Minocqua Area Fishing Report
What's become the norm for the summer of 2017 continues, weather changing almost daily with rain every 3 days or so followed by high Skies cool nights and warm days. Luckily the warmth has come often enough to bring water temperatures up some.
Crappie: Good-Very Good – Lakes better than flowages. Tall weeds of narrow Leaf cabbage and Coontail in 8 – 14’ of water. Boathouses adjacent to deep water. Tube jigs, ½” twister tails and small hair jigs switched over weed tops. Gapen fresh water shrimp excellent choice. Nice crappies of 10 – 12” average.
Largemouth Bass: Good-Very Good – Water temperatures in the mid-to-upper 70’s by afternoons bringing surface bites up. Plastic frogs, small Whopper Ploppers, buzzbaits and Spooks getting good evening action. Spinnerbaits such as Boonie Baits and Booyah as well as lipless cranks as Rattlin Raps, Rattle Traps and pre-rigged Plastic worms worked over weed tops during day. Swimming jigs and sweet beavers worked along boathouses and Wacky Worming about everywhere!
Smallmouth Bass: Good-Very Good – Work the mid-summer haunts of deep gravel humps drop-shotting 2 ½ - 3 ½” Gulp Alive minnows, 3” Senko's and plastic craws. Nice 17 - 20“ fish coming from 17 – 23’ deaths.
Bluegill: Good-Very Good - Action heating up with water temperatures. Suspend a small to medium Leach 8 - 10’ down the side of 14 - 18’ coontail edges with a slip float. Mini mites, 1” Twisters on 1/80 th Jigs and leaf worms deadly. Top-water action on poppers towards dusk.
Northern Pike: Good – Best on bladed bait such as Boonies and chatterbaits shallow cranks with the erratic action of scatter rap scoring well.
Yellow Perch: Good – Can't get any more soft shells for season so stick to ½ crawlers over 14’ Sand grass under slip floats.
Walleye: Fair-Good – Bigger Lakes best. Low-light times. Red Tails when available, otherwise big leeches and crawlers. Weed lines of 14 – 18’ best towards dusk.
Musky: Fair-Good – Day to day top. Top-water best at dusk. Pacemakers, Whopper Ploppers, Suicide Ducks, large bladed bucktails and smaller rubber baits. One day fish moving... High Skies they're done.
Overall fishing is improving, not up to its typical mid-summer bite, but better than what we have been seeing.