Winnebago

I don't troll. Fish mostly with jigs.  Last 4 years the walleye population is not the same as it used to be.  I wonder if this lake is dying.  Except for the pros I don't see the success we used to have.  Have noticed some of those on TV are fishing Winnebago much anymore.  Have a great day everyone.  

Jumbee       You would have to build 50 new boat ramps to accommodate all the people on opening day!      With the type of people out there there would be fights and acts of Terriorism.   Lol.    Double dipping would be common.  Launching fees would double or triple to pay for the ramps.   On the plus side water clarity would diminish and the fishing would be awesome , on opening weekend.           CARPIO 

My $.02 worth:

It's a combination of natural factors and not so natural factors.

Water levels and temps at breeding time. Water clarity. Availability of baitfish and habitiat. Water is much more clear in shallow areas and reefs than it used to be.  Zebra muscles?

More pressure. Easier to get out and stay out on rough days and fish spots with larger, safer boats, and with precision electronics.  See fish on your side scan, drive over that again or cast there and work it for a bit.

What would I do?

Close the season from March 15 - May 1. 

Min size limit of at least 14" but maybe 15"

Slot limit. Only 1 over 18" may be kept of your 3.

Find ways to patrol and enforce laws without a million text message warnings going out to all the other fishermen within minutes. 

Penalties would be severe.  

That 23lb win seemed a little concerning but looking back on past mercnational results there are a bunch of years with winning weights just as low. sounded like most of the fish were plump and eating good so hopefully they are growing fast. 

Big head Fred you were close but the winning team only had 23 pounds. There were some very experienced fisherman in that tournament that brought back less than 15 pounds for two days.

hook, line&sinker, You can look at the information provided by Adam Nickel for the 3 bag limit. There were year classes of female Walleyes that were almost completely gone before they were able to spawn the first time. Unfortunately overharvesting is worse than ever according to the Warden I talked to and the numbers of large spawning fish are no longer there. Look at the results from the Stockbridge tourney and the MWC, some of these guys live out on the lake and only had 6lbs. 

Merc will be won with less than 30lbs !

I’ll be curious to see how the results are for the Merc national next weekend in Fond du Lac.

Comments regarding Lake Winnebago are true.  Walleye population is way down.

For the last 4 years the population has decreased.  Everyone has an idea why this is happening.  I would like to hear all of them .  

 low forage numbers (shad, trout perch, and drum) the last few years made for great fishing but also made it easier to catch those big fish. the last 4 years have had slightly above average walleye spawn rates according to the bottom trawl survey and i think everyone can agree there is a good supply of 10-14 inch eyes in the system. 2012,  2014 and 2015 had really low spawn rates. 2013 and 2011 were great spawn years but that's 7 years of high fishing pressure so they have gotten pretty rare.

I feel the lake is in good shape but not nearly as good as a number of past years. The big fish numbers are down and there are a few year classes that are almost completely gone so we won't have them spawning.  I was talking to a fisheries person a few weeks ago and he said they didn't expect exploitation to be this high this year, so many people off work and also so many guys taking multiple limits in a day like on Butte Des Morts , Pipe and near Rainbow of immature fish. They didn't do any tagging this year which hurts data. 

 I would invest in some crawler harness and Off Shore planner boards and dont be afraid to get those boards way out on calm days and It takes just the right conditions to get them shallow not like the past but plenty 15 plus fish in the system still Best of luck to you

I guess thats what I meant by mother nature, factors we cannot control.

There's other variables then fishing pressure.

High or low water during the spawn.

Mayfly hatches effect year classes.

If you've been around long enough you would remember what Lake Winnebago used to be, catching multiple in a day was a treat and getting one over 15" was to be celebrated.

They have done great things improving the spawn and the number of fish in the lake. That being said population is controlled by two factors, mother nature and harvest. Spawns seem to have been okay but harvest is WAY up so population is low. Low enough the WDNR reduced the daily bag limit hoping the population can recover.

Still lots of Walleyes out there to be caught, you just have to work for them, trying new places and new techniques. So many 12-15" fish in the lake, hopefully they dont all get plucked out before they reach decent size.