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Minocqua Area Fishing Report - 8/20/24

Following a couple of lousy days last week (and it wasn’t just me…), fishing picked back up with the arrival of some stable weather.  The cool down hit the bite surprisingly hard considering it wasn’t major.  Water temps dipped below 70 degrees by Friday (8/16) only to return into the low 70’s by Sunday (8/18).

 

Largemouth Bass:  Fair-Good – Action returned as waters warmed.  Largemouth holding on outside weed edges of 8-14’ taking tube jigs, Wacky Worms, 3-4” swimbaits and small (1/16 oz) hair jigs.  With waters warming, expect the top-water frog bite to return.  Active fish will be back to smashing Whopper Ploppers and buzzbaits by the weekend with high temps expected in the 80’s.

 

Smallmouth Bass:  Fair-Good – Liking the warm up.  Drop-shotting craw imitations, 3” Gulp Alive minnows or leeches, over rock/gravel humps, along coontail edges of 14-18’ that has sandgrass “pockets” outside.  Ned rigs with Ned craws also worth trying.

 

Bluegill:  Fair-Good – Suspending outside weed edges of 10-16’.  Tiny tubes, jigs tipped with waxies or small leeches.  Watch for flying ant hatch to happen soon, brings up fun top-water action.

 

Walleye:  Poor-Good – Following a couple tough days, bite came back using redtails, crawlers and large leeches.  Belly check shows feeding on small Perch.  Weed bite improved while rock bite slowed.

 

Yellow Perch:  Poor-Good – Uptick with warmer weather.  Continue to probe cabbage flats of 8-12’ using medium fatheads, leeches or small crawlers (beavertails).  Heavier jigs like 1/8 oz or weight your slip-floats to get bait past high riding Bluegills.

 

Musky:  Poor-Good – Same mid-week blahs followed by action as water warmed.  Night time anglers on loud top-water or glow bladed bucktails.  Off-shore on rubber baits while some early morning action on bucktails at weed tops.

 

Crappie:  Poor-Fair – Hasn’t quite picked up, but will. Stick to live bait near wood when things are slow.  Once water temps climb expect to see some action as they chase small jigs and bladed baits through weed tops.

 

Northern Pike:  Poor-Good – Picking up as anglers casting Musky baits scoring Pike on bucktails.  Cooler water called for live bait, but spinnerbait and chatterbait action improving.

 

Nice steady forecast in mid-70’s until Saturday (8/24) which will start a late summer “scorcher” into the 80’s.  Expect some good top-water action for Largemouth, Smallies and Musky.  Perch, Walleye and Gill action should improve also.  Typically, a quiet weekend with school preparations leading to a lull of activity on the lakes.  

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