Minocqua Area Fishing Report 5-14-13
Snow on May 11th!!! Woke up to white on the 12th. Fishing conditions have been terrible (cold, wind), but the fishing has been terrific! Not often we get to fish the walleye spawn and close post spawn. Lots of active fish.
Walleye: Excellent. Despite cold, wind, sleet, rain and snow, the walleyes have been very active. Lots of lake limits (due to 2 fish bag limits), but by moving to different lakes, 4 and 5 walleye catches have been relatively easy (and moving lakes is a nice excuse to get out of the cold for a while). Daytime anglers doing extremely well on jig/minnow combo. Examining the stomachs of kept males of 16-18" showed that while they are being caught up tight to gravel/rock shallows, there must be some forays to mud as mayfly larvae and leeches were in their bellies. Gravel/rock by for the best. If any wood in the same areas...even better. After dark, that’s when the big girls are being caught. Casting gravel flats and Slowly retrieving Rattling Rouges, Floating Rapalas and Flat Raps has produced walleyes of 11 and 12#s this past weekend. Please consider releasing these big girls to spawn again.
Crappie: Very good. Check out sheltered bays with drowned trees where these fish are congregating in the warmer water. Casting tiny 1/64-1/32oz jigs of hair or plastic around wood to locate active fish. Scented artificial minnows and insects from Gulp Alive and Northland's Impulse have also been very effective. Minnows under pencil floats can't be beat. Lots of fish in the 10-11" class and smaller, but, I few slabs reported this weekend.
Pike: Very good. Spawn over and pike feeding. Chubs best (though hard to find). Large fatheads or even shiners working. Casting light jigs with plastic minnows over shallow weeds also working.
Smallmouth: Very Good. It is catch and release only, but nice smallies inhabiting rock/wood shallows trying to find warmer water and food. Most of these fish taking jig/minnow combos meant for walleyes.
Largemouth: Good. Again, catch and release only. They are holding tight to cover over dark soft bottom areas. Will take any sort of jig/minnow or jig/soft plastic combo.
Perch: Good. While not being targeted, nice perch or 9-11" being caught while fishing walleyes. Many of these fish with slack bellies meaning they have already spawned so should be hungry.
Bluegills: Haven't really heard any reports.
We still have a few lakes with ice (Trout, Fence, Big Crawling Stone). Most others that were closed such as Big Arb, Squirrel and Tomahawk are now open.
Fishing was fantastic as at the top of the report. Live bait is still an issue with anything wild such as redtailed chubs, black tails, dace and leeches very hard to come by.
With the cold of the weekend stretching out the walleye spawn, expect good fishing this week.
Kurt Justice
Kurt’s Island Sport Shop
www.kurtsislandsports.com