Central Wisconsin Outdoor Report 9-13-2012
Fishing in the Central Wisconsin area has been very good. We have been having really good action from muskies on jerk baits like Suicks and Reef Hawgs along with some nice fish still being caught on BIG bucktails. Most of our action has been in 3 to 5 feet of water associated with weeds and or wood structure. A lot of the activity is taking place during lowlight periods early in the morning or late in the day, but when there is cloud cover we are seeing some good action during the mid day hours. On a side note I just received 2 new custom 8' 6" musky rods from a company out of Phillips Wisconsin called Elk River Rods. To be honest I haven't been a person that has used really long musky rods in the past, but I tried them out yesterday and they were great. I think it is going to be hard to go back to a 6 or 7 foot rod. The ease of casting big baits and the control you have is unbelievable. The Elk River Rods look fantastic and work perfectly - even better than I expected. They are outstanding!
Gary Cawthorne with his first musky. (Note the custom Elk River Rod in the background)
The walleye bite has been very good with numbers of nice sized fish being caught on almost every outing. A lot of the fish we are catching are coming in 8 to 12 feet of water associated with submerged wood and rocks. We are still seeing consistent action on jigs tipped with night crawlers but are starting to see good action on minnows now that the water temperatures are cooling down.
Gary Cawthorne with a nice walleye.
The panfish bite is outstanding, we have been having excellent action on giant bluegills and some really nice crappies. Most of the action is taking place again in the deep submerged wood in 8 to 14 feet of water. Most of these fish are staged close to or near to the bottom and are being taken on light jigs tipped with a piece the crawler or small crappie minnow. We are also picking up a few jumbo perch as well.
Dave Blohm with some nice gills and a couple of bonus walleyes from the other day. The largest gill was over 10" long!
This past week the action on smallmouth bass has been really good, we are also seeing a couple of nice largemouth bass as well. Both these fish are coming on top water baits in shallow water along rocky rip-rap areas or shoreline wood in 3 to 5 feet of water.
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| Terry Shewmaker from Jackson TN with a nice smallmouth bass. | Randy Derbick with a nice smallmouth bass. |
The 2012 bear season has been very good with a lot of nice bears already taken along with a couple of real giants in the five and 600 pound range. Now with season well underway hunters running dogs in the northern zones have started making their way into the woods as well. Good luck goes out to all the bear hunters for a successful season.
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| Dan Hoerter with his first black bear which he took off of one of my bear baiting stations in Marathon County | Dan Hoerter with his first black bear which he took off of one of my bear baiting stations in Marathon County. |
Archery season for whitetail deer is here the first week of the season can be one of the most productive periods to take a big buck. Big bucks haven't been pressured for several months now and for the next week or two will be unaware of people presence in the woods. Hunters taking to the woods should concentrate on field edges and crops like corn and soybeans. Set up in a transition area somewhere between the deer's known bedding area and the field that they are heading to feed. This is a good time of the year to be able to pattern a big buck as he moves from one place to another.
Good luck and have a safe week.
Phil Schweik
Licensed Wisconsin Hunting & Fishing Guide
Hooksetters Guide Service www.hooksetters.biz
Ruttnut Guide Service www.ruttnut.com
Reed & Hoppe Wildlife Food Plots www.foodplotting.com