Minocqua Area Fishing Report
What a difference a few days make, fall is officially here and it brought heavy rains, strong winds and cool temperatures with it. Fishing slowed down a little bit due to the weather, though there is an upside…water temps are dropping and soon enough fish will be in their fall feeding patterns.
Musky: Fair-Good – Fishing slowed a little but with the cooling temps more and more fish are coming on sucker rigs. Most fish I’m hearing being caught are in the mid to upper 30” range, nothing huge yet, but with fall coming on look for fish size to get larger.
Northern Pike: Fair-Good – With the cold front, suckers or chubs are a good bet for Pike. Fish them under a slip bobber rig around weed edges. Mepps spinners or jerkbaits worked over weed beds would be another good bet as well.
Smallmouth Bass: Good – Despite the weather Smallmouth fishing still remains good, just slow down and downsize your presentations to put more fish in the boat. 6 to 14’ of water, with rock or gravel bottom, along the first break you’ll find fish. Drop shotting and Ned rigs are catching most fish.
Largemouth Bass: Fair – The cool front slowed down Largemouth fishing a bit, though fish are still being caught, one just has to bring out the finesse gear to catch these guys more productively. Ned rigs are a great choice. Also, a dropshot rig, rigged up with a 3” Wacky worm on a weedless hook would be another good bet. Look for these fish along the weed edges and work your baits slowly.
Crappie: Fair – Live bait, as in a small to medium size fathead, under a slip float, is a good choice for Crappies now. Plastics thrown on a light 1/32 oz jig is another good bait to search for these fish. Find cabbage weeds and fish along the edges of them.
Yellow Perch: Fair – Deep wood is still the key to finding these fish. Jigs tipped with crawlers or a small fathead is a good bait presentation.
Bluegill: Fair – Deep weed edges in the 12’ range is a good location to be searching for Gills right now. Small worms or wax worms are all you need to be putting fish in the live well. For large Gills try tipping a Mini-mite jig with a wax worm.
Walleye: Fair – Hearing a few more Walleyes showing up from guys braving the winds the past week. Jigs tipped with a fathead, chub or crawler have been all good bets. Fish are still on deep structure or points in 18’ of water all the way down to 25’ we have been hearing.
Cool weather this next week is forecasted, highs in the 50’s and lows in the 30’s. Look for fish in the following weeks to start changing into their fall patterns. This is an exciting time of year to be on the water, larger fish are more common, less boat traffic and beautiful scenery as the leaves begin to change.