Central Wisconsin Outdoor Report
The warm temperatures are really heating things up and not just for us but the fishing as well. We have had a great week fishing for walleyes and crappies along with a few nice pike and bass. The water temperatures are in the upper 70 degree range but this upcoming weekend’s warm temperatures could very well push water temperatures into the low to mid 80’s. If it does get that warm you will see us shut down the musky fishing until things cool off but for the rest of the species the fishing should be phenomenal.
Walleyes have been holding in a variety of depths ranging from as shallow as 3 feet to anywhere in the 20 foot range. Our most productive depths have been in the 10 to 14 foot range with jigs tipped with half a crawler doing most of the work for us. We have been having good success on crappies by drift fishing current breaks in 12 to 16 feet of water and occasionally even deeper up to 22 feet deep. We are running slip bobbers set at a variety of depths to take advantage of the suspended crappies that are holding anywhere from 4 feet below the surface to right on the bottom.
The bass and pike have basically been incidental catches while we are targeting other species but non-the-less they are still fun to catch. We have also been picking up some very nice catfish below area dams and in deeper stretches of the river. The catfish are taking chicken livers or night crawlers run on a # 6 octopus hook and left sitting right on the bottom.
The musky bite has been very good this past week but with the forecasted warm temperatures we are not going to be chasing them for a while.
Bear baiting continues to be good with our bait stations being hit on a regular basis. We have been getting some nice pictures off our trail cameras of some very good bears. This warm weather doesn’t seem to bother them at all.
Have a great week,
Phil Schweik
Hooksetters Guide Service
Web: www.hooksetters.biz
Phone: 715-581-2620