Destination-Oshkosh Wisconsin

My next and final FLW Tour Qualifier will be on Lake Winnebago out of Oshkosh Wisconsin.  I have never fished this lake before which means my prefishing starts very early behind the computer.  Ok, it is not actually prefishing but my research starts very early.

Most people do no understand just how much preparation goes into getting ready for a tournament.  I start out by getting familiar with the town I will be staying and look for a "boat friendly" place to stay.  These tournaments require us to have electricity to plug in our boats each night and of course we need to have a place to get things to eat, bait, etc.  That is all taken into account when we book a place to stay and it is not the easiest thing to find.  With a large truck and a 20ft boat you need a lot of room. 

From there we need to be close to where we will be prefishing on the lake as well as relatively close to the lauch point for the tournament.  You want to avoid as much driving as possible so a good central location is always preferred.  Thankfully with the internet a lot of this planning can be done on computer.  My truck gets better gas mileage than my boat does so I try to find a good location where we are close to several boat launches and the take-off point.  That way we have options for prefishing should we get a lot of wind.

Now that we have a place to stay we need to get to the business side of things.  I start out by reviewing old fishing reports online from years past looking for a "pattern" from previous years.  I look specifically at water temps, time of year and type of structure fished.  In addition, I look at the depth of water being fished and what people are using.  I then compare that data to current fishing reports, as not all years are the same and with a cool spring or changes in bait fish many things change from year to year.  But, nonetheless doing your research is important as fish are fairly predictable when certain variables are held constant.

After doing the research, I like to look at my LakeMaster map on my computer.  Using my LakeMaster Computer Software I locate many of the popular fishing spots referenced in the old fishing reports.  From there I locate fishing spots that are currently holding fish.  Usually by this time I can figure out a pattern and locate other spots that will likely be holding fish.  For example, if rock reefs that top out at 16ft are holding fish, I look for other rock reefs on my LakeMaster Software that have 16 foot tops.   From here I will print some maps with GPS coordinates and am ready to hit the lake.

This is all work that I will be doing before I ever see Lake Winnebago.  However, the preparation will help bring me up to speed very quick on a lake I have never fished.  You will be hearing a lot about Lake Winnebago right after I get done celebrating the 4th of July with a nice fish fry with friends a family. Now, back to the computer work!