11/5/14 Minocqua Area Fishing Report
Winters early arrival to the Northwood's was surely a wake up call to finish-up any postponed outside chores. A snapshot of what's to come... with 3-6" of snow falling last Thursday and high winds (to 45mph) followed by lows of 9-13deg. to keep the snowy reminder here a while. The shallow pond saw skim ice (the pond behind our shop was 3/4 covered sat. morning) and added to the declining water temps. Most recordings of surface temps ran from 46 deg. (Lake Minocqua) to 42deg. (Rainbow flowage).
Musky: Good-Very Good. After slowing down last weekend and early week fish are feeding again. Suckers accounting for 8 out of every 10 muskies hooked. While action (number of fish per day) is down, which is expected as season progresses, sizeable fish of mid 40" to near 50"ers being caught. Start probing a bit deeper water (20'plus) as waters cool during daytime, shallow up on Cisco lakes at dusk and after dark.
Walleyes: Fair+. The best action is DEEP on the large lakes! One report has fish moving from the 45-50' range all the way down to 65'. Big chubs (5-7") on 1/2oz.jigs. Also jigging Raps fished over deep schools on days the wind allows.
While some good smallmouth fishing has been reported prior to the recent cold snap, nothing else has been reported on. A slight warm up (into the mid 40's) should slow descending water temps, but overall with temps below 45deg. fishing techniques will also slow down. We Should have plenty of open water heading into November.
Kurt,
Island Sportshop
Minocqua, Wi 54548