This is one to watch

[Tom L]

Noted this report by WPR regarding the tribal fishing rules. Here is part of that:

A federal judge has temporarily prevented the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa from restricting musky and walleye fishing on lakes within its reservation in northern Wisconsin.

Ahead of the inland fishing opener on Friday, U.S. District Court Judge William Conley issued a temporary restraining order against the tribe after the state sued tribal officials Wednesday to prevent enforcement of the fishing restrictions. Conley cited “likely conflicts” and the denial of fishing rights to state-licensed anglers among factors in his decision.

The state’s federal lawsuit came after the tribe passed resolutions seeking to bar musky and walleye fishing by anyone except tribal members on 19 lakes, citing “critically low” populations.

Will be interesting to see where this goes.

 

[Robin1]

Yeah that’s a big one, it could really set precedent for how state and tribal fishing rights get balanced moving forward.

 

[Alan]

Yeah, this is one to keep an eye on!

 

[Tom L]

Tabby was mentioning on another thread about heading up that way to fish sturgeon at a place she likes to visit. If I am not mistaken that place is right in the heart of this area. Could be a lot of people find themselves with nowhere to go.

 

[Tabby]

Tabby was mentioning on another thread about heading up that way to fish sturgeon at a place she likes to visit. If I am not mistaken that place is right in the heart of this area. Could be a lot of people find themselves with nowhere to go.

I will be heading up to Winneconne and fishing the Wolf River and Lake Winneconne. It s just west of Oshkosh, only 80 miles from home and the fishing is better than the overfished Madison Chain. Here is the link to a continuous feed camera of the area by the highway overpass in downtown Winneconne. It runs 24/7/365 and is located at the resort across the river from where I stay. https://www.ipcamlive.com/633f81d3bf9da Just checked it out, there is a lot of activity this morning. This is a good sign. The place where I stay, "The Landing on the Wolf," is centered on the 4th view. Nice place, great people and reasonable rates.

 

[Tom L]

I will be heading up to Winneconne and fishing the Wolf River and Lake Winneconne. It s just west of Oshkosh, only 80 miles from home and the fishing is better than the overfished Madison Chain. Here is the link to a continuous feed camera of the area by the highway overpass in downtown Winneconne. It runs 24/7/365 and is located at the resort across the river from where I stay. https://www.ipcamlive.com/633f81d3bf9da Just checked it out, there is a lot of activity this morning. This is a good sign. The place where I stay, "The Landing on the Wolf," is centered on the 4th view. Nice place, great people and reasonable rates.

Got it. Was thinking you were headed further north. Good fishing!

 

[Tabby]

Back from Winneconne. The weather was terrible, cold and windy with up to 3 foot swells on the water. The fishing from the bar patio was not great. The only thing I managed to catch were some Sheepshead, which while were fun to catch I did not savor picking through the bones so they were released. On Tuesday we braved the cold, wind and rough seas to go out for some Walleye. We met up with our friend and guide Tim and set out to our usual haunts to try to catch a limit. It started out bad, over three hours and the only thing that we were able to boat was a clam that Tim managed to catch. The hook was clamped in the shell, so it was probably open when his bait apparently bounced into the shell, which was then clamped down on. (see photo) The hook was gently removed and the clam returned to it's happy home at the bottom of the Wolf River. From the river we moved out on Butte des Morts trying to stick toward the shoreline to stay out of the wind and two to three foot seas. We went to a place where we had some luck over the years off of a point on the south shore about a half mile west of the Highway 41 bridge. After about a half hour I hooked into the first fish of the day, a nice 19 inch (measured) Walleye. For the next hour and a half we caught several walleyes measuring between 10 and 19 inches. We threw the smaller ones back and only kept the ones 15 inches or longer. (see photos) Once we had our combined limit of 9 we again braved the heavy seas and headed back home to Winneconne. I have included a few photos taken over the past couple of days. It was a fun time despite the weather. As one might guess when I woke up at 0600 on Thursday morning, the day we were leaving the river was calm, water like glass without any wind and temps in the mid 40s and rising. Of course I had to give it one last try from the patio, which was fruitless. Did however manage to hook onto a chunk of floating bog that had sunk to the bottom. Hauled it up to the edge of the patio and tried to haul it out of the water. That was not to be, so I ended up cutting the line, then it was time to pack up to head home.

I got an email while I was up there that the rifle barrel I had ordered from Bartlein last August was ready for pickup. I came home via Jackson where I picked up the new barrel then proceeded on home via the detour madness of Hwy 41 around Milwaukee. I ended up getting off on Capitol Drive ( I94 bypass) which was better then back onto I94 for the rest of the trip home.

 

[Tom L]

Back from Winneconne. The weather was terrible, cold and windy with up to 3 foot swells on the water. The fishing from the bar patio was not great. The only thing I managed to catch were some Sheepshead, which while were fun to catch I did not savor picking through the bones so they were released. On Tuesday we braved the cold, wind and rough seas to go out for some Walleye. We met up with our friend and guide Tim and set out to our usual haunts to try to catch a limit. It started out bad, over three hours and the only thing that we were able to boat was a clam that Tim managed to catch. The hook was clamped in the shell, so it was probably open when his bait apparently bounced into the shell, which was then clamped down on. (see photo) The hook was gently removed and the clam returned to it's happy home at the bottom of the Wolf River. From the river we moved out on Butte des Morts trying to stick toward the shoreline to stay out of the wind and two to three foot seas. We went to a place where we had some luck over the years off of a point on the south shore about a half mile west of the Highway 41 bridge. After about a half hour I hooked into the first fish of the day, a nice 19 inch (measured) Walleye. For the next hour and a half we caught several walleyes measuring between 10 and 19 inches. We threw the smaller ones back and only kept the ones 15 inches or longer. (see photos) Once we had our combined limit of 9 we again braved the heavy seas and headed back home to Winneconne. I have included a few photos taken over the past couple of days. It was a fun time despite the weather. As one might guess when I woke up at 0600 on Thursday morning, the day we were leaving the river was calm, water like glass without any wind and temps in the mid 40s and rising. Of course I had to give it one last try from the patio, which was fruitless. Did however manage to hook onto a chunk of floating bog that had sunk to the bottom. Hauled it up to the edge of the patio and tried to haul it out of the water. That was not to be, so I ended up cutting the line, then it was time to pack up to head home.

I got an email while I was up there that the rifle barrel I had ordered from Bartlein last August was ready for pickup. I came home via Jackson where I picked up the new barrel then proceeded on home via the detour madness of Hwy 41 around Milwaukee. I ended up getting off on Capitol Drive ( I94 bypass) which was better then back onto I94 for the rest of the trip home.

Wow, that does sound like a bitter sweet fishing trip Tabby. That patio looks like a good place to relax, have a Pepsi and chase the fish population. Lake Erie was often similar in that the Walleye and Perch were good with rough water, everything else would hunker down. May want to reconsider not eating the Drum. Had some once that had very few bones due to a "secret" filet process and followed by a "secret" recipe tasted really awesome. It involved a lot of butter.

 

[Tabby]

Wow, that does sound like a bitter sweet fishing trip Tabby. That patio looks like a good place to relax, have a Pepsi and chase the fish population. Lake Erie was often similar in that the Walleye and Perch were good with rough water, everything else would hunker down. May want to reconsider not eating the Drum. Had some once that had very few bones due to a "secret" filet process and followed by a "secret" recipe tasted really awesome. It involved a lot of butter.

I have heard that, and done some research. It appears that the only reason that it is not commonly consumed is the bones. As for secret filet procedure, I think that I might try using the same procedure, at least in the beginning as I do for Northern Pike. It avoids most (but not all) of the Y bones.