Warm water has turned on a lot of fish activity and warm weather is enticing anglers to hit the water, so that means plenty of large fish are being caught and registered in the Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers Master Angler Fishing Contest.

Discuss on Educated Angler ( 0 )

Pike fishing has been getting better as the warm water causes pike to become aggressive. The most productive lures have been spoons, spinner baits and live minnows.

Bass fishing has been getting better on inland lakes. Fishing deep weedlines with bass jigs has been an effective technique, as well as fishing a plastic worm near the weedline drop-offs. Mid-lake grass flats fished with Carolina Rigs also have been doing well.

Perch fishing is getting better inland and on Green Bay. Anglers need to search the depths from 3 to 10 feet and use minnows, worms or hellgrammites.

Catfish activity continues to be good, with numerous flatheads being caught on live bait in the Winnebago pool and on the Fox and Wolf rivers.

Lake Michigan fishing is getting better by the day with good numbers of salmon coming from Sheboygan, Manitowoc, Two Rivers, Kewaunee and Algoma. Rainbow trout have been getting bigger. Some anglers are using fly-and-dodger combinations with green-and-white or pearl-and-white flies doing the best. Orange and copper spoons have been productive for the rainbows.

Walleye fishing continues to be good for anglers using crawler harnesses on Lake Winnebago and Green Bay. Northern Wisconsin walleye anglers have switched to deep-water presentations with worms and leeches.

Among recent local entries in the catch-and-release division: Andy Bowers of Freedom landed a 30¼-inch walleye and Mark Petersen caught a 29¾-inch walleye, both on Green Bay.