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Lake Winnebago Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Wisconsin's 131,939-acre lake on the Fox–Wolf system, with a three-walleye bag and a February sturgeon spearing season.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Lake level
746.94 ft
Air / High
52 / 60 F
Wind
S 8 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 04084255, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Lake Winnebago feels the season turning: shorter days, grouping fish. The gauge reads 2.85 ft, holding steady. Today brings clear skies, wind S around 8 mph, steady pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 60. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:28 AM-11:28 AM and 9:58 PM-11:58 PM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

WalleyeGood

Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Yellow perchGood

Spring and fall: perch hold shallower and, by Michigan DNR's account, feed through the day, so shoreline weed edges, flats and the shallows near spawning areas are worth searching.

White bassFair

The spring run happens in this band: tributaries, shoals and the upper ends of reservoirs as the water reaches about 55°F.

Tomorrow: Similar at 59 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Before you go

Wisconsin requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $20.00 for residents. What a Wisconsin licence costs and where to buy it →

Chasing walleye here? Check the size and bag limits with WI DNR before you keep anything. The season dates for Wisconsin, read off the agency, are on the Wisconsin seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from LAKE WINNEBAGO NEAR STOCKBRIDGE, WI.

Gauge height, last 30 days

USGS gauge 04084255.

2.702.873.032.85 ft09/2310/0310/1310/23

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp52 F
High / Low60 / 49 F
WindS 8-14 mph
Pressure1025.6 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain4% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:18 / 17:56
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~55 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Lake Winnebago this week

The best day on Lake Winnebago this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 — Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:28 AM-11:28 AM and 9:58 PM-11:58 PM
Minor period
3:51 AM-4:51 AM
Sun
07:18 to 17:56
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Showers, 15 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Lake Winnebago: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Walleye illustration

Walleye

Best: spring and late fall, around dawn, dusk and night

A cool-water perch of large lakes, reservoirs and rivers whose reflective eyes are built for low light, so it feeds most at night and in murky water. The Missouri Department of Conservation ranks it among the continent's most important freshwater game fish. Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Yellow perch illustration

Yellow perch

Caught all year, including under the ice through winter

Yellow perch are schooling panfish of the Great Lakes and northern lakes, and Michigan DNR calls them the game fish most often caught in that state. Spring and fall: perch hold shallower and, by Michigan DNR's account, feed through the day, so shoreline weed edges, flats and the shallows near spawning areas are worth searching.

White bass illustration

White bass

Best: the spring run up the tributaries, then summer surface schools

A silvery temperate bass of rivers and large reservoirs, also called sand bass, that schools in open water after shad and runs up tributaries to spawn in early spring. The spring run happens in this band: tributaries, shoals and the upper ends of reservoirs as the water reaches about 55°F.

When to come: the Lake Winnebago calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Walleye
Yellow perch
White bass
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Lake Winnebago today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 61 F, wind to 14 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Walleye led the card at excellent. High of 60 F, wind to 10 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Walleye led the card at excellent. High of 57 F, wind to 10 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Wisconsin requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

You need a Wisconsin fishing license. Under the WDNR Winnebago chain rule, verified today, walleye, sauger and hybrids have no minimum length and a daily bag of 3, only 1 of which may be a sauger or hybrid. Spearing sturgeon needs a separate license, bought by October 31 for the following season.

Access

WDNR lists public boat landings and a public beach on the lake.

About this water

A 131,939-acre natural lake on the Fox–Wolf system in Calumet, Fond du Lac and Winnebago counties, Wisconsin; maximum depth 21 feet.

Fishing Lake Winnebago: the full guide

A big, shallow lake

The WDNR lake database lists Lake Winnebago at 131,939 acres in Calumet, Fond du Lac and Winnebago counties, with a maximum depth of 21 feet and low water clarity. Bag limits apply across the Winnebago chain, which also includes lakes Butte des Morts, Poygan and Winneconne.

Walleye on the system

Winnebago System walleye spawn in the Wolf River marshes in spring, and WDNR's bottom-trawl survey, run in its current form since 1986, tracks each year's young fish. The 2024 trawl found a strong walleye catch, a large drop in yellow perch, a record low for white bass and a measurable sauger catch. USGS gauge 04084255 reports the lake level near Stockbridge.

Sturgeon spearing

Lake Winnebago has a lake sturgeon spearing season through the ice. For 2026, WDNR sold unlimited Winnebago licenses to spearers 12 and older until October 31, 2025, and the season opened February 14, 2026 for up to 16 days or until a harvest cap was reached. The Upriver Lakes run on a lottery limited to 500 spearers. WDNR calls the Winnebago sturgeon population one of the healthiest in the world.

Common questions

Can visitors spear sturgeon on Lake Winnebago?

Yes. WDNR sells an unlimited number of Winnebago licenses to residents and nonresidents 12 and older, but they must be bought by October 31 before the season.

What is the walleye limit?

Three a day across the Winnebago chain, no minimum length, with no more than one sauger or hybrid.

How deep is Lake Winnebago?

WDNR gives a maximum depth of 21 feet.

Is fishing good at Lake Winnebago right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Lake Poygan19 miWolf River31 miBig Green Lake32 miSheboygan (Lake Michigan)40 miGreen Bay41 miLake Puckaway43 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 04084255 — LAKE WINNEBAGO NEAR STOCKBRIDGE, WI
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 14:00 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 44.0170, -88.4095 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 5, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.