Author Topic: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam  (Read 5893 times)

Offline esox_xtm

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My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« on: Apr 04, 2019, 10:57 AM »
Fun to watch though not always fast action. A lot like real fishing I guess. For those that aren't familiar it's a series of underwater cameras running 24/7 documenting fish movement during the walleye run on the Wolf River in WI. Link below is cam 1 @ Shiocton, seems to have the most activity the last few days. Interesting the way walleyes mix right in with the suckers almost all the time.

http://www.wolfrivercam.com/wrc2019_002.htm

You can click on the other cams in the toolbar. Shioc2 and New London are active, also have activity and are listed in the order of most to least. Someone's got a Wolf River rig in the screen @ NL. Not many fish but waiting for something to come along and eat it.

To activate the feed you have to click on the screen, click play, pause and play again. Just a quirk of the feed. Maximize the view to fill your screen.

Enjoy!
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Offline meandcuznalfy

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #1 on: Apr 04, 2019, 11:12 AM »
That's really cool. Thanks for sharing

Offline bowski76

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #2 on: Apr 04, 2019, 03:43 PM »
I'm really, really busy at work so i just spent the last 10 minutes watching the cam, seems like more fish on Shioc2 cam.
Now back to work!

Offline esox_xtm

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #3 on: Apr 04, 2019, 05:48 PM »
They go back and forth but Shioc1 has been the busiest when I watch. Better lighting also.

Saw a first today after a decade of watching. I know they're in there, caught 'em up to 53.5" while walleye fishing but watched a 4 foot sturgeon cruise on the NL cam. First ever for me though I'm sure there have been more.
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“Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality.”― Lewis Carroll

Offline DR.SPECKLER

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #4 on: Apr 04, 2019, 06:13 PM »
Got me hooked watching it.seems to be lots of tumors and growths on quite a few walleye going thru there..saw at least 3 nasty looking walleyes in the hr i watched it today.

Offline Ice Surveyor

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #5 on: Apr 04, 2019, 08:56 PM »
Got me hooked watching it.seems to be lots of tumors and growths on quite a few walleye going thru there..saw at least 3 nasty looking walleyes in the hr i watched it today.

Cold water warts.  Think of them as pimples, eventually they go away. 

Offline buz23

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #6 on: Apr 05, 2019, 10:44 AM »
Too bad they don't have a ruler or something in the pictures, so you can judge the size of the passing fish.

Offline Baetis62

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #7 on: Apr 07, 2019, 08:33 PM »
As a Poygan/Eureka guy who moved to Colorado in 1989....THIS IS AWESOME!  Thanks E!

Offline Icer for life

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #8 on: Apr 09, 2019, 06:00 PM »
First time I have watched any of the public underwater cams, way cool.  i saw some carp on three of the cams, did not see any eyes.  Oh boy, think I may be hooked (ha - no pun intended) on this link.  Thanks for sharing.  Wondering now (I am sure I will google) if there are others out there.  Good stuff.

Offline bowski76

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #9 on: Apr 10, 2019, 07:20 AM »
I just saw a sturgeon, at least that's what I think I saw, looked big compared to the eyes I've seen but I can't really tell.

Offline Ice Surveyor

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #10 on: Apr 10, 2019, 08:35 AM »
A fisherman has his lindy rig on the new london cam right now.  I've only seen one sucker swim by.

Offline muskyon46

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #11 on: Apr 10, 2019, 08:36 AM »
Thanks for sharing the cams esox, I seen a big sturgeon on cam 1 and am now stuck watching the rig on new london waiting for a strike. WAY COOL!!! Man I'm not gonna get any work done today now. LOL
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Offline Whytie

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #12 on: Apr 10, 2019, 09:50 AM »
I was watching the guy using a ling rig too lol. He had a bass take a strike, and miss the minnow.



Offline eiderz

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #13 on: Apr 10, 2019, 09:52 AM »
Pretty cool, I saw a bunch of suckers, a couple of eyes and one nice sturgeon. Thanks for posting the link.

Offline muskyon46

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #14 on: Apr 10, 2019, 11:03 AM »
Well I've seen 7 sturgeon now on cam 1, 5 singles and 1 pair. Watched the lindy rig for a bit but the amount of fish on cam 1 is way more entertaining all though wish I would have seen that bass strike at it. Man there's 2 of us die hard fisherman watching this in the office now, so much for a productive day. LOL. I have 2 windows open with Cam1 and New London going. Looking on google maps thats a really nice area. Wish we had rivers like that here. I've always wanted to have my own boat house on the water. Got a couple of questions, Is someone fishing that lindy rig above that cam in a boat or dock im guessing? Whats the deal with house boat, barge looking, cabin things scattered all around the river there? River campers you can anchor down and leave, kind of like a floating lodge or something? Is there a certain amount of time you can anchor them in an area?
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Offline perch chacer

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #15 on: Apr 10, 2019, 03:53 PM »
Thanks for sharing the cams esox.  I go to the lakes streams around me and watch the pike in the Spring, but always looking for a new adventure.

Offline buz23

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #16 on: Apr 10, 2019, 06:51 PM »
I saw what looked like an Asian carp on the New London cam.  I hope those pests have not invaded Wisconsin.  I also saw several nice smallmouths, some walleyes, lots of carp and suckers.  No sturgeons while I watched.

Offline ronco

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #17 on: Apr 10, 2019, 07:37 PM »
Thanks for posting this up, I've seen lots of carp, several walleyes and 5 sturgeon on cam 1, they look like submarines cruising by LOL.
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Offline esox_xtm

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #18 on: Apr 11, 2019, 07:39 AM »
I missed the bass, never seen one either though I know they're in there. Mostly suckers and carp, a few sturgeon and walleyes (seasonally). Temp is right for them to be in the marshes spawning right now. In this system they drop eggs in/on the marsh grass instead of gravel/rocks. Once they take care of business and the water starts to drop they'll pile back into the river and there'll be a gazillion.

As far as the house boats/barges: They are at anchor and generally only accessible by boat though some are right off of cottage properties. They must be licensed. Lots of folks will spend all night with poles in holders. 20 foot cane/flip poles are common most with a three way (Wolf River) rig on 'em. There's usually a piece of cloth tied to the end and some sort of bell(s) so you can see and hear when it's "fish on".

Saw a carp cruise by with a lamprey attached a couple days ago. I'd never seen that either. No sea lampreys in this stretch, they've been very good at keeping 'em out in the big pond (Michigan) even though it's connected. Turns out there are four native species of lamprey in Wisconsin. The Wolf have silver, northern brook and chestnut lamprey. The northern brook lamprey is nonparasitic, the silver and chestnut are. The chestnut is considered rare in the Wolf River system, the silver, also known as the river lamprey is common and is probably the one that I saw.

If you like this there's all kinds of wildlife streaming available. This is the only underwater one I know of.
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Offline muskyon46

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #19 on: Apr 11, 2019, 07:57 AM »
Thanks esox, the person fishing the lindy rig yesterday did have multiple bass looking at his stuff and that was the only things that gave it any attention. They eventually got one right after I left work from what my coworker told me that stays later than I do. What stage are the walleye in there? Ours are done spawning now. I'm guessing their not giving that rig any love cause their busy thinking of other things. There were alot that swam right by that rig and didnt even care it was there. You know I thought I seen on 2 different occasions a burbot also? Looked to thick to be a lamprey. Is there good size fresh water shrimp there? cause I swear I seen a couple resembling that also cruising the bottom on cam1. Sorry for all the questions but those cams really have a few of us here intrigued and we will be watching to pass the time at the office now. Very cool about the house boats, that would be great to spend some time doing in the warmer months.
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Offline esox_xtm

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #20 on: Apr 11, 2019, 08:48 AM »
No sweat muskyon... ;) I know there's a couple varieties of freshwater eels, mudpuppies and for sure the system has burbot. Look close because dogfish are similar in appearance and are also present. Of course if you can see scales it's a doggy plus females have a spot near the tail (black w/red ring).

Here's what I use to keep my finger on the pulse of what's happening on the river: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=04079000

There's also a NOAA site that has some info but this is more comprehensive: water temp, flow in cfs and gage height at that location. God bless Al Gore for inventing the internet!  ;)2

Water temp has been over 42 for the last 3 days so I'd say most of those fish working on dumping their loads in the marsh. Temp is dropping back a bit and as long as the gage height stays over 7 feet those eggs will hatch out and when the level drops below 7 they'll all head back into the river and disperse throughout the rest of the system. Walleyes come up there from Winnebago to Poygan. Puckaway, also technically  part of that "Winnebago system" (on the  Fox River side) sends her 'eyes up to the dam at Montello.

Gettin' a kick out of the different names for that 3-way rig. Long as I can remember, in this state, it's been a "Wolf River rig". And that goes back to the '50s for me...
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Offline muskyon46

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #21 on: Apr 11, 2019, 10:55 AM »
Very good info esox, I figured the eyes there were definately behind ours here. Being a high desert we go from winter cold to summer warm pretty fast and our water temps come up pretty quick in the lower valleys. I'm guessing there's a few different varieties of carp there also. Some have the crazy big hump behind the head and the others are a bit more stream lined. For the most part here we only have trout in the rivers but there are a few that have warm species (catfish, bass, crappie, walleye, gills ect...) but mostly just trout rivers. No where near the size of the ones in your neck of the woods for sure. Is there special regs on the sturgeon? Closest place for me to fish them is in Idaho and they cannot be removed from the water. They must be imediately released after a pic of course. You fish them with whole trout from the hatchery's and one hell of weight to keep that bait on the bottom.
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Offline esox_xtm

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #22 on: Apr 11, 2019, 12:31 PM »
Lake sturgeon here are pretty much protected most of the time. There is a limited hook and line season in September for the month on a couple of rivers (Wolf is not one). Minimum length for harvest is 60" and you must have a special tag/permit. Additionally there is a spearing season in February on Lake Winnebago. Same minimum size to harvest and another tag/permit for that event. Daily registration is required and when the annual quota is met the season closes at that point. I'm not sure how that gets communicated or if you've got one and are en route to register and the season closes before you get there what happens. Pretty traditional in that area and always a hoot just to go watch.

Sturgeon spawning on the Wolf is another "event". The whole shebang takes place in just a few days. DNR and volunteers are all over the place insuring folks don't wade in a grab one to take home. There's a couple locations with fisheries staff on site that will go in, wrangle a sturgeon and bring it close to shore so sightseers can get a better look. Kids are encouraged to get up close and even give the dinosaurs a touch. Cool stuff.

Not uncommon to tie into one jigging for 'eyes this time of year. My biggest to the boat was 53.5" a few years back. Last year had one inhale my jig and just keep going upstream. Never even slowed it down nearly spooling me. Took off with the boat just to get my line back. Finally caught up and wound up breaking it off. Waaaay bigger that that 53!
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Offline perch chacer

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #23 on: Apr 11, 2019, 01:01 PM »
Not uncommon to tie into one jigging for 'eyes this time of year. My biggest to the boat was 53.5" a few years back. Last year had one inhale my jig and just keep going upstream. Never even slowed it down nearly spooling me. Took off with the boat just to get my line back. Finally caught up and wound up breaking it off. Waaaay bigger that that 53!
Do I assume your walleye season is still open even when the spawning is on?  Here in NY they close the walleye season during the spawn.

Offline muskyon46

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #24 on: Apr 11, 2019, 02:22 PM »
Lake sturgeon here are pretty much protected most of the time. There is a limited hook and line season in September for the month on a couple of rivers (Wolf is not one). Minimum length for harvest is 60" and you must have a special tag/permit. Additionally there is a spearing season in February on Lake Winnebago. Same minimum size to harvest and another tag/permit for that event. Daily registration is required and when the annual quota is met the season closes at that point. I'm not sure how that gets communicated or if you've got one and are en route to register and the season closes before you get there what happens. Pretty traditional in that area and always a hoot just to go watch.

Sturgeon spawning on the Wolf is another "event". The whole shebang takes place in just a few days. DNR and volunteers are all over the place insuring folks don't wade in a grab one to take home. There's a couple locations with fisheries staff on site that will go in, wrangle a sturgeon and bring it close to shore so sightseers can get a better look. Kids are encouraged to get up close and even give the dinosaurs a touch. Cool stuff.

Not uncommon to tie into one jigging for 'eyes this time of year. My biggest to the boat was 53.5" a few years back. Last year had one inhale my jig and just keep going upstream. Never even slowed it down nearly spooling me. Took off with the boat just to get my line back. Finally caught up and wound up breaking it off. Waaaay bigger that that 53!

Man I bet that spawning action is a sight to see for those that havent. Dont know what state it was in but I have seen some videos of exactly what your saying. Very cool! Thats a funny story esox, chasing the monster fish upstream just get enough line back. LOL. Love it!!! Have you noticed how often someone is fishing in front of the cams? A handful of us may do an office pool (for a free lunch) on it for whats caught that day or # of fish caught. LOL

Do I assume your walleye season is still open even when the spawning is on?  Here in NY they close the walleye season during the spawn.

Cant speak for other states but the only season they shut down areas here for fish spawn is kokanee and lake trout. Its lake or stream specific. They used to close a channel down here where the eyes spawn but decided the level of silt that is moving and covering the eggs during that time could not justify keeping it closed. So now its a snag fest in there every year. HATE IT!! but they are patroling it in uniform and civial clothes ticketing people pretty regularly
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Offline esox_xtm

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #25 on: Apr 11, 2019, 02:58 PM »
I think that rig in front of the cam @ NL is intentional. Notice the weight on the dropper and the floating jig is always the same? Sometimes a crawler, sometimes a minnow, sometimes there's nothing. I'm guessing that cam is just offa one of the rafts and as long as someone is tending that line it's legal. That is also new this year.

Seasons for all other fish remain the same during the sturgeon spawn. In addition to all the DNR personnel there are also hundreds of volunteer "Sturgeon Guards" that make sure onlookers or fisher-people don't molest the fish in any fashion. The guards are everywhere and one call from them gets you a handful or so of wardens down your collar in a matter of minutes.

Professionally the state staff handles a number of fish to help strip eggs/milt and place them strategically. They also run a census of sorts, measure, weight and tag a bunch. Last year they tagged almost 1,100 fish and that was a low number due to high water.
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Offline muskyon46

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #26 on: Apr 12, 2019, 07:47 AM »
Minnow rig just went down on the new london cam. Its floating pretty close to the cam today.
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Offline bowski76

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #27 on: Apr 12, 2019, 07:58 AM »
I was just going to post about the minnow, whoever is on the other end must be watching it on the cam, they have it centered on the screen.

Offline muskyon46

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #28 on: Apr 12, 2019, 10:47 AM »
I'm sure they're watching that minnow rig. Day before yesterday they would jig it pretty good whenever fish were by it. Someone or something has got ahold of cam1 moving it upstream this morning leaving a pretty good trench and stirring up that bottom really good. Not much fish today on either cam. Must be the bomb cyclone weather they're getting around there or something weather related to the lul in fish activity
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Offline esox_xtm

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Re: My spring addiction - Wolf River cam
« Reply #29 on: Apr 12, 2019, 12:15 PM »
I noticed a lack of fish today too. Lotsa junk comes downstream this time of year. Coulda been a branch or a tree or a sturgeon or a loose dock or raft that got tangled up in it.

NM, UPSTREAM... Sometimes they reposition cameras. Shioc2 is a new HD, buffers a lot even set to low latency. Neat view though.
To fish or not to fish? That's a stupid question!



“Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality.”― Lewis Carroll

 



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