We do have an abundance of baitfish on Lake Wisconsin this year and many of the better fish that we have caught don't appear to be having any problems catching and eating more than enough to sustain themselves. But this is by no means the first time we've had a large crop of baitfish. Actually, having an abundance of baitfish is more common than not.
A look back at years past shows that the really good bite doesn't usually start until November.
It may be that the water still isn't cold enough to really give the walleyes & saugers that urge to pack it on before the lake is covered with ice. Water temperatures actually rose from 48 to 50 degrees in the main lake this past week. In my experience, rising water temps in the fall are "NOT" a good thing when it comes to good fall walleye fishing and maybe that is why October walleye & sauger fishing always seems to be inconsistent. Good one week and not so good the next. Not that you can't have a bad day in November, but it does tend to be more consistent on a week to week basis verses October.
We also have an extra large crop of one & two year old walleyes & saugers here in Lake Wisconsin right now. Which has meant making a choice between targeting numbers of fish in the hopes that one out of seven, eight, nine or ten will be a keeper or attempting to target bigger fish with a different technique.
Plastics would normally be one of my go to tactics here but that has not produced at all for me so far. Blade baits & trolling crankbaits behind lead core are two other good methods that tend to catch bigger fish and that has been working, it's just not working great. Not yet anyway.
