Boat Launch Fishing Lake Winnebago Wisconsin
By John Luthens
I heard somewhere, or maybe I read it in a DNR publication, that every lake in the state must have at least one point of public access. Being a lazy journalist, I decided to not even check the facts. Because even if it is not true, I think it should be. Every fisherman should have a good boat landing.
I’m not saying it needs to be a reinforced concrete ramp where you can run a yacht down into the lake. Even if it is only a break in the shore rocks, a place to throw a canoe or fishing kayak into the water-that should be enough. You need a boat landing to get to the fish, right? To tell you the truth, there are times when you don’t even need a boat to get to the fish. All you need is a good boat landing.
The shores of Lake Winnebago are dotted with good boat landings. They come in all shapes and sizes, from small channel creek canoe launches, to multiple heavy dock ramps complete with superstructure parking lots that would make a shopping center jealous. From Fond du Lac on the south side of the lake to High Cliff State Park on the north side-from Calumet Harbor on the east to Oshkosh on the west; Lake Winnebago has more boat landings than you could shake a stick at. I’ve been to a lot of them, but I think I’d need a lifetime to find them all.
Sometimes I’ve even launched a boat, but I believe the true secrets lie in the rock structures on many of the launches, and the quick depth changes resulting from dredged out water channels. The fish species of Winnebago hang tight in these spots, especially I spring and early summer before the warmer weather drives many of them deeper into the lake.
Bluegill, crappie, smallmouth and largemouth bass and even walleye can be had off the break walls of the boat landings and in the sheltered coves created by the rock pilings. Granted, the walleye probably move out deeper as the summer wears on, but now is the time when many of the post-spawn fish are still feeding up in the shallows. I’ve taken all the other species at various boat launches all through the summer.
I hit an early hatch of lake flies two weeks ago in Oshkosh, by the lighthouse east of the launch in Asylum Bay, and in an hour I lost count of the number of bluegills that came to a small black and yellow popper on a fly rod. I don’t believe I matched the hatch. I just came close to matching the size of the big flies. It looked like it was raining on the water, as the bluegills rose to the feast. The flies were a little thick. I was careful not to smash them, saving my fishing vest from turning green.
The next week brought torrential rains and flooding, and the walleye congregated in the shallows to feed on rain washed night crawlers. When the weather cleared I spent an evening after work on a boat launch south of Oshkosh. I fished with my friend Dave Buvid, who works with me and is also a known boat launch fishing specialist. It was his secret launch spot, so even though it’s a public landing, I promised him I wouldn’t tell exactly which one it was.
By the time I arrived, Dave already had two nice walleyes on the stringer, and by the time I untangled a tricky snarled leader on my fly reel, he had added two more. Dave just laughed at me, and he even offered to let me use his extra casting rod on which he had been drifting leeches. He was catching his fish on a chartreuse Cleo. He didn’t offer to let me use that rod.
When I finally got unsnarled, I caught two nice bluegills right off the bat on the biggest streamer fly I had. It was gaudy and brightly colored, and I don’t even know how I came to have it in my fly box, but it was as close as I could get to Dave’s Cleo.
Then I managed to hook a nice smallmouth on the fly. It was fun battle on a lightweight rod. Dave snapped a picture and the bass got released. I noticed some of the trolling boats out in the lake were starting to hover closer to the launch where we were fishing. Dave said he’d caught smallmouth weighing several pounds from that spot.
Right at dark, Dave and I each called “Last Cast”, and I hooked a nice crappie on a wooly worm. Dave said he was heading home, but he said I should stay, because the crappies usually turned on after dark. He was still deciding whether or not to release his walleyes off the stringer, or take a couple of them home to eat.
That’s a good problem to have, I guess.
So give the boat launches a try. Bring your boat if you want, or maybe just bring your stringer.