Minocqua Area Fishing Report - 8/18/26

Aug 18

3 min read

A fairly steady week of weather again made for some similar fishing as the week prior. A few bumps here and there, but overall, cool mornings (mid-40’s – mid-50’s) followed by high in mid-upper 70’s for the most part. Lake surface temps are averaging in the 72-73° marks in the AM but still rising to the 77° mark.

Largemouth Bass: Very Good – Continues to keep the rods bending. Top-water action, especially in late afternoon/evenings when water is warmest has continued to be HOT!!! Zara Spooks, Whopper Ploppers, Jitterbugs, and buzzbaits. Frogs, mice and spiders also pulling big Bass out of lily pads and slop. Subtle plastics such as Urchins, Wacky Worms or 7” Power Worms rigged Carolina for daytime action. Along with spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and 4” swimbaits on bladed jig heads. Check out the photo of 11 yr old, local Bass nut Jordan with his 7# behemoth from this past weekend.

Bluegill: Very Good – They seem to be everywhere! Weeds of 8-12’, coontail edges of 14-18’ – suspended 4-6’ off bottom, even on rock humps. If you don’t want to catch Bluegills – don’t use worms! Small plastics such as Mini Mites, 1” tubes and 1 ½” Ned worms effective.

Smallmouth Bass: Very Good-Good – Gravel/rock bars and humps holding good #’s. Drop-shotting 2 ½ - 3” plastic craws, Gulp-alive Minnows, 3” Wacky Worms. Football jig and creature combos also working. Some reports from top-water angler catching big Smallies in shallows on Whopper Ploppers. Ned rigs and Urchin rigs also producing.

Northern Pike: Good – Spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and square billed cranks (but not without a wire leader) worked over cabbage flats of 5-10’. Live baiting a 4-6” chub or sucker also producing some nice Pike.

Yellow Perch: Good – Mud flats on dark water Flowages in 12-14’ on ½ crawlers. On lakes use a medium fathead or medium leech to get down in cabbage flats. Go slightly heavy (1/8 oz jig) and don’t use crawlers here a small Gills will tear them apart.

Musky: Good-Fair Bucktails over weed flats and edges during day. Top-water action at dusk.

Walleye: Good-Fair – Action on some lakes slowed, could have bee the east by southeast wind on Saturday (never good), or just poor lake choice. Some reports from several guides experiencing same thing. Could see them on locators, couldn’t get to bite. Overall, not bad. Weed bite backing off on some lakes, picking up on others. Redtails, large leeches and crawlers all good – use first two around weeds, save crawlers for grave/rocks of 18-28’.

Crappie: Good-Fair - Dropped because of my own personal experiences. My “hot spots” cooled off. Others finding good action along coontail edges or around drowned trees.

Rest of the week looks fairly stable (until Friday). Lows in low 50’s, daytime high in mid-70’s. Lake traffic lighter as kids in many states heading back to school. Nice time to be on the water.

Pics of the Week

Boo Walleye of Madison, showing me how he got his namesake! My Hero!

Cambell (6 YO) from Winnetka, first fish ever. From rookie to BLUEGILL KING in one day!

Caroline (8YO) with her first ever angled fish! A nice Bluegill, but she will forever be known as BASS Queen!

Case (3YO) of Winnetka, teaching an old dog some new tricks!

Jordan of Minocqua with a WHALE of a Largemouth Bass at 7#’s!

This one’s for the ladies! Mario with a Walleye this past weekend!