Fat Guy's Guide Service in the Media
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In 2005 Chris launched Wisconsin Fisherman,
a website dedicated to fishing in this great
state of Wisconsin.  Chris has written a number
of articles for Wisconsin Fisherman.

www.wisconsinfisherman.com
Chris was featured on "The Talk Show" on Pure Radio 88.7
River Falls twice.  Once in 2005, and again in 2006

Article by Statewide Outdoor Journalist Dick Ellis
Lake Wissota walleye action nonstop
Dick Ellis,
Published Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Just a hint of a new day was showing itself in the east as guide Chris Powell
settled in to target walleyes on a shallow water shoreline of Chippewa
County’s immense Lake Wissota.
The last day of August had come in with a familiar cold-air promise that the
Wisconsin hunting seasons and the too fleeting days of cherished fall
fishing were waiting in the wings.

Right now, though, late summer walleyes and smallmouth would take center
stage. The guide tied perch shad raps and chartreuse bombers for a long,
slow and productive trolling run that would only touch a piece of the 6500
acre water near Chippewa Falls.
Later, we would also use the electric motor to slowly move and cast this
same mud shoreline.
“We’re going to have the first walleye in the boat before we hit that first
dock,” Powell said, referring to an abstract structure in the darkness 100
yards up. “I know you just want to work the camera but you’ll have to work
one rod because occasionally we’re going to have some double strikes.”
Powell was wrong with the first-hit prediction.
The walleyes over the next two hours, in fact, would never quit on us.
Strikes, including the welcome “doubles” would come at least every five
minutes.
We would eventually quit on the fish to follow our own story schedule to
hunt smallmouth and a much lesser known population of Wissota
largemouth.
Wissota’s walleye population, Powell said, has greatly benefited from a slot
limit that was adopted about 10 years ago that protects fish between 14 and
18 inches. Anglers may keep three fish under 14 inches or two fish under
14 and one over 18 inches.
Although we released every walleye caught, we could have had our choice
from numerous very fat fish that were just under 14 inches for table fare.
“Until five years ago I thought this lake was worthless,” Powell said. “But the
slot has really helped. Once you learn the lake you’ll never want to go
anywhere else. You do catch a lot of protected fish, but there are also big
walleyes and there are more than enough to take home. The smallmouth
population is really good too including bigger fish from 16 to 20-plus inches.”
We began pulling crankbaits over the mud in eight feet of water.
As Powell predicted, the perch-colored shad raps would get almost all the
walleye attention until the morning came on. With the transition in light, the
chartreuse bomber would be the preferred entree.
“We’ll keep getting hits early between eight and 15 feet of water,” he said.
“As the morning progresses we’ll transition to deeper water because the
fish will be following the baitfish out to deeper water. This perch bait is
awesome because perch is the main forage out here. If you want proof of
that, you can see these massive schools of baitfish on the surface. Throw a
little waxie in there and you’ll pull up a perch.”
Lake Wissota, he said, is actually a flowage created in the early 1900s. The
flooded farmlands of yesterday include rock structure, timber and even a
silo or two from the turn of the century.
Although he was unsure of the exact year Wissota was created, he was
certain that it was made three years after the sinking of the Titanic due to a
historic inaccuracy in the most recent making of the movie, “The Titanic”
that initiated a bit of local protest.
“In the movie Leonardo DiCaprio says that he’s from Chippewa Falls and
that his father took him ice fishing on Lake Wissota,” Powell said. “But Lake
Wissota wasn’t made until three years after the Titanic sunk.”
A bit of research verified that the luxury liner went down in 1912. That would
place Wissota’s birth in 1915. Regardless, what used to grow corn and soy
beans is now fertile grounds for walleye, musky, bass, flatheads and
channel cats, perch, gills and crappie.
“The lake is fed by the Chippewa and Yellow Rivers,” said Powell. “When we’
re fishing for cats on the Chippewa River the sturgeon really put on a show.
The people are just amazed with the way they jump.”
This trip targeting walleyes and both species of bass traveled precisely as
the guide predicted.
Early morning walleye action on perch colored baits transitioned to
chartreuse lures and deeper holding walleyes with the rising sun. By later
morning with the sun falling on patches of leaves already changing to
brilliant colors with early autumn, smallmouth and largemouth were taking
lizards and power worms.
As we moved to target those bass, this reporter made the comment that
hopefully, the smallies and bucketmouths would be as cooperative as the
walleyes had been. The young guide offered a look and response that
success on Wissota wasn’t really a question. “Oh, I’m not too worried about
that,” he said.
Born and raised in Chippewa Falls and in his first year of guiding, Powell
has chased many of those fish over a lifetime, most seriously over the last
five years.
“This is my first year as a licensed guide,” he said. “Before that I was still
guiding people out here. I just wasn’t getting paid for it.”
Contact Chris Powell and Fat Guy in a Little Boat Guide Service at
chrispowell@wisconsinfisherman.com, 715-577-9771 or www.fat-guy.org.

Article Used With permission of Dick Ellis
A slot limit adopted on Lake Wissota,
according to guide Chris Powell, has
significantly helped the walleye
population. Anglers can take three
walleyes under 14 inches or two
under 14 and one over 18 inches.
Dick Ellis photo
Despite non-stop walleye action on Lake
Wissota in Chippewa County, Ellis and
guide Chris Powell didn’t see another boat
on the 6,500 acre water for two hours. Here
anglers work bridge pilings serving as a
doorway to the vast water. Dick Ellis photo
Article featured in On Wisconsin Outdoors
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