Central Wisconsin Outdoor Report 9-6-2012
The 2012 bear season is under way and it looks like it is going to be a good one.
Congratulations goes out to Dennis and Marcy Hintz as they took a very nice bear on opening day as it came into one of my bait stations. This week will now be prime for bait sitters as dog hunters can't start for a week. A few tips on being successful once season starts are to continue to keep your baiting schedule, and keep mixing up your bait selection. Don't get sloppy and make mistakes as this is where many people become idle or discouraged and forget the little things.
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| Dennis and Marcy Hintz bear just as it came into the bait station. Check out the time and date on the camera. | Dennis and Marcy Hintz with their bear |
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| Dennis Hintz shortly after gutting the bear out. | Dennis and Marcy standing next to the bear |
Deer season is almost here and the savvy hunters have already done some of their scouting and have a good idea of where they want to sit opening day. Right now for those of you looking for good early season locations start with known feeding areas like cornfields and soybean fields as great places for deer to come to feed right before dark. Set up just inside the surrounding woods in a ground blind or a tree stand. Make sure that you take the wind direction into consideration when placing your stand location as to avoid your scent from drifting into the direction of approaching deer.
Fishing has been very good this past week even with all of the hunting going on we have been out and the bite has been very good for all species.
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| Alex Hansen with a nice smallmouth bass | Dave Hansen with a nice crappie |
The walleyes have been very active early and late in the day in 3 to 5 feet of water associated with rocks and gravel bars. We have been tossing shallow running crankbaits right up into the rocks or gravel and slowly bringing them back to the boat. The fish have been so aggressive that we have even had a few blow-ups right at the boat side by following walleyes.
The musky bite is getting better and better by the day. With water temperatures dropping the jerkbait bite has really picked up. Most of the fish are in 3 to 8 feet of water holding along weeds and wood. We are still catching most of our fish during low light periods but a few are starting to show up during the mid day hours.
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| Anne Tufto with a nice bluegill |
Anne Tufto and her dad Eric with some nice gills |
The panfish bite has been the best I have ever seen. We are catching a lot of nice fish in the 8 to 10 inch range with a few even over that 10 inch mark. To catch giant gills like this we are fishing deep water wood in 8 to 12 feet of water. Most of the fish are coming on tiny jigs that are tipped with a piece of crawler or worm but for the really big gills we are using jigs tipped with small minnows or plastic tails.
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| Terry Woldvogel and Don Pankratz with some nice gills | Terry Woldvogel with some nice gills |
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| Don Pankratz with some nice gills |
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Have a great 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