Lake Winnebago Trawling Report

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recently published the 2020 Lake Winnebago Trawling Report, which discloses the results of the trawl assessment conducted on Lake Winnebago. This assessment has been conducted annually since 1986, and the main objectives include providing critical information on year class strength of game and nongame fish species, monitoring trends in the forage base and monitoring general population trends of game and nongame fish species. Overall, there were 15 species of young of year (YOY) fish sampled for a total of 79,835 YOY fish caught during the 2020 trawling survey. For adult ­­­fish, there were 18 different species sampled for a total of 42,480 adult fish captured. The 2020 trawling results revealed several highlights, including record catch rates of YOY freshwater drum and yellow perch, a strong crappie hatch and a measurable walleye year class. I hope you enjoy the report.