Outdoor Report

[Hayward Lakes Sherry]

September 14, 2009
Hayward Lakes Area Outdoor Report
Steve Suman

In a case of better late than never, our four-month north woods spring season came to a close this past weekend when summer finally arrived. Nearly everyone found the 80-degree temps enjoyable – except bear hunters and hunters participating in the opener for ruffed grouse, archery deer, turkey, crow, cottontail rabbit, and squirrel seasons.
Hayward Lakes Chapter Muskies, Inc. will host its 32nd annual catch and release fall tournament Oct. 2-4. The tournament takes place on 17 area lakes and awards more than $30,000 in prizes. All entrants are eligible for the Grand Door Prize, a 2009 Lund 1725 Pro Guide boat, 50 hp Mercury motor, Motor Guide trolling motor, and Lowrance locator. The winner’s name will be drawn at the Sunday awards ceremony and must be present to win. Entry fee is $65 ($75 after Sept. 18) for adults and $25 for youth ages 16 and younger. All monies are used for fishing related projects in the Hayward area. For information, call Hayward Bait and Tackle (715) 634-2921.
Randy at Jenk’s Bait and Tackle reports the angler catch for the 2009 Chippewa Flowage Musky Hunt Sept. 9-12 included seven fish 45 inches or longer, and all but two were caught on either bucktails or surface baits.

Muskies:
Musky fishing is good overall, but best in the early morning and evening hours. Fish are scattered at various depths, from very shallow down to 30 feet or deeper. You will find them around thick weeds on bars, bar edges, flats, and mid-lake humps. This is the time to start working larger topwaters, bucktails, jerk, twitch and crank baits, deep running baits, and Bull Dawgs, and some anglers are starting to have success with suckers.

Walleye:
Walleye action is fair to good, with the best fishing still occurring in the evening hours. Fish deeper water (down to 30 feet or more) during the day, and shallower in the evening. Look for deeper weeds, brush, sand, rock and gravel on bars and points. Leeches and crawlers on live bait rigs and under slip bobbers continue to be the top baits, but the move to jigs/fatheads and minnows is starting. Trolled crank and stick baits are also catching fish, primarily during the evening.

Northern:
Northern pike action is good. Pike are getting more and more aggressive, and bass, walleye, and musky anglers are catching quite a few. Work deeper weed edges and bars, as well as shoreline weed beds and cover. Best baits are spoons, spinners and spinnerbaits, bucktails, crankbaits, minnows, and northern suckers.

Largemouth Bass:
Largemouth continue to provide some quality fishing for anglers who choose to pursue them, with the best fishing in late afternoon hours. Target lily pads, stumps, weed and bog edges in shallower water down to mid-depths. Leeches and crawlers will work, but a wide variety of artificials – topwaters, soft plastics and jig/craw combinations, spinner and buzz baits, prop baits, poppers, and jointed Rapalas – are producing very good action.

Smallmouth Bass:
Smallmouth fishing is fairly consistent, though you will have better success in early morning and evening hours. Concentrate on rocks, rocky points and bars, mid-lake humps, and weeds in deeper water – as deep as 20 feet or more. Best artificial baits include crayfish color plastics and tubes, topwaters, and spinnerbaits. Sucker minnows, leeches, and crawlers are the choices for live bait.

Crappie:
Crappie fishing is good and should continue to get even better as fall progresses. At this time they are scattered, moving to deeper water, and can be found near deeper cribs, weed beds and bogs, and some are suspending over deep water. They are hitting crappie minnows, waxies, plastics, tubes, dressed jigs, and micro nymphs.

Bluegill:
Though fall bluegill fishing can be very good, the fish move to deeper water, scatter, become more challenging to find, and angler interest tends to wane. Look for bluegills to hold near thick weeds, weed beds, and on the cribs, and try different depths until you locate them. Waxies, leaf worms, crawlers, minnows, and plastics can all be effective, whether fished on jigs or plain hooks, under bobbers or rigged with split shot.

Upcoming Events
Sept. 19: Seasons open: Woodcock; Canada goose in North Exterior Zone.
Sept. 19-20: Special two-day Youth Duck Hunt.
Sept. 25-26: Cable Area Fall Festival (800-533-7454.)
Sept. 26: 25th Annual Hayward Fall Festival (715-634-8662.)
Sept. 26: Duck season opens at 9 a.m. in Northern Zone.
Sept: 30: Trout season closes on most inland streams. (See regs for exceptions.)
Oct. 2-4: Hayward Lakes Chapter Muskies, Inc. Fall Muskie Tournament (634 2921.)
Oct. 3: Annual Stone Lake Cranberry Fest (715-865-3378.)
Oct. 3-4: Musky Tale Resort Crappie Quest on Chippewa Flowage (715-462-3838.)
Oct. 11-12: Youth deer hunt.
Oct. 13: Black bear season closes.
Oct. 17: Seasons open: Pheasant; Sharp-tailed grouse; Bobwhite quail; Hungarian partridge; Raccoon gun/trapping; Fisher trapping. In the northern zone: Muskrat; Mink; Coyote trapping; Red and gray fox hunting/trapping; Bobcat hunting/trapping north of Hwy. 64.

For more information on area events and activities, see the Calendar of Events, visit Hayward Lakes Visitor and Convention Bureau, or call 1-800-724-2992.

[Palmer1]

coming up in early october and was thinking of fishing this body of water.question being will it be worth it and what would you suggest using for muskies.will probably be fishing the chip flowage most of the time,but gonna try tigercat one day.thanx for any info you can give me and good luck fishing to all.Rikki

[Hayward Lakes Jim]

With muskies in October. I would be using buck-tails minnows baits or swim type baits. Live suckers would be great but they are going to be real had to get and expensive. Find your rock bars and on the edge of dying weed lines. I would also try Moose Lake. This is a great numbers lake. I has produced a 49 inch musky on Labor Day weekend and several others that were over 40 inches. Last year it produced a 53 inch fish. Moose gets lowered 5 feet starting on the 17th of Oct. Good Luck. Hayward Lakes Jim

[John Myhre]

Tiger cat and Twin lakes do hold good numbers of muskies but chances for a decent one are less than some of the other lakes close by. Moose, Spider, Lost Land, and Teal have good numbers too and have been producing some nicer fish and big ones too. The Chip has been very good this year with several over 50 being caught.
Depending on the conditions, some better choices for lures would be Jerk baits, Big minnow baits, and big plastics like the Bull Dawg. Finding green weeds is a good place to start looking, also rocks at times and if water temps cool down deeper cover like cribs, rock, and wood will hold skis