Weather or Not...Mother Nature changes game
By Dick Ellis
Only the click and hum of the bow motor interrupted Phil Schweik’s soft bantering as he manipulated the Crestliner through a maze of timber on a shallow slough of Lake DuBay. Two days before, Mother’s Day, the guide and his wife Rhonda had basked in the sunshine of a stable weather pattern to find big spawning crappies with the feedbag on. Just the day before though, 50 mile per hour winds and driving thunderstorms had sent water temperatures plummeting and apparently, schools scurrying for deeper seas.
“I’m not at all sure those crappies are still going to be here,” Schweik said as he sent a slip bobber and minnow toward a first log. “The water temperature was 58 degrees. Now it’s 49. The storms might have pushed them out. It knocked trees down and the power out over much of this area. We were catching all the crappies we wanted from 10-13 inches and left most of them out here. We took 17 home after going from stump to stump and just hammering them. But it really is a temperature thing. Water temperature makes a real difference.”
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| Rhonda Schweik celebrates Mother Day’s with her husband, professional guide Phil Schweik, by tangling with these big crappies on Lake DuBay. When nasty weather shut off the crappie bite with the reporter’s arrival two days later, the guide targeted smallmouth bass on the Wisconsin River and caught and released fish to 21 inches. | Another great Wisconsin River smallmouth battles for freedom against guide Phil Schweik before losing the fight near Mosinee. The fish was one of many released, along with walleyes and crappies. |
The mini-mites and crappie minnows that had proven irresistible to the spawning schools just days before were no match for the personality change of an irate Mother Nature. Fifteen minutes of working the wood and reeds in three to four feet of water without a crappie were more than enough to convince Schweik to take his game on the road. As a talented multi-species angler who literally leaned to fish as a boy on the Wisconsin and this sprawling 7000 acre impoundment of the river, changing game plans would not pose a problem. Good fishermen, like this self-labeled and self-taught “River Rat”, adjust to conditions.
“Smallmouth bass are just starting to spawn at 58 degrees,” Schweik said. “They’re not as finicky as crappies and the storms won’t have affected them as much. River systems and the fish in them in general aren’t as affected by weather and fronts. Those crappies we were catching in large numbers Sunday have been affected drastically. We’ll move to the Wisconsin River for smallmouth. We’ve been working them in wood with tube jigs. Those fish are still going to be there and this is the best time of year to get them.”
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| After poor weather shuts off a great Lake DuBay crappie bite with fish to 13-inches, Guide Phil Schweik turns to smallmouth bass on the Wisconsin and finds excellent action. Here he tangles with a 19-inch bass that was released. Walleyes and smaller deeper-holding crappies were also caught and released on the river. | Numerous smallmouth bass to 21 inches were caught and released by Guide Phil Schweik on the Wisconsin River when cold weather shut off a steady bite on big crappies. |
We motored slowly across Lake DuBay to pull the boat and launch again on the Wisconsin, talking as we went about the diverse fishery that will, for example, offer wonderful pan fishing, yet allow Schweik clients to boat 210 muskies in the last two years. The large fish caught and released in the spring of 2010 was 53-1/2 inches and weighed more than 40 pounds.
Schweik expressed his confidence that a large crappie die-off on the Wisconsin system that has attracted the attention of state fisheries biologists and the media recently was affecting only a class of three to four year old fish. That opinion was also expressed in an interview with Sue Gross, owner of Lakeview Log Cabin Resort on Lake DuBay who initially reported the die-off to fisheries biologists.
“I feel much better about the number of fish that have been affected by the die-off since I’ve seen the good numbers of big crappies that the fishermen staying at our resort are bringing in,” she said. ”We had our dock system in early this year and were on the water earlier than usual. We saw a lot of three-inch crappies floating on the water and it appeared that they had black spots by their gills. It was a concern. On April 25 I reported it to Tom Meronek of the DNR. It’s been a strange winter with cold weather and then thaws so I don’t know if they’ll find that the fish were stressed or if it’s a virus or what. But I feel better after seeing the number of nice-sized crappies unaffected by it.”
After a 15 minute travel delay, Schweik and I launched again into the river and turned our attention to smallmouth bass. Not only would we find smallies in the shoreline wood including two fish at 19 and 21 inches, but action enough to keep any Wisconsin angler fully occupied. In fact, bonus walleyes and one crappie after another in the eight and nine inch class holding in deeper water made this Tuesday morning one of the multi-species trips that Schweik prides himself in. After a decade of fishing with the guide for virtually every species that swims the Wisconsin, it’s obvious that he consistently catches fish and, in particular when faced with difficult conditions, adjusts to put fish in the boat.
“The fish are biting somewhere on something,” he said. “Look at the crappies today. We shifted to smallmouth bass and caught trophies but crappies too holding in deeper water. I’ve fished 100 professional musky tournaments. No matter what the conditions, someone puts together a pattern and catches fish. That tells me no matter what the weather is you can find active fish even in the worst conditions.”
Contact Phil Schweik and Hooksetters Guide Service at 715-581-2620 www.hooksetters.biz or visit him on Facebook. Schweik guides for all species on the Wisconsin River and tributaries from Tomahawk to Stevens Point, including Lake DuBay, Lake Wausau, Lake Nokomis, Lake Alice and the Big Eau Pleine Reservoir. Many Schweik Clients stay at Lakeview Log Cabin Resort, the only resort on Lake DuBay. Contact Owner Sue Gross at 715-693-2595, www.lakeviewlogcbin.com or lakeview@mtc.net.
RESORT CATERS TO ANGLERS, FAMILIES
“My father built our resort for family fun,” said Sue Gross, owner of Lakeview Log Cabin Resort, the only resort on Lake DuBay, a 7000 acre impoundment of the Wisconsin River between Wausau and Stevens Point. It’s nice for reunions. We have gathering of up to 35 people who come back every year. It’s just a nice, family-oriented spot to be.”
Lakeview, she said, remains a family-owned four-season resort that includes five modern log cabins consisting of six units (one duplex) on 375 feet of shoreline. Boat launching/docking, bait shop and resident non-resident license sales are offered on site.
Multi-species year-round fishing on the vast impoundment and Wisconsin River is excellent. Lakeview Log Cabin Resort visitors target walleye, crappie, perch, bluegill, largemouth and smallmouth bass, northern, musky and catfish. Non-anglers water ski, sail, boat, swim, , visit Rib Mountain State Park, bike or hike on the 24-mile Green Circle Trail, or challenge the seven golf courses within 20 miles.
For more information, contact Owner Sue Gross at 715-693-2595, www.lakeviewlogcbin.com or lakeview@mtc.net.