Wissota will test the best

FLW Walleye League Finals under way

CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. – Nearly 300 boaters and an equal amount of non-boaters competed this season in the Walmart FLW Walleye League, the most competitive grass-roots circuit the sport offers. But only the best weekend walleye fishermen from each of the four divisions are competing this week on Lake Wissota. Their task is to find and catch the right-sized walleyes on a highly pressured fishery – a task that won’t be easy.

Lake Wissota was formed in 1917 after the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Chippewa River. The dam was built by the Wisconsin-Minnesota Light and Power Company and at the time was the largest dam in the world. An engineer on the project named the lake by combining the beginning of Wisconsin and the ending of Minnesota.

At just over 6,000 acres, Wissota is a relatively small tournament fishery. The lake itself is divided into two portions. The upper portion is considered the main lake, and the lower portion is oftentimes referred to as Little Lake Wissota. A channel with an overhanging bridge connects the two lakes. But because clearance under the bridge is an issue for some boats (think tall windshields), Little Lake Wissota is off limits.

While there is a stable and improving population of Wissota walleyes, they are extremely finicky, even more so than the average walleye. During practice, many anglers had success one day, but were unable to duplicate it the next day. Further complicating matters is a protected slot limit. Walleyes 14 to 18 inches in length must be immediately released, and only two walleyes over 18 inches may be kept. The minimum length limit for Wissota walleyes is 12 inches. That means a perfect limit this week would be three 13 and a half inch walleyes combined with a 19 and a 25. Anglers can keep six fish in their livewell and weigh their best five at the end of the day. Upgrading is not permitted.

Jason Halfen lives in nearby Eau Claire, Wis., and has been guiding on Wissota under the company name Jason Halfen Outdoors for five years. He thinks that getting a five-fish limit is a realistic goal despite the tough conditions. But getting a limit that includes two overs is a different story.

“The lake is chock full of fish, and finding enough of them to get a limit shouldn’t be a problem,” said Halfen, who qualified by finishing 18th in the Minnesota Division points race. “But getting the overs is difficult. In practice some days we would get one, and other days we didn’t. You would hook into a good fish and swear you had an over. But then you measure it and it’s just short of 18 inches. The walleyes here are so healthy with the young-of-the-year perch, emerald shiners and crayfish.”

In many ways, this no-entry-fee tournament resembles northern Minnesota walleye events on lakes like Leech and Cass. Anglers will have to work two game plans – a pattern for unders and a pattern for overs. And as is always the case with slot tournaments, finding overs each day will be paramount.

“Those overs are gold. Right now there is a reasonably solid pattern that is good for 10- to 12-inchers and an occasional big fish. The anglers that are looking to swing for the fences might try that.”

The most popular pattern will likely be trolling – either with spinners and night crawlers or crankbaits – but Wissota walleyes can be caught a number of ways. Unlike the natural lakes in northern Minnesota, the Wissota walleyes oftentimes relate to weeds. Anglers can troll over these weeds, pitch weedless jigs into them or work slip-bobbers and live bait on the edges.

“Because the water is stained, there are a fair number of fish being caught in 3, 4 and 5 feet of water,” Halfen added. “These shallow-water fish will go even during the middle of the day because that’s where the weed line is. The only technique I don’t see producing right now is handlining. We haven’t got much rain lately, and the rivers that run into the lake have very little flow.”

Halfen predicts that 10 to 12 pounds over the first two days will be enough to make the top-10 cutoff, and the winner will have somewhere around 20 pounds over three days.

“I am guessing we will see a handful of fish over 25 inches during the tournament. Unfortunately, we’re locked into an August pattern with water temperatures solidly in the 70s. There have been years where the water is 62 to 65 by the middle of September, and the fishing has been great.”

Despite having local knowledge, Halfen believes this is a wide-open tournament. He’s just as curious as everyone else to see how it will play out.

“Wissota is a very neutral body of water that caters to a wide variety of fishing styles. It will be an interesting tournament; it will force the best anglers to be on top of their game.

“This is certainly the biggest walleye tournament ever held on the lake. We like to call Wissota the backyard gem. It’s a great body of water to fish, and it doesn’t attract a lot of attention.”

Logistics

Anglers are competing this week for a $53,000 Ranger 621 powered by either an Evinrude or Yamaha outboard, while co-anglers are competing for a $22,000 Ranger Reata 1760 that includes a Minn Kota trolling motor, Lowrance electronics and Ranger trailer.

Boaters and co-anglers who finished in the top 30 in final points standings after three qualifying events in each FLW Walleye League division have advanced to this no-entry-fee tournament. Boaters and co-anglers are randomly paired for the event and fish for a combined boat weight. Boaters compete against other boaters, and co-anglers compete against other co-anglers. The winners are determined by the heaviest three-day accumulated weight, with only the top 10 boaters and top 10 co-anglers fishing on day three.

Anglers will take off from the Chippewa Rod and Gun Club in Chippewa Falls at 7 a.m. each morning. Thursday’s and Friday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Chippewa Rod and Gun Club beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s final weigh-in moves to the Walmart store located at 2786 Commercial Blvd. in Chippewa Falls beginning at 4 p.m. The community is invited to attend the free takeoff and weigh-in festivities each day.

Thursday’s conditions

Sunrise: 6:47 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 54 degrees

Expected high temperature: 79 degrees

Water temperature: 70-76 degrees

Wind: SSW at 8 mph

Maximum humidity: 63 percent

Day’s outlook: mostly sunny