Walley Bite Still Good With Bass Action Heating Up
With the water temps staying in the upper 40's to low 50's the walleye bite is remaining pretty good we are still seeing a lot of fish in their traditional spawning areas. Most of our action is coming in 3 to 5 feet of water associated with rock's and good current. We are catching most of the walleyes on 1/8 and 1/4 ounce jigs tipped with minnows but we are also seeing a few fish on crankbaits like Rapalas was and Thundersticks.
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| Christie Munson shows a beautiful walleye taken while fishing with guide Phil Schweik. | |
The action for both largemouth and smallmouth bass is been very good this past week. We caught quite a few nice fish in the 3 to 5 pound range with a couple pushing that 6 pound mark! For the largemouth bass we’ve been targeting shallow wood and weeds in less than 3 feet of water. To target these largies we are running plastics like tube tails and creatures in greens and browns. Most of our smallmouth bass have been caught working shallow rip rap areas in 1 to 4 feet of water. A lot of these fish have been caught on crankbaits as well as a few of these fish being caught on top water baits. But for the most consistent action on smallmouth bass we been using jigs tipped with tube tails and when they are really finicky we switch to a minnow or even a crawler.
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| Guide Phil Schweik knows the Wisconsin River near Wausau and knows too how to catch both species of bass | |
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For you guys getting excited about the upcoming spring crappie bite I can tell you this. We were starting to see the crappies slide up into their traditional spring spawning areas but now that the water temperatures have dropped back down to the upper 40's those fish have move back to their pre-spawn staging areas and are now holding in anywhere from 8 to 14 feet of water. Even with the crappies moving out to deeper water we have still been able to catch quite a few of them by working small jigs like Mini-Mites and the Flu-flu jigs sometimes tipping them with a small minnows. We are setting these jigs on slip bobbers set anywhere from 5 to 7 feet down and letting them drift through the areas that we are targeting crappies. |
Kevin Munson and daughter Christie of the Madison Area score on the Wisconsin River with Guide Phil Schweik. |
In addition to the great action the been having on walleyes, crappies and bass we have also been picking up a few nice northern pike. Most of these fish of been associated with us casting for walleyes and bass but the pike that we have been catching have been averaging 26 to 32 inches in length but we did see a couple in the upper 30 inch range pushing that 40 inch mark. These fish and been holding in shallow water and you would be surprised at how much power and aggression these cold water fish have when battling them on light line.
The 2012 Turkey season is here and it looks like it's going to be a good one. With the early spring thaw we have seen a lot of birds on the move this past week. For hunters heading into the woods in the early part of the season subtle calling is key. Also the use of turkey decoys like the B-mobile is invaluable. When setting up my decoys I like to set up a series of one gobbler and two hens, placing the gobbler near one hen and then another hen off in the distance. With this setup it draws the attention away from you at on to the decoys. As a turkey moves in to check out the situation they're not paying attention to you and you're given a very good opportunity to take a clean shot.
Good luck and have a great week.
Phil Schweik
Licensed Wisconsin Hunting & Fishing Guide
Hooksetters Guide Service www.hooksetters.biz
Ruttnut Guide Service www.ruttnut.com
Reed & Hoppe Wildlife Food Plots www.foodplotting.com