On Thursday my friend and I drove 40 minutes from Minocqua to fish for the day.

Fished the morning from 7am-2pm in the far north end between the falls and four mile creek area. Figured all of the creek inlets and coves could offer biggie smalls a warm water sanctuary since main lake temperatures were still overall very cold when we began the morning at 53 degrees (jumped up to 56 by the time we left here).

Action was slow in the north end, with very few fish in the coves other than a little guy and a 32" musky, but anywhere we found deeper shoreline rocks I was able to lock into some fish.

It was an all jerkbait bite for me with Rapala Xraps size 8 in yellow/orange. I ended up with only 5 fish during the morning but three of them were bigger than 3 pounds each so I was a happy camper.

Following a quick lunch break back at the car, we pulled out and drove down Popkos West to work the Fisherman's Landing area. I was in contact with Blue (Bill) throughout the morning hours and told him I'd be coming around sometime after 2pm. As soon as we got in, Bill was a mere 200 yards away in his extremely noticeable blue Ranger (wicked nice boat color BTW). We conversed and engaged discussion for a good 20 minutes before fishing resumed for us again. Nice to finally meet you Bill! We will cross paths again soon.

In this area of the lake, temperatures finally jumped up to 58 degrees by the time our day of fishing ended at 7pm, but the action was still terribly slow. We worked around several different islands and points, as well as the Baraboo and Sweeny basins. Only 5 fish were caught, all smaller ones in the 14 inch range on jerkbaits and crankbaits.

Throughout the day, the magic depth range seemed to be 5 to 10 feet. We even found some fish still relating to mid-lake bars and off-shore points that dropped down into the deep channels which I thought was sort of odd given the season but it was all dictated by the colder water.

On an end note, water levels were by far the highest I've fished the flowage to date. I thought last spring 2010 was pretty high to begin with but comparing certain water markers I often pay attention to (boulders and the lack of stumps anywhere) it was pretty clear it was higher than what I'm even used to.

For the last two months I've had my memorial weekend trip all planned out (thurs thru tues) along with some video work but in the last week and a half I've had two different cancellations from friends, so the coming weekend is all in limbo. Kind of heartbreaking because I know for a fact how good the fishing will be. Otherwise there's still a 50% chance I will be back, but only for a shorter trip with my dad. Otherwise June 5th weekend is a good bet as is the entire week of June 12 thru 19.

Below are some photos. Enjoy!