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walleyemaxx
07-08-2010, 07:50 PM
Hi everyone,

Here's some helpfull information from our DNR.

Park Falls DNR Service Center area
Upper Chippewa Basin fisheries report (Price, Rusk, Sawyer Taylor and inland Ashland and Iron counties)
- With the warm-humid weather, both recreational boating and fishing activity were very high over the long Fourth
of July holiday weekend. Water temperatures have warmed into the low to mid 70s on most lakes and this has
made for comfortable swimming conditions and increased fish feeding activity. Water levels on the major flowages
in the area are near normal and the water continues to be more darkly stained than normal.
The natural, or seepage lakes in the area have come up about 4 to 6 inches in water level, but many still remain
very low from the effects of the six-plus years of drought. Weed densities have been variable, with some areas
showing thicker densities than normal and other areas seeing much lower densities than past years. Stream and
river levels are near normal or slightly high following the inch or so of rain in the last week. And watch out for the
bugs - the recent rains have provided for a fresh hatch of mosquitoes, deer flies and 'ankle-biters' and all have
become a bigger nuisance in the last week. Panfish and musky have been the main species of interest in the last
week and success for both has been pretty good. Musky activity has continued to improve with the warming water
and most anglers have been reporting some consistent action along weed edges, drop-offs, and in the light
density weed beds. Good numbers of musky in the 32- to 40-inch size have been hooked and boated, with a few
fish up to 46 inches also reported.
Wisconsin DNR Outdoor Report, July 8, 2010
Bucktails and top-water baits have been the most productive lures of late. Panfish action has been fairly
consistent, with anglers making some decent catches of crappie, bluegill and rock bass. Decent crappie have
been found suspended near mid-depth cover and larger bluegill have been caught along deep weed lines. Rock
bass have been especially aggressive and been found near any mid-depth wood or rocky cover. Walleye action
continued to be slow, with very little success being reported. A few smaller fish have been caught along the weed
edges but the walleye anglers have mostly been occupied with rock bass and perch. Largemouth and smallmouth
bass have been the real bugaboo in the last few weeks and most bass anglers have been having a very tough
time finding quality-sized fish. It seems that the increased water levels and dark-stained stained water has really
thrown these species into a funk and typical early summer patterns are not producing fish. Some smaller
largemouth have been found near wood in thick weed beds and a few have also been caught near cover along
bog edges. But many bass anglers have sworn that the quality-size fish have fallen off the face of the earth!?
Smallmouth bass have been even tougher to find than largemouth, and many anglers report catching just a few 8
to 12-inch smallmouth when fishing their favorite early summer spots. Finesse tactics with small plastics have
produced a few fish near mid-depth woody structure, but like largemouth, quality-size fish have been tough to
come by.

Good luck fishing everyone.

Walleyemaxx