Tough bite on Green Bay
One year ago, my friend Gary Howe and myself went on a camping and fishing trip on Lake Michigan.
Gary and I fished for walleye near Oconto and stayed at North Bay Shore Recreation Area which is a really nice park and campground owned and operated by Oconto County.
The two of us experienced high seas while fishing in my 16-foot boat and most importantly had awesome success catching limits of walleye that ran 18-26 inches in length.
Last week, Gary Howe and I returned to Oconto to hopefully enjoy some more success.
Thursday, May 13
High 52, Low 34
The fever has struck northeast Wisconsin and it is in the form of what has become an incredible fishery called Green Bay.
One of the first things that I do every time I hit a public boat landing, campground or bait shop is try to obtain information. Today, I spoke with Cliff Calhoun who is a retired farmer from the Elroy area and does a lot of wade fishing for “specks” in The Gulf of Mexico during the winter.
Cliff comes home to catch walleye here on Green Bay in the spring. He had a mixed report – high seas had tossed him around the day before while he was fishing alone but he had landed nine walleye in the 18- 22-inch range and a 47-inch-musky that had really worn him out.
Gary and I built a comfortable camp that included an 11-by-13- foot tent as well a screen tent. The next thing that we did was rig up the boat and our poles for a much-anticipated outing on the big pond and hopefully a tussle with a walleye or two.
It was just after we exited the harbor and began negotiating 3-4- foot waves that we started setting out three lines a piece with four of them rigged with night crawler harnesses and two of them had crank baits tied to them.
Four of the rigs would have planer boards attached to them to help us cover more water. My buddy from Prairie du Chien who is a true “River Rat” was not fazed by the high seas nor was I. The key to making it back to the harbor is by negotiating each wave as it hits you.
When day became night neither of us was fazed by the fact that we had not had a hit because the next day was going to bring on warmer temperatures and “the big bite.”
Friday, May 14
High 70, Low 35
Adversity is a part of life and today just about every angler in camp would find that out as every ship, captain and crew dealt with 4-foot seas and a totally nonexistent bite. Gary and I fished until noon, did not lose even an inch of night crawler
And when we took lunch pulled the plug out of the boat and watched water drain out of it for a full 20 minutes. Adversity did not matter, as I was positive the warm sun would turn on the walleye for a fantastic, late-afternoon bite. That bite did not happen and after three outings we were yet to lose a crawler.
Saturday, May 15
High 78, Low 38
Today would be our last full day of fishing and a day to make walleye fillets for our much-anticipated fish fry that we were supposed to enjoy yesterday.
Virtually no wind and bright sun were the story of the morning as the two of us trolled for walleye with at least 80 other boats fishing over about a four-mile piece of shoreline.
If I am really going to tell the whole story, I have to add that over the last 14 days the water’s surface temperature had dropped from 60 to 49 degrees due to three nasty cold spells (two of them froze my potato plants). One included a significant snowfall.
Everyone in camp, which is loaded with anglers from all around Wisconsin, was smart enough o realize that we were in a virtual nonbite and that it was a good time to enjoy comfortable weather and the relaxing tranquility of a campfire.
A father-and-son team from Necedah was camped next to us. Keith Crispell and his son, Hunter, who is a fifth-grader, fished many hours today. Hunter landed a beautiful, 23-inch walleye which was the only fish I saw after three days of hard play.
Enjoy every day!
Sunset
