Minocqua Area Fishing Report - 8/8/23

Stable Northwoods summer weather has helped lock in some good fishing patterns of late. Surface lake temps have pushed into the upper 70’s with highs of 78 degrees being recorded. Activity has been up as the week progressed with both Bass species, Gills, Perch and Musky activity topping the charts.

Bluegill: Very Good – Depending on size and lake type, Gills providing great action in either 8-12’ cabbage or outside coontail edges of 14-18’ suspended 6-8’ down. Small leeches, Mini-Mites, 1” twisters all under small floats to set depth have been very effective. Lots of action with size! Poppers in the evening along inside weed lines producing on these warm nights.

Largemouth Bass: Very Good – Early AM for twitchbait action (Husky Jerks, X-Raps) on inside weed edges. Throughout mid-morning until early evening, Largemouth feeding heavily on crayfish (according to the puke in my boat). Working Wacky Worms, jig/creature, Sweet Beavers on Carolina rigs HOT! Evenings cast plastic frogs, spiders, jitterbugs and Whopper Ploppers over shallow weeds, lily pads or docks.

Smallmouth Bass: Very Good – Smallie action heating up with the water temps. Humps and bars with rock/gravel tops in 16-26’ producing nice big Smallies on drop-shot rigs and Ned rigs. Lots of 17-19” with plenty of 20-22” to make for some very memorable fights.

Yellow Perch: Good-Very Good – Nice Perch working cabbage flats taking 1/2 crawlers on weedless 1/16 oz jigs (orange, brown, red, green) as Perch feeding heavily on crayfish in same areas as Largemouth. Some anglers working Lindy style rigs baited with beavertails (small crawlers) and medium fatheads.

Musky: Good – Top-water action on Dr. Evils, Fat Bastards, Whopper Ploppers good early and late in the day. Bucktails have been best overall covering weed beds and outside edges. Some off-shore action reported by anglers using rubber baits and big blade baits over open water.

Walleye: Fair-Good – Some decent reports from anglers working 12-16’ weed edges with crawlers. Action inconsistent, but nice “eater” fish of 15-19” working weed perimeters. Flowage Eyes relating to wood. Slip-floats with crawlers or leeches. Trollers on large lakes reporting fish suspended 22-28’ down on cranks though mostly slot fish (20-24”), few eaters.

Crappie: Fair-Good – Best around deep weeds using Kalins Crappie Scrubs, Beetle spins or 2” twister tails to locate fish suspended 1-2’ below weed tops in 10-16’ of water. Work slip-float spread with Crappie minnows once active fish found.

Northern Pike: Fair-Poor – Action off for most anglers. Live bait (chubs/suckers) drug through heavy weeds on weedless jigs best. Some spinnerbait action reported, but bite off.

Looks like surface temps will start to slowly come down as air temp highs go from low 80’s to upper 60/low 70’s over the next week. Should see a continuation of the strong bites for Bass, Perch and Musky. Nothing in forecast looks worrisome.