Musky/Walleye Fishing Report

What an excellent time of year to be on the water – recreational
traffic is thankfully at a bare minimum, the mosquitoes and flies are
gone, and some exciting angling opportunities are happening right now,
here in our area!

It has been a solid season for local walleye anglers, and plenty of big
fish have been caught and released in our area over the past few months;
recent weeks have seen the trend with big fish continue. If you’re
looking to get in on the action, right now is an excellent time to
explore the waters of Lakes Wausau and DuBay, as well as the Wisconsin
River including the Half Moon area. Begin by keying in on hard-bottomed
areas containing current; this could mean below the dams, outlets of
sloughs and channels, and neck-down areas where the channel and
surrounding water narrow and thus create a funnel effect.

Live bait has been working very well as of late, with extra-large
fatheads or small to medium sized sucker minnows being best. The
conventional Mister Twister lead-head jig will do the trick; depending
on the size of your bait or mood of the fish, you may also want to
consider using stinger hooks should you begin missing fish on the
hook-set. Slip-sinker rigs with live bait are also working well and
should be used in conjunction with jigs.

Perhaps one of the autumn season’s most pursued quarries, the mighty
musky, has also been quite active as of late. While the activity on
suckers rigged with quick-strike rigs such as Fuzzy’s Clip-N-Go has
jumped considerably with the water temperatures hovering in the low to
mid forty-degree range, live bait for muskies has not been the only
productive option. Large rubber style baits like Bulldawgs and Titan
Tubes, worked via slow retrieves and with plenty of pauses, are also
consistently producing fish.

Any discussion of using suckers for musky fishing needs to have one
basic premise – use ONLY quick-strike rigs. This is important for two
main reasons: first, your hooking percentage will be the greatest when
properly using a quick-strike rig. Secondly, the use of quick-strike
rigs is the best way to ensure the successful release of a strong and
healthy musky when using live bait. Depending on the number of anglers
in my boat, I like to hang one or two suckers over the side, one within
a few feet of the bottom and one about halfway down from the surface. I
then like to drag 1 or 2 more behind the boat suspended shallower below
floats; again, I stagger the depths at which I set them.

The keys to a solid hook set when using a quick strike rig begin with
making sure the hooks are sharp and the sucker rigged properly. When a
fish strikes, it is imperative to position the boat as quickly as
possible making sure to get the boat as possible to being over the fish.
An angler needs to determine which way the fish is facing and then on
the hook set, set opposite – this will drive the rig into the fish and
hopefully ensure a solid hook-up.

Whether you choose walleyes or muskies, smallmouth bass or crappies,
right now is as good a time as any to be fishing locally – the ice
will be here soon. I’ll see you on the water…

Tight lines,