the southern end of Green Bay.

I would like to take a moment to thank Frabill. This week we received our Conservation Series Nets from Frabill. Needless to say Frabill has hit another home run. If you're in the market to replace a net or looking to add one to you set-up check these nets out at www.frabill.com. They also make the finest worm bedding out there, Fat and Sassy, the finest bar-none. Thank You Frabill for your continued support and for making some of the finest products on the market.

In our next report we will begin posting waypoints of some of our top locations. I can be reached for a more detailed report including waypoints at chris@bigseacharters.com or by calling (920) 660-7275. Good Luck and have a safe productive fishing trip.

Green Bay/Winnebago Walleyes June Fishing Report

The start of June has lacked acceptable weather to say the least. Several days that have been temperatures struggle into the high 50's with overnight lows in he upper 30's to the far north. This hasn't stopped the Walleyes from biting on Green Bay and it certainly hasn't stopped them from biting on Lake Winnebago. This past week was one of our best as far as big fish on Green Bay. We found a very large and cooperative school of fish in the Dykesville area roaming the 20' to 25' depth range. If its size you want, size you'll get, over the past week we landed 4 fish over 30 inches and several others topping the 28 inch mark. A majority of these fish were caught near the 25 foot depth range. Our lures of choice were crawler harnesses trolled behind 1oz weights from 20 feet to 40 feet behind our Offshore Planer Boards. There is still a school of smaller, "eater sized", fish near the Vincent Point area. These fish can be fished with either crankbaits or crawler harnesses, look to the mid-bay humps and the edges of the structure for the best action from 12' to 17' of water. Our best cranks were Reef Runner Ripshads in Kryptonite. There is also a nice school of fish outside the Geano Reef area. Their depth varies by the day, we have caught these fish in as shallow as 8' and as deep as 20'-22'. Our best baits on the West shore have been Crawler harnesses with Warrior Spinner Blades. The best advice I can provide for Green Bay at this time is to stay versatile and stay mobile. Don't place all your lures at a consistent depth, and don't live and die on a spot which may have been good yesterday. These fish are really on the move more than they have been in quite some time.

Lake Winnebago has also been giving up fish despite the weather. Saturday, June 6th, we ventured down to Winnebago to begin preparation for Walleye Weekend. Stopping at our first spot in the Northeast corner of the lake we found fish immediatly in the "Mud" pulling 12 fish in our first short pass in the 17'-18' depth range. We made 1 more pass in the Northeast end of the lake and ended boating 25 fish on total prior to making a move. There was also fish which were blown up on the rock reefs on the west side of the lake. Blackbird and Little Blackbird both gave up good numbers of smaller fish throwing 1/8 oz jigs tipped with crawlers. We also pulled a few fish near the Oshkosh area and the Blackwolf area. Needless to say the fish were cooperative everywhere on saturday, making it tough to nail down a really good patern. Our best baits were Reef Runner Ripshads, Berkley Flickr Shads, and Grapler Shads.

The weather is supposed to finally take a trun for the better this week with weekend temps in the 70's. Look for this to finally start to school up fish in areas where they have been scattered and bring some consistancy and predictability to the fishing. We will be on the water every day until next monday so if you need a more up to date or detailed report we can be reached at (920) 660-7275. Good luck everyone, stay safe, and enjoy the warm, NORMAL HIGH's, weather this weekend.

Green Bay Walleye Fishing, Memorial Weekend, May 22

Finally some stable weather and calm winds. After two weeks of roller coaster temps we finally have some stability. Water temps are on the rise and the fishing has also followed suit. Looking ahead this next weeks temps look to be as consistent as they could be over a one week period, finally a week where an angler can have some sort of predictability.

Anglers all over the Green Bay system are finding success in multiple depths and utilizing multiple presentations. Our best presentation has been Crawler Harnesses anywhere from 3' to 10' of water, depending on the weather. #6 Colorado Blades in purple, gold, and perch patterns have been our biggest producers. Trolled from 1.0-1.2 mph.

Crankbait trollers have also been doing very well. We have been targeting fish with crankbaits from 12' to 16' of water on the East shore, covering water until we find the most productive areas. Reef Runner Deep Little Rippers and Berkley Frenzy Divers have been our best baits, colors have varied depending on water clarity in most areas.

There is also a nice school of fish near the Vincent Point area and the rock humps which make up the bottom structure in that area. We have fished these fish with both Crawler Harnesses and Crankbaits finding equal success. As with any structure oriented bite we've seen these fish relate to the structure tops at low light and/or windy conditions, when there's high skies or flat sea's the fish relate to the transition bases of the structure or they will push off to the deep side and slide out into the deeper water to the west.

The Fox River is still holding good numbers of eater sized Walleyes and plentiful White Bass. Our best spot to target the Walleyes is near the 172 bridge footings throwing 1/8 oz and 1/4 oz jigs tipped with Nightcrawlers. You can also troll the expansive flats north of 172 with crankbaits to target these fish. As far as White Bass look to the washout areas of the current or current seams near the DePere Dam. We threw small Shallow Shad Raps at these fish the past few days and had a blast just cranking fish to the boat. This would be a great bite to bring young children to as they would have plenty of action to keep them busy.

We would like to wish everyone a safe and productive Memorial weekend, enjoy the time off and the great weather! Hopefully we'll see you on the water!

Green Bay, May 7th 2009

Well it is again our favorite time of year, time to troll Green Bay. The past few days have been very good with most boats reporting good catches of Walleyes. Fish can be had right now trolling either spinners or crankbaits.

Earlier this week we had seen the best response on Reef Runner "Little Rippers" trolled from 5'-8' of water. As the water temps continued to rise we saw the fish really show their interest in crawler harnesses in the same water.

Our best spots have been the Geano Reef area along with the East Shore near Dykesville. There is still a good number of "cookie cutter" sized fish in the Fox River. The Fox also has an extremely fun White Bass run going on right now. We fished them today (May 7th) throwing crank baits. Small #8 Husky Jerks in Silver seemed to produce the most bites casted into slower moving current "wash-out" areas.

I would also like to take a moment to welcome our newest sponsor, Warrior Lures. Warrior makes a wide variety of high quality Spinner Blades as well as Great Lakes Spoons. Mike is an old friend from many seasons past and we wish him the best of luck!

I also would like to wish luck to all of the fishermen/women, taking part in this weekends Fox River Spring Walleye Classic. GOOD LUCK GUYS/GALS!

Ice Fishing SOLID start to the season

The Ice Season in Wisconsin has gotten off to a great start with sub zero readings on the mercury meter. Average ice depths around the state are reading from 12'' to 24'' depending on location and snow cover. Most of our attention has been placed on Lake Winnebago in the Oshkosh area. We have been seeing a mixed bag of fish including great diversity; Walleyes, White Bass, Perch, and the occasional Catfish or Crappie all make for a good days worth of fishing. This all takes place out of the same hole on some occasion!!!

Concentrate efforts on the 16' and deeper depths out in the "mud" and stay extremely mobile. If we're not marking good numbers of fish within 10-15 minutes we're on the move. Our movements range from 1/4 to 1 mile with each move until we find what it is we like to see. Consistent marks mean you're close, sparse marks mean a farther maneuver to find the key location.

Our best baits have been Jigging Raps and Forage Minnows. Both tipped with a minnow head of your choice. These fish like the bait moving constantly and quite aggressively. Tip-ups are also taking fish once you find the key location to spend a significant amount of time on.

Is it spring yet? Come on Mother Nature, bring it on....

As always we can be contacted at (920)660-7275 or reached via website at www.bigseacharters.com Safe fishing! Hope to see you on the water!

Green Bay Walleye Fishing / July 24th

Green Bay is still the place to be for walleyes. It's amazing to watch this system spit out 4 pound fish after 4 pound fish. It's actually tougher to catch a small fish in Green Bay than it is to catch a quality fish. However I have seen more 15 inch fish this year than in years past and thats a good thing to see.

We have been focusing our fishing on the 18'-25' depths north from Suamico up the the "Charles Pond" area. Each day the depth of the fish varies. Yesterday we caught a majority of our fish in the 20'-23' range while the day before we were doing very well in 18'-19' of water. The name of the game is mobility right now. Watching some of the other boats out there I have been noticing that they are making very long passes, this is the absolute opposite of what we try to do aboard our Ranger. If an area is producing numerous fish I will lay a waypoint on the GPS and go back over that area as soon as I have a short lull in the action. So for us there is no big secret, just staying as mobile as possible.

Our fish catches have been right around the 30 fish mark per trip, lots of these fish are in the 4 pound class. There have also been some big fish mixed in with these catches, over the past five days we have put 7 fish over 8 pounds in the boat, one (the photo above) of these fish went 31 inches and 11.5 pounds!

Our best baits have been crawler harnesses trolled behind 1oz and 1/2oz weights. Lead lengths are dependant on the day but have ranged from 15' back on a 1/2 oz weight to as deep as 45' back on a 1 oz weight. The key is to also keep your baits mobile in the water column , each day we start with baits high and low in the water column and we let the fish tell us what they want. Our best colors have been Purples, Perch Imitations, Bubble Gum (Pink/Chartreuse Blades with matching beads) and Anti-Freeze (Green/Chartreuse Blades with matching Beads).

Hopefully this report helps, if you need a more detailed up to the minute report give me a call (920) 660-7275. Good Luck and Great Fishing!!!!

Join us at our Green Bay "Late Summer Walleye" seminar sometime in August at the Sportsmans Warehouse in DePere, WI. I will have giveaway items from my sponsors like Reef Runner, Frabill, Bait Rigs, and Tica. Someone will win a Frabill Troll N' Shovel Net!

Kewaunee Salmon Fishing Report (July 10th)

Fishing on the West Shore of Lake Michigan has been very inconsistent all season. A lack of stable weather and an abundance of west winds have kept surface temperatures near shore (inside of 100 feet) hovering a few degrees under or just over 50 degrees. This has left fish scattered throughout the water column for a majority of the season.

Our best fishing lately has been in 40 to 80 feet of water. In this water you can find a mixed bag of Chinooks, Rainbows, Lakers, and even a few Coho's with an occasional Brown Trout. Fishing is not fast and furious but if you pick away at them you'll end up with a good cooler of fish.

Our best baits have been 75' of Opti Copper wire with a 40' leader of 20# test monofilament line followed by a spoon. Our other top producer has been 150' of Opti Copper wire with the same leader/spoon. I run both of these on Offshore's SST planer board, one of each on either side of the boat. Running the 75' on the outside board and the 150' inside of that makes things alot easier for turning. When you get a fish on the outside board you must reel in the inside board to avoid a tangle. It is worth the hassle as well over half our fish have come on these set-ups.

Other lines that have worked well for us have been a 100' 12oz. "Pump Handle" down the middle with a White/Glow/Chrome Opti Inticer with a 44 mag. Fly. Wire Dipsey (dialed at #3) at 120' with a White/Glow/Chrome Opti Inticer and a White/Pearl Opti Fly. Wire Dipsey (dialed at #1) 75' back with a Green/Glow/Chrome Inticer with "Kermit" fly. Downrigger at 63' with a White/Glow/Chrome Opti Inticer with an Opti "Super Blue Glow" Glacier Fly.

Good Luck to everyone fishing Trout Fest this weekend. Stay safe, hopefully we will see you on the water or at the cleaning station!