North-Cental WI fishing report
The heat of summer is certainly upon us as water surface temperatures are hovering around or even exceeding the 80 degree mark in places. There has been an excellent catfish bite during the early morning and again evening into nighttime period. Without a doubt fresh cut-bait has been the ticket, when served up on a sliding sinker rig equipped with a Mustad Demon circle hook.
There have been excellent numbers of walleyes up shallow using heavy cover be it wood or weeds. The fish have shown a preference for minnows, either large fatheads or redtails, over leeches and crawlers thus far. The largest fish however, have been coming out deeper relating to deep structure or suspended. Slip bobbers, live-bait rigs, and trolling crankbaits have all been working for the deeper bite.
The muskies and northerns have also been active, but are using shorter more intense windows in which to feed, given the recent weather trends again. Large plastics such as Bulldawgs, Jimmy's, and Titan Tubes have all been working well; in addition, "hybrid" style baits such as Invaders and Shallow Invaders have been very productive. While the fish, especially the muskies, are up shallow during the nighttime and low-light periods, the daytime bites for both species has been related to deeper and/or current related structure.
As I mentioned above, water temps are at or very near summer peaks. This means that releasing fish, especially large trophy gamefish, becomes more difficult. Have your Frabill Big Kahuna and allother necessary release tools ready. Please make sure you are not playing fish to exhaustion, and keep humans contact and fish exposure out of the water to a bare minimum. The future of our fishery depends on it!
Tight lines,
Reply With Quote
