Vilas County and Surrounding Area Fish Report July 19, 2013
Summer Fishing Has Arrived
Hi Folks – Well, we are most definitely in summer now. Hot, humid temps the past couple of weeks have skyrocketed water temps into the 80 degree mark. These temps have put fishing into full summer patterns. MUSKY fishing has been pretty good as of late with a good early morning bite window. Your entire arsenal of lures is working well at the moment. Top water has been very effective. We have been finding fish in deeper, heavy weed cover. If you’re heading up this weekend, some unstable air and a cool down is in the forecast. I look at this as a prime opportunity to go after a big fish.
WALLEYE fishing is in full summer patterns. Crawlers have been the mainstay for bait when fishing, but I always bring a few minnows along as it seems you can always entice a larger fish to come along and take that chub. Fish are still up fairly shallow. We have been finding fish in 6 to 10 ft. weeds. These fish seem to be scattered throughout the weeds so you most work along slowly and thoroughly. We have been using an aggressive jigging action and waiting about 15 seconds once a hit happens.
BASS fishing is the backbone of action for most area anglers. These fish have been banging in many lakes and some nice size fish are being caught. Both largemouth and smallmouth are active at the moment. We have been seeing quite a few fish averaging in size from 17 to 21 inches. If you want to try your hand at these fighters, you have a wide variety of options on ways to fish them. In the live bait department, leeches and crawlers lead the way. If you like artificial lures, plastics like Wacky Worms are deadly as well as twitched Rapalas and plastic frogs worked along heavy cover.
That’s it for now – catch you on the lakes.
Jeff Winters
www.jeffsguideservice.com