Minocqua Area Fishing Report
It was a warm, but very windy week, making boat positioning and fishing more than a little difficult. The high winds didn’t keep fish from biting, in some cases it brought action up, but the good bites were tough to access.
Walleyes: Very Good. Yeah ok, not as good as Largemouth Bass, but it was a very good week of walleye fishing if you could hold your boat. Wind pounded shallow weeds held walleyes taking advantage of the chaos and lower light to feed. Red-tailed chubs, black chubs, crawlers and leeches on 1/16-1/8 oz. weedless jigs took eyes in water from 14’ to as shallow 2’. While young of the year perch and other 1” long bait was their feed, any morsel tossed in their path seemed to work.
Largemouth Bass: Very Good: High winds took the top water equation out on most days, but sub- surface - shallow cranks, chatter baits and spinnerbaits have all been productive in the rough water. While wacky worming was still effective, finesse was not needed in the rough weather.
Northern Pike: Good: Casting blade baits (spinnerbaits, spinners, chatter baits) and 3-4” Swimbaits worked over heavy weed beds in the wind. While local pike populations are not what they used to be, nicer average pike, mid 20” to mid 30” have become more common place.
Musky: Good. Like Largemouth, top- water action, and a tough (but not impossible) goal. Best using big bladed buck tails and large twitch baits. Lots of follows this week with enough high 30” to low 40” fish to make it interesting.
Smallmouth Bass: Good. Extremely tough to fish in most cases but some true brutes (20 -22”) being caught rather shallow along scattered weed and submerged wood. Wacky worming and jig and creature bait / Jig; pig also productive.
Bluegills: Good. Wind is tough on the bite. Some big gills (8-10”) caught deep around submerged wood / cribs using ½ crawlers. In lee-wind bays, small leeches under floats and good choice for action and picking out some keepers (7-8 “).
Crappie:/Perch: Fair. Some nice fish caught while targeting walleyes, but overall tough week to target pan fish.
As the coming week cools, hopefully winds will lessen to allow anglers to fish. Forecast for highs in the mid 70’s with overnight lows in the mid to upper 40’s will change some patterns. To what extent we’ll have to see.
Kurt Justice
Kurt’s Island Sport Shop