COOLER WEATHER DOESN’T COOL FISHING IN MINOCQUA
By Kurt Justice
While a little cool weather, even one night of frost, returned to the Northwoods- things are still way out in front of where they should be at this time of year. Water temps that crested the 50 degree mark have settled back down into the low-mid 40's. While walleye spawning is trickling down on small to medium sized lakes, perch spawning is still underway with anglers finding nice perch to 12" full of spawn and milt taking crappie minnows and medium fatheads in areas of dark mud and sparse vegetation in 4-7' of water.
Bluegills that moved into collect the heat of the sun in as little as 1 foot of water during the warm spell have moved out to the 4-8' areas with the cool weather. Crappie anglers are doing well floating small minnows and gulp alive minnows below small floats in 8-10'.
With night time temps in the low 30's and day time temps in the low 50's - dramatic changes unlikely to occur. A slow gradual warm-up from here on out this week should provide panfish anglers with some good opportunities.
Kurt Justice
Kurt’s Island Sport Shop
www.kurtsislandsports.com