Northern Door County Lakeside: There were no interviews conducted this week as the days creel was conducted in Bailey’s Harbor, Rowley’s Bay, and Gill’s Rock were all bad weather days. However, according to some of the local guides, anglers are catching rainbow trout. There were some boats that claimed to catch upwards of 10 rainbow in a trip. I was unable to get the depths and types of baits anglers were using due to not physically talking to the anglers. There were very few reports of salmon being caught right now. Hopefully the salmon fishing will start to pick up again since they should be getting ready to start staging in front of the rivers/creeks. Rowley’s Bay smallmouth bass fishing remained fairly steady over the week. The anglers that were interviewed reported catching on average 15 bass per trip with most of the fish being caught on plastic tubes or Ned rigs. The average size of the smallmouth bass was roughly 3 pounds.
Northern Door County Bayside: There were very view anglers fishing this week due to the storms and the wind. The shore anglers that had the most success this week was Andersons Dock in Ephraim and Egg Harbor. There were a few anglers on Sunday night that managed to catch one smallmouth bass and three rock bass, as well as a freshwater drum at Egg Harbor. Anglers were able to catch rock bass throughout the week in Egg Harbor using worms. Rock bass were also caught on Ned Rigs while trying for smallmouth bass. I did not come across any anglers fishing for perch at Egg Harbor this week. Anglers fishing on the pier in Peninsula State Park managed to catch some rock bass that were pushing 10 inches in length. An occasional smallmouth would be caught in the park, but majority of the fish caught were rock bass. The rock bass were caught on worms and bobber. The Anderson Dock crew managed to find smallmouth bass although the size was smaller this week compared to last week. On average anglers were reporting 8 smallmouth caught in couple hours usually. Most of these fish were being caught using worms and bobber. The next best method was drop shots and Ned rigs. On Wednesday before the storms rolled in one angler managed to catch roughly 10 smallmouth out by the sister islands fishing 15 to 20 feet of water using tubes. Sister Bay boat ramp was used heavily on Sunday for recreation use. There were no reports gathered in Ellison bay.
Sturgeon Bay: Fishing pressure was moderate this week, with many parties targeting smallmouth, perch, and walleyes. The smallmouth fishing has been decent in all locations. Most fish have been caught using tubes, dropshots, and crawlers in 10-15 feet of water. Several fish have been caught between two and four pounds. Perch fishing is still a hit or miss, those who have had the best luck were fishing in the channel primarily using minnows in 15-20 feet of water. Walleye fishing slowed down this week, which could be a result of the recent tournament held in Sturgeon Bay. However, a few fish were still caught pulling harnesses on Larson’s Reef.
Chaudoir’s Dock: Windy conditions lead to low angler effort. A party reported no success focusing on nearby reefs.
Sawyer Harbor: Potawotami State Park: Angler traffic at this location was light early in the week with general weekend traffic in the park increased. Angling pressure was low yet steady in numbers, however with little to no reported success. Idlewild: This location was lightly utilized by anglers. A handful of boats could be found here throughout the week, no return trips were observed.
Little Sturgeon Bay: The Carmody launch showed higher numbers of fishing parties and anglers during the weekend. Angler effort in general declined and those interviewed were focused on Walleye and Bass; however, the catch was low all week. Riley’s Bay access showed very low use with no angler success reported.
Sugar Creek, Fish Haven: Anglers have not been using these locations. Landings are exposed to the strong winds.
Kewaunee County
Kewaunee: Fishing pressure was low during the start of the week and moderate towards the weekend. Chinooks were caught between 300-400 feet of water using spoons. The majority of anglers had some success targeting rainbows between 500-600 feet of water, with many bites coming on spoons in the top 40 feet.
Algoma: Fishing pressure was low during the start of the week due to poor weather conditions and increased towards the weekend. Salmon were harder to find this week, and inconsistent winds have caused some fish to move out to deeper water. Anglers who had some success were fishing anywhere from 400-600 feet of water, primarily catching rainbows using spoons in the top 30 feet of water. The chinooks that were caught this week came in that depth range as well.
Fox River and Green Bay Creel Report: August 12, 2019
Fox River
Fox River: On Friday there was hardly anybody using the launches, but on Saturday the launches had medium usage with on average 5 to 9 boats. Most of them where recreational users. The shore anglers were in low amounts with only 4 being out in the two days. When I interviewed them they had no success yet.
Metro Boat Launch: On Friday there was medium usage on the launch with around 10 to 13 boats. On Saturday the boat launch averaged 15 to 18 boat trailers. The boats were trying for walleyes and musky both days. On average 2 to 5 walleyes were being brought in with the average size being between 16 and 21 inches. With muskies I interviewed 5 boats with 2 catching one, and other boat catching two muskies. On Saturday there was a lot of recreational boaters using the launch.
Oconto County
Walleye fishing in the bay slowed a little from the previous week with cooler surface temps throughout. Fish were still being caught from the Oconto Shoal south to Pensaukee mainly on crawler harnesses and jigging shiver minnows. Depths of 10 to 25 feet were most popular. Perch fishing was a little slower as well with most anglers catching many small perch with a few keeper size. Rock piles with weeds in depths of 8 to 12 feet were holding fish. A few shore anglers were seen at Oconto Park II having luck with bluegills and perch but size was small.
Geano Beach: This launch was busy each day creel was conducted. The creel shifts were in the morning this week, so many boaters were observed leaving but very few interviews of returning fishermen could be done. Most boats that were interviewed kept at least 5 with the average size being 16-21 inches.
Brown County
Duck Creek, Longtail Point: These launches are seeing very little traffic. There were a handful of trailers spotted in the parking lots, but were recreational users.
Bayshore Park: Low success was reported with fishing better earlier in the week.
Suamico: Each day the launch is busy. The creel shifts were in the morning this week so many fishermen were observed leaving the launch but none returned before the shifts ended.
Marinette County
Some night fishing was happening on the Menominee River for walleyes, but this activity did not occur during scheduled creel shifts so there are no reports as to what was being caught. A few anglers were targeting brown trout in waters North of Marinette. Depths of 40 to 60 feet were popular with fish caught 20 to 30 down. Stinger spoons of various colors were working.
