Minocqua Area Fishing Report

Warm days, some cool nights, a few storms here and there…sort of typical mid-August. Haven’t seen nights cold enough to turn a few sugar maples, but it will be here soon.

Largemouth Bass: Very Good-Good – Lots of action relating to cabbage flats of 8-12’. Wacky worming, Dirty Jigs w/ Yum Chunk or Jackall Chunk Craws for trailers. Sweet Beavers Carolina rigged. Top-water action still very good for anglers fishing evenings when water temps rising! Lunker Hunt Frogs, Savage Cicadas and Whopper Ploppers bring in best reports.

Smallmouth Bass: Very Good-Good – Ned rigging TRD’s or TRD Craws been tough to beat. Drop-shotting 3” Gulp Minnows and 3” Clone Fry’s good over deeper gravel humps where Ned rigs may be too light. Coontail edges, 3” Tube jigs best.

Bluegill: Very Good-Good – Not hard to fish once located. Larger Gills suspending off weed beds in 14-20’. Cast 1” twisters as you would for Crappies to locate schools. Once found, stick to small plastics or small minnows or leeches. Nicer Gill in the 7 ½ to 8 ½” + category, good eaters!

Northern Pike: Good – Covering weed flats of 6-10’ using spinner baits, swim baits and chatter baits producing good action from fish of 22-27”, a few cracking low 30” range reported.

Yellow Perch: Good – Best over sandgrass flats of 14-22’ using Lindy style rigs or slip-floats to work ½ crawlers. On Flowages, relating to weed, crawlers best.

Crappie: Fair-Good – Some action along deep coontail edges on medium fatheads.

Musky: Fair-Good – Big bladed spinner baits and bucktails over weed flats, fish in or right on edges (probably keying on Gills where Cisco not available)

Walleye: Fair-Good – On days with clouds and wind, some anglers finding Walleyes moving into 8-14’ weeds to feed. Crawlers and leeches best. Once sun is out, bite dies, start searching deeper rock humps.

Nothing drastic as of yet for August. Some weeds are dying back, but surface temps remain stable for now, most in low-mid 70’s as afternoons in upper 70’s to low 80’s warming up water after overnight cooling off.