Minocqua Area Fishing Report - 7/02/24

Happy Birthday United States of America!!

No other country enjoys the freedoms we have and the freedom to fish the way we do!

The rain just doesn’t want to go away.  What is usually a bright, sunny summer with a rain day here and there, is now a cloudy rainy summer with a chance of sun here and there.  We did see a rash of Hexagenia (Mayfly) hatches last week.  That hatch takes a toll on Walleye fishing as the Eyes feast up on these easy to catch prey.  But that is mostly behind us so things will only improve from here on out.

Largemouth Bass:  Good-Very Good – With the weather bouncing around (wind, rain, temps), key on top-water action on the warmer afternoons/evenings.  Pre-rigged plastic worms, 3-4” swimbaits, square billed cranks over weed tops mid-mornings through mid-afternoons.  Wacky worms in cabbage flats through the day.  Twitching stickbaits along inside weed edges in early mornings also effective.

Smallmouth Bass:  Good-Very Good – With water temps still hovering around 68 degrees, best action coming along deep coontail edges of 14-18’.  Drop-shot rigs, tubes and Ned rigs best.  Not a lot of rock related reports coming in.

Bluegill:  Good-Very Good – Still some signs of bedding colonies on larger lakes.  Overall, best using worms or small leeches in 5-9’ of weeds.  A few anglers reporting action on poppers in the evenings.

Musky:  Good – Bucktails over weeds best.  Some top-water action.  Most reports still have fish hanging on around shallow (relatively) weeds of 6-12’, could be the late panfish bedding.

Crappie:  Good – Starting to get more reports from Crappie anglers finding these fish setting up over tall weeds.  Small plastics such as Bobby Garland, Slab Slayers, Kalin’s Crappie Scrubs and Berkley Atomic Teasers scoring well.  Work these and small Crappie minnows 1-2’ into weed tops for best action.

Northern Pike:  Good – Spinnerbaits, Mepps #3 spinners and chatterbaits over weed flats.  With water in upper 60’s/low 70’s live bait with chubs or suckers also very effective.

Walleye:  Fair-Good – After shutting off on many lakes due to mayfly hatch, Walleyes starting to find their appetites for leeches and crawlers.  Deeper rock humps of 20-24’ using either bait on 1/8-1/4 oz jigs.  Coontail edges with sandgrass flats extending out in 14-18’ holding pods of fish also.

Yellow Perch:  Fair-Good – Not as many reports.  Look for warm, flat days to get these fish riles up.  Medium fatheads or ½ crawlers under slip-floats in thick cabbage beds of 6-10’ have been holding some nice (8-10”) fish.

Looks like the third and fourth will be nice, weather wise, before rain comes back on Friday and Saturday.  Watch for those windows of opportunity and enjoy the freedom to fish.