movin

[Irish]

Help! It looks as though the job is going to force a move to south eastern wisconsin ( kenosha area) or northen illinois. Ive never fished in the area and a stop at a "local" bait store would seem to indicate that Wally doesnt live here at least not in any numbers. Any of you guys or gals from the area have experience chasin ole marble eyes in this neck of the country.?

[Kevin A]

Well yes & no. I'm familar with the area and I don't chase walleyes around here. The Illinois river is said to be reasonable at certain times of the year, never been there. Lake Mendota is around 1.5 hours away, but can be a sleeper (ask the PWT). Lake Koshkonong is out by Ft. Atkinson and resembles Winnebago in type of lake (shallow & big). The closest & most reliable for walleye will be Winnebago. LBdN is 5 hrs 15 minutes. Lake Pewaukee west of Milwaukee halls in BIG muskie every year.

What type of boat do you have? Are you comfortable in 0-6's five to 10-15 miles off shore? Are you interested in salmon? Lot's of salmon in that area, salmon everywhere, salmon & steelhead & lake trout & kings & coho, lots of salmonids..and it's all starting right now.

Get out your wallet you'll need lots of new tackle. You'll be running probably 6-12 trolling rods and each will have somewhere between 4 & 20 bucks on the end of each. Downriggers, DR balls, rigger boards, rod holders, dipsies, slide divers, dodgers, flashers, flys, spoons, spin & glows, more spoons, cranks, more flys, wire lines....

send me an email, maybe I can give you some info on housing

lots of salmon....:-)

[Juls_WI]

There is the Fox Chain of Lakes, and Illinois River, in Northern Illinois.
In Wisconsin, within 1.5 hour drive or less...Winnebago, Fox River, Wolf River, Lake Delevan, Pewaukee Lake, Oukachee Lake, Oconomowoc lake, Upper and Lower Namabin Lakes...connected to Upper and Lower Nashota Lakes, Pine Lake, Rock River, Lake Koshkanong, Madison Chain of Lakes, Fox Lake, and Big Green Lake...just to name a few.
A little further drive (2.5 hours) and you have the Bay of Green Bay...Notorious for big walleye.
Then, when you have vacation time, there are a hugh number of lakes "Up North" (6hour drive) that hold lots of walleye. Oh, and it smells really good up there...;-)

The bait shop you stopped at must cater to the lake michigan folks, who fish for that other fish..;-) There are plenty of eye chasin' opportunities here in Wisconsin.
Good Luck with your move.

Juls

[Kevin A]

Here's a report by a local Kenosha/Racine guy from friday's outing:
It was an absolutely finominal day on the water. One of those "fishing was so good, it must be yesterday". Took a 90 degree heading out of Racine and setup in 95' and 1st fish at 110 fow. Temp there 50.5 and water a little murky. Continued east and rarely had time to sit down. Everything worked. I was running 12 dodgers and flies with a variety of dodger colors and fly colors. Dipsys set at 15', riggers at 12, 15 and 35(yes, 1 Coho at 35' but no kings) with 1 and 2 color leadcore off the boards. Had 3 doubles including one hook up while holding the line in my hand before I could attach it to the release. When we got to 16 for 24 (15 Coho and 1-9# bow) at a little after 0830 I was afraid we would have to go home too early so I decided to pull all the flies and switch to spoons and crank up the speed looking for some of Fred's bows. Two more Coho on spoons at 3.4mph before we could get all the lines changed. Fortunately lip hooked so released OK. A couple more Coho released and then SIX on at once, 4 bows and 2 Coho, all to the boat. Must have had 40+ strikes, 30+ caught and our 20 to clean. No other boats out there until I called Sea Bum and his wife out and they limited also. Water cleaned up after 120 fow and best action around 135 fow with temp of 47 degrees. 44.2 in 160 fow and didn't venture any further east. It was 48 in 70 fow. Most stomachs empty and those with bait fish, 5-6" alewife which helps explain why the Coho were banging the spoons. Thanks to Miller Light and Fishmeister II for the scouting report to get me started outside the 3rd hill. Good luck this weekend. Looking for your reports as hope weather lets me out again on Monday. Tight lines. GB