Price County Fishing Report 5/5/14
Chilly temps and heavy winds greeted anglers for the Wisconsin Fishing Opener this past Saturday but despite the less then favorable conditions anglers were still reporting some catches of fish.
Walleye are the most sought after fish for the fishing opener and they seemed to be scattered at different depths in the lakes, We had customers coming in the shop with reports of catching walleye in 2 to 22 feet of water on the same lake, they were also reporting fish that seemed to be pre spawn, spawning, and post spawn. Small orange or chartreuse jig heads tipped with a fathead minnow seemed to be the most popular choice to catch walleye. We found water temps pushing 50 degrees in my boat and had good luck casting stick baits in 2 to 4 feet of water, we also had some action on minnows under floats that we had trailing the boat.
Crappie were still out in the deeper basin areas of the lakes, kind of in the same pattern that they have been all winter long. Anglers were reporting catching crappie up to the 13 inch range in 15 to 25 feet of water. They were drifting with small jigs and plastics or jigs and minnows. Look for the crappie to start moving into the shallow wood in the next few days especially if we get some warm sunny days.
The Northern Pike action was good as most of the Pike anglers were reporting then in old weed cover and very shallow. Stick Baits over the tops of the weeds or swimbaits worked thru the pockets in the weeds were taking fish.
Pictured is My first walleye of the 2014 season that was just shy of 17" that I quickly released back into the Phillips Chain in hopes that another angler can enjoy catching it.
Request a free Sportsman’s Map and visitor information from the Price County Tourism Department by visiting www.pricecountywi.net, calling 800-269-4505 or emailing tourism@co.price.wi.
John Carlson-N.P.A.A. #378
Ross's Sport Shop & Guide Service
286 North Lake Ave
Phillips, WI 54555
715-339-3625
715-820-0958 mobile
W.W.I.A.
N.P.A.A.