Minocqua Area Fishing Report - 6/3/25

Dateline:  June 1st, 2025

Launch Time:  5:20 AM

Air Temp:  29 degrees

When will spring arrive?? - (Actually, later that same day, temps reached nearly 80 degrees)

Hopefully that’s the end of that cold.  Water temps have been so up and down this past May, it has been tough to nail down any consistent patterns.  Things have improved from previous week.  Certain species (Crappies, Smallmouth, Largemouth) are providing the bulk of the best reports with other species picking up, yet still off a bit!

Crappie:  Good-Very Good – Still some lakes holding bedding fish up tight to shorelines in 1-3’ of water.  Others post spawn, or never got to, (sounds familiar) holding in 6-10’ narrow leaf cabbage hitting Bobby Garland Itty Bitty:Slab Slayer plastics as well as Kalins Crappie Scrubs, 1” Gulp Minnows and Power Tubes.  Late mornings through afternoons best.

Smallmouth Bass:  Good-Very Good – Season still catch and release only!  Smallies taking Wacky Worms and Ned rigs in shallows.  Signs of bedding fish.  Top-water bite picking up as mornings warm.  BKK Mavericks, Chug Bugs and Savage Gear Spiders in shallows.

Largemouth Bass:  Good-Very Good – Nice fish in the 16-19” range with guide Mike Bowen leading a client to a 21 1/2” beast over the weekend.  Keitech 3” Swing Impact, and BKK Vertex and Swimtrex provided great action.  Surprisingly, a few signs of bedding Largemouth during this mixed-up spring.

Bluegill:  Good – As the waters, especially the shallows, warm, Gills moving into feed.  Thunderbugs, small leeches, tiny tubes and Mini Mites.  A couple fly anglers reporting success using wet flys and nymphs.

Northern Pike:  Good – Action on spinnerbaits (Boonies are BACK!), 4” swimbaits and Rattle Traps worked over weed flats from 4-10’.  Live bait best in mornings as fish a bit more reluctant.

Yellow Perch:  Fair-Good – Best reports relating to drowned wood or cribs.  Best baits are thunderbugs (dragonfly larvae), medium leeches or ½ night crawlers.  Depths of 8-14’ for wood fish, some weed reports in 6-10’

Walleye:  Fair-Improving to Good – Saw action picking up by mid-week.  Most on smaller chubs or large fatheads.  Reports of anglers doing well on slip-floats and leeches along 10-14’ weed edges as week progressed.  Also lighted floats on the warmer evenings.

Musky:  Fair – Not lots of reports from our shop.  A few moving fish on Smity Wizards, Rapala Super Shad-Raps, 7” Dunkels and 8” Chaos Posidons.  Cool weather keeping fish in tight along with the small panfish and other edibles.

As I search my Crystal Minnow Bucket for forecast of the future, mild temps (not hot, not cold, but cool) will stretch out this slow warm up.  Some much-needed rain throughout the next 10 days may make things uncomfortable, but help in the long run and make for some good Walleye and Musky fishing conditions.