Minocqua Area Fishing Report 7-25-2012
By Professional Guide Kurt Justice
Warm, yet stable weather has kept the fishing patterns fairly stable. Daytime temps in the mid to upper 80's raising lake surface temps back into high 70's. A few cool mornings and some east winds did make for slow morning bites last week, but overall fishing is good.
Largemouth Bass: Very good-Excellent. Lipless cranks (Rattling Raps, Rattle traps) and twitch baits (x-raps, Ratllin Rouges) good on inside weedline and over weed tops where there is room. If weeds are high, work 1/8 Boonie Bait at weed top level during the day. Toward dusk, go topwater with plastic frogs and mice.
Smallmouth: Very good. Big fish on deep humps, 18-21"ers on big leeches. Creature lures (Chompers skirted grubs) on jig heads or Carolina rigs. Also plastic craws. Drop-shotting also effective.
Bluegills: Very good. Try deep weed edges of 12-18' for the largest gills. Large, deep lakes with clear water giving up nice gills of 8-9"+. Medium leeches, 1/2 crawlers-even crappie minnows suspeded below slip-floats.
Musky: Good. Best towards dusk on top-water (Tallywackers, Whopper Ploppers, Creepers and Top Raiders). Fast moving bucktails also working. Work offshore weed flats and on long reaching bars to deep water.
Crappie: Fair-improving. Look to weed tops of 8-14'. Twister tails 1-2"), tinsel jigs (Gapen Freshwater shrimp) and Charlie Bees.
Pike: Fair. Surprisingly slow. Chatterbaits and Boonie baits over weed top scoring some fish, but live chubs and suckers best bet right now.
Walleye: Fair. Best after dark and towards dusk. Cool mornings and east wind slowed morning bite. Whole crawlers, XL-Jumbo leeches best below slip-float (lighted at night) along 8-12' weed edges or on top of off shore humps. Topping at 14-20'
Perch: Fair. Mostly due to lack of reports. Some big perch over sandgrass flats in 16-24' of water using softshell crayfish (frozen), otherwise probe weeds of 6-10' with medium leeches or 1/2 crawlers.
Surface temps a little better than the week before, still use caution on handling fish. Wild minnows (Chubs, muds, mix) tough to come by due to the heat. Not a major concern as leeches and crawlers are the best choice right now, though walleyes and smallies being caught on chubs over deep humps.
Kurt Justice
Kurt’s Island Sport Shop
www.kurtsislandsports.com