Oconomowoc Lake, Waukesha County |
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Fishing Reports:
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Out again yesterday (8/28 ) from 6am to 5pm... another tough/slow day. Blue skys and sunshine all day long, temps up into the mid 80's. Light/Medium SW winds early getting heavier by mid-day. Water is still thouroughly stained with algia and the weeds are still obnoxiously thick.
Finished the day with 10 SMB, 3 LMB, 5 pike, 3 RB and a bluegill. Morning was pretty dead bass-wise... I think I had all of 5 bass until 2pm, then I found a little action working heavily wind-blown flats 2-4pm that breathed some life back into the day. Size-wise most were in the 13-15" range, and two nicer 18.5" & 20" that you see in the pics. Everything came on tubes up shallow again today with the exception of the 5 pike (all 18"-23"), which came on a white spinnerbait worked over the weeds.
Take Care,
D.
[This post was last edited on 8/29/10 at 2:41 PM]
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Got Out on Saturday AM, Figured the conditions would be ripe for some top water action, and was rewarded with this nice fish.
Certainly not my biggest, but I will remember this one for a long time as being my most acrobatic Musky ever. The strike included the fish entirely clearing the water vertically by about five feet as he jumped up, grabbed my lure, and came down with it in his mouth. The fish actually completed the hook set itself when it came down. Nice thick fish whose gut looked to be full of yellow perch.
Great start, and we had a good day on the water, but my experience was the opposite of Big D's. We caught less fish than I would have expected, but we caught several big largemouths including a fat 20+ inch fish that was pushing 5lbs. Mixed bag otherwise including smallies, a perch and a couple of short pike. Lots of fish chasing baitfish on the surface, especially before 9am.Water was dirty and stained in most places we fished. Lake level is still high, but definitely falling. Weed growth this year is among the heaviest I've seen.
Seemed like mid-depth weeds was the best pattern, we went shallow for awhile, but it wasn't happening like I hoped, and couldn't find anything consistent in deeper water. Not sure if the group outing that was happening hit some of the spots before we did. Pulled out for lunch, and then went over to Moose for an hour or two in the afternoon, where the fish were coming on the same depth and cover combo as on Oconomowoc.
It's set to be a great fall.
Chris Terry
Musky Mike's Bait & Tackle
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Back out on Saturday (8/21). Fished 6am to ~4:30pm. Fishing was pretty tough. The front that blew though Friday night/Saturday morning, really shut things down. Cloudy most of the day, sun started peeking out a bit mid-afternoon. Little to no wind most of the day... that probably didn't help things much either. Water is still thickly stained with algia and weeds still getting thicker.
Managed to scrape up a bunch of little'ns... 15 LMB & 3 SMB, only 3 legal bass in that mix. The rest ranged from small to tiny. The side-shows were not too bad today... 4 rock bass, 4 bluegill, a small pike, a small walleye and a 9.5" perch. I probably should have thrown my bass pole back in the rod locker and done some panfishing... but hind sight is 20/20, as they say.
Anyway, I had really thought things would turn around by afternoon, and it just never happened. Hope things are better out there today!
Take Care,
D.
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Got out with a buddy this morning, fished 6am to ~3:20pm. Lovely day, despite the forcast. Temps up into the low 80's, but mostly cloudy all day, so not really burning you up. Light to medium winds out of the W all day combatted the humidity nicely. Water temps are in the 82/83F range, water is still stained pretty thick with algia and weeds are as thick as I've seen in 3 or 4 years.
Had a slow start, first couple of hours, but then things picked up and we found consistent action for the rest of the day. We finished with 20 SMB, 14 LMB, 2 RB, 3 pike, 2 perch and a bluegill. Size-wise, they were about half n half, nice ones vs smaller ones, biggest was a 19" smallie. Action coming from the same program, basically... tossing smoke colored tubes from the breaklines. LMB are coming in and around weeds and SMB from the breaks well up into the shallows.
Water levels are still a bit high, but the slow-no-wake was finally lifted mid-day today.
Take Care!
D.
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Was back at it again on Saturday (8/7). Fished 6 am to ~6:30 pm. Lovely day... mostly sunny with a few periods of clouds throughout the day, temps right around 80F and not too humid. Mild winds from the SW early, picking up considerably by afternoon. Water is still thickly stained with algia, clarity ~6-12", and the weeds have kicked it up a notch... very thick now even in normally sparse areas. Water levels are still high and the lake was slow no-wake when I launched in the morning. They may have lifted it mid-day, though, as there were a few skiers/tubers out by mid-afternoon.
All in all, was a decent day. Finished with 18 LMB, 11 SMB and one each of pike/perch/walleye and of course, one highly obligatory Rock Bass. Size was a little better than last week...lots of 14-16"ers and the 18.5" and FAT 20.5" smallies in the pictures. Was kind of a wierd day... was almost exclusively LMB all morning, on breakline weeds and shallow weed clumps, then a bit of a lull mid-day and then almost exclusively smallies all afternoon, up on the flats. All action came on tubes except for one smallie on a Red-Eye shad. Action tapered off ~4:30 for me, but I stuck it out a couple more hours to get through a few more spots that I haven't worked in a while.
Take Care!
D.
[This post was last edited on 8/9/10 at 10:20 AM]
Late Report from yesterday (7/31).... Fished 6am to ~4:30pm. As mentioned... the lake is still slow-no wake, and water levels were up to a good 4" over the launch pier. Was cloudy with occasional light rain into mid-afternoon and then the sun finally peaked out. Winds were pretty much calm most of the day. Water temps ~79-81F and much of the lake is still very muddy from runnoff, etc... and of course the clearer water still has a thick algia stain.
Had a tough couple of hours to get things going in the morning, but then action picked up an was pretty consistant for the rest of the day. Finished with 20 LMB, 7 SMB, a walleye, a couple pike, perch, bluegill and 4 rock bass. Numbers were pretty good, but size was lacking... only 6 legal bass in there and lots of 13"ers. 17.5" smallie was my biggest bass.
Everything came on smoke colored tube jigs except for one LMB on a red-eye shad. The bite was very shallow. Newly flooded shoreline, piers and lilly pads produced best for me.
Take Care!
D.
I haven't fished Oconomowoc for a few years. It felt like I came back home. I used to live on the Lake with 4 of my buddies 14 years ago. The Smallies always aim to please. Got 14 smallies on football jig / kreature this morning. Frog bite turned on after the fog dissipated. Frog bite died so i went to a 10" worm. Ran out of 10" worms so I went to the river and flipped a jig. Caught a 37" Muskie on a bass jig. Biggest smallie was 20". Biggest Largie was 18". Too bad I can't afford to live on this beautiful lake. X that. I can't afford the taxes to live on the lake.
No wake. The docks are under water.
Level: MEMBER Joined: 3/4/2006 Status: ONLINE
Fished this lake for the first time on Sunday...not by choice...intention was to fish La Belle...HOWEVER, I was very pleased with the lake! I came home with nothing to speak of, but the scenery was beautiful in more ways than one. The structure is unreal there...the drops happen very quickly. I lost one nice walleye at the boat on a drop that went from 15 to 25 feet in the length of my boat on the east end. Weeds look healthy. Saw some bass in the shallows that wouldn't commit after seeing me.
Will definitely be back. Boat launch was very busy.
Two different pontoon boats don't know the meaning of "No Wake". They were crusing around with no care in the world. One was even tubing! Some guy was screaming from shore that it was no wake...
Level: Registered User Joined: 9/13/2003 Status: Offline
We have had some very good topwater bites in the morning on Oconomowoc. We usually would fish the flat down to the right as you leave the river. Smallies and Largies, with occasional pike. Have never tried it on a overcast day, but I imagine it would possibly stay good all day. We usually would get about a 30-45 minute bite on top until the sun came up.
Level: Registered User Joined: 8/19/2009 Status: Offline
Is top water fishing on this lake any good? That's my favorite way to fish and the only lake I have had luck with that around here is LaBelle.Hope to get out sometime in the next for days. Thanks for any help
Got back out on the OC on Sunday morning (7/11) fished from ~5:45am to ~1:45pm. I think this heat wave has slowed things down considerably out there, and the algia bloom has also set in thick since my last time out.
Managed to scrounge up 8 SMB, 2 LMB, a RB/perch/pike trio... and that was it. Several 14-15" Smallies, but nothing bigger than that.
It was a nice day just to be outside, though... Sunny all morning with some cloud cover finally moving in early afternoon. Medium winds out of the SW/W all day. Temps up into the mid-80's. Water temps in the low-80's and water clarity is down to around 2-3' feet now.
Take Care!
D.
Level: Registered User Joined: 1/3/2007 Status: Offline
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Fished last night from 6 to 11pm with a buddy and John Riegel from Johnny's Musky Guide Service; caught a nice 38" on the first spot. Has a couple other strikes and a few follows. All in all a good night on the water. Thanks again John.
Level: Registered User Joined: 6/19/2001 Status: Offline
Got out Fri. nite from 6-10pm mostly targeting gils. Fished in different areas in 10-15fow on the edge of the weeds and casting in shallow using crawler hunks and leeches. Got a meal of gils and 3 bonus bass,large & small in the 15-18in range all CPR. Water clarity was good could see the bottom easily in 10-12 ft. Water in the river was up and easy to navigate. Make sure you keep your mouth shut coming back in the dark to the launch the bugs were nasty,and they dont taste good either.
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Nice fish, Ben!
Sorry... I've been delinquent with my reports again... Have been out the past 2 Saturdays and the bass fishing is still pretty good out there. Both days were high-skys and after T-storms had blown through in early morning... ususally very tough days on the OC, but I still managed 17 bass 2 weeks ago and 24 last Saturday (both 10hr days).. 2 weeks ago it was cookie-cutter 13"ers with a few nice fish mixed in... last Saturday was the exact opposite... the piggies were out to play. I attached a couple pics... 2 19.5"ers and a 21"er.
All my action is coming working shallow flats with smoke-colored tube jigs now. Catching mostly smallies. Breakline weeds have not been productive past 2 trips for me. Weeds are nearing their full summer plumage and you should start seeing that familiar algia stain any day now, but it was only a very light stain as of last Saturday. Channel conditions are good with all of the rain we've been having.
Take Care,
D.
Level: Registered User Joined: 5/17/2005 Status: Offline
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Ran a evening trip tonight from 5-10pm. My clients raised 2 skis (upper 30s/low 40s) and boated a mid 30s pike. We had another decent fish on that we never saw. Pretty slow out there tonight. All of our action on spinners and swim baits. Fished anywhere from 12-40 FOW, with 20-25 being the best.
Back on the water at 6am!!
Nice ski and pike from last week.
Ben Kueng
Ben Kuengs Guide Service
