Minocqua Aera Fishing Report
Once again our area missed the heavy snow that was predicted, a narrow band of only 4-5” when both east and west of our area got 9-10” last Tuesday. Also the snow was light and dry. High winds pushed most of it off the lakes, maintaining good travel for A.T.V’s as well as snowmobiles and some truck travel where ice thickness allows. Fishing improved over the past week, with the exception of a low pressure that moved in Sun/Mon.
Bluegills: Good. Best in areas away from the crowds. Nice gills of 8 ½” and some pushing 10”. Water depths of 10-18’ depending on lake type (clear, hard bottom lakes deeper than lakes with color). Dark colored tungsten jigs, (black, purple, red, green) tipped with mousees, spikes or waxies. Work over mud bottoms and occasionally stir up mud to attract roaming schools using a larger spoon to disrupt bottom.
Northern Pike: Good. Action improved with some nice reports of fish to 34” on big baits on tip-ups.
Walleye: Good. Finally some improved bites, most at or just after dark. Jigging Rippin Raps, Raps, RP Minnows and Slender spoons with a minnow head for enticement all working well again. When Walleyes striking these baits it’s a good sign they are more active. Suckers in the 3-4” size on tip-ups over sand grass flats of 22-28’ have been productive. Get set up a couple hours before dark and stair step some tip-ups leading to the top of humps as the walleyes move up at dusk to feed.
Crappies: Good-Fair. Mixed reports. Some anglers having better success out away from weed bays in 14-18’ of water on neutral colored plastics (red,rootbeer,motoroil) or small minnows on tip downs. At this time of year deep flats with pockets that drop a foot or two deeper also are key areas for crappies. On the flowages some days bites good on small rosies and tip-downs 4-5’ off bottom. Yet when bite off, a small VMC Flash Champ tipped with red spikes held a afoot off bottom is needed to draw bites.
Yellow Perch: Good-Fair. Deep mud flat bites starting to show up. These fish feeding on mayfly and midge larvae. Wigglers and red spikes good choice on Hali jigs, #4 Tungesten jigs and #2 Pimples. Work mud flats of 18-28’. Heavy lures good to get bait down quickly to keep roaming schools in area once they show up.
While still slushy, lake travel not as bad as expected since snow did not accumulate on lakes in most cases. Some areas have only a couple inches of snow, while others may have drifts of 6-8”. Slush still a problem and unlikely to go away. Ice thickness reports of 8-15” with 11-12” average. Four weekends left of the game fish season. A little cold weather this week may slow crowds, but holiday will give some a longer weekend to get out on ice.
Kurt Justice
Kurt’s Island Sport Shop