Minocqua area fishing report
Snow in mid May! A big step backward in weather saw area lakes lose as much as 10 degrees and more in surface temperature. Many anglesr who had scheduled their fishing trips were disappointed to see such weather play havoc with their plans and expectations.
Pike: Fair. The drastic drop in temperature was too much for even these fish in most cases. A few anglesr reported nice catches using black tail chubs on jig or under floats. Not much of an artificial bite this past week.
Crappie: Poor-Fair. With a lot of anglers chomping at the bit to get into their May crappie bite, the past weekend was a huge letdown. Those that did find fish looked deeper than usual. Probing deeper weeds, where available to produce staging crappies in 6-10’ of water on small minnows was the best bet.
Largemouth: Poor-Fair. A few patient bass anglers reported catching bass in 6-10’ weeds on small wacky worms, minnows and leeches. Not many fish, but a few big (18” plus) reported.
Walleyes: Poor-Fair. With dropping water temps pushing bait fish out of shallows, the best bites were found in 14-22’. Slowly dragging Dace, large fatheads or small chubs up and over drowned wood and rocks worked best. Jigs, Lindy rigs and slip-floats on a slow drift also produced.
Perch and Bluegill: Poor. Few anglers are targeting these species, fewer catching.
Despite season closed until June 18, several reports of incidental catches of big Smallmouth this past week. Fish of 18-20” with photos of a confirmed 21”er reported.
Despite the doom and gloom of this past weekend (cold this morning…28 degrees) from here on out things look very good. Temps in the low 70’s by the weekend should ramp up the crappies spawning process, get bait fish back into the shallow, weeds starting to grow and overall improvement in May fishing. It has been a cold spring, fish should be hungry.
Kurt Justice
Kurt’s Island Sport Shop