Joel DeBoer
07-14-2009, 02:28 PM
Beautiful summer weather in the greater Wausau area, although a bit dry of late, has led to continued excellent angling opportunities! Some nice panfish, including slab crappies and jumbo bluegills, are finding their way into our livewells. Minnows, small leeches, and night crawlers are all working, as are small jig and rubber combinations. Look for areas containing blow-downs or stumps and work the wood thoroughly, even during mid-day hours. Where deep weeds are available, try suspending live bait such as small leeches or works along the edge for big bluegills as well. For the fly fisherman, morning and evening are producing nice catches of panfish using small poppers or dry flies.
The Smallmouth Bass continue to be quite active, especially early and late in the day. Quality fish continue to be present, with fish into the low 20” range having been caught and released within the past week. Jig and Mr. Twister combinations, lipless crankbaits, and surface baits are all working well. As the sun climbs, try working docks, log-jams, and other shady areas with a small flipping jig or Texas-rigged worm for continual bronzeback action.
The walleye bite has been decent, with legal sized walleyes including "slot fish" (20"-28") continuing to show up in the bottom of our Frabill nets. Jigging has been an effective method for staying on active fish, and the trolling bite has also been good as fish scatter over the flats in search of food. Slip bobber’s rigs with weedless jigs tipped with live bait will provide all-day action when worked in heavy wood cover. This is a great way to pick up bonus smallmouth, catfish, and crappies as well.
The Musky fishing has also been good, and has included action from some very impressive northern pike as well. “Burning” bucktails such as DC-10’s and Magnum Mepps Musky Killers and erratically twitching both jerkbaits and twitch baits is producing on both species of Esox. As the heat of the day approaches, muskies and some nice bonus pike are being taken out suspended once the weed/wood bite appears to die down. With the continued warm weather and ever-increasing surface temperatures, use extreme caution when landing and releasing these predators. The high temps place a great deal of stress on them and handling needs to be kept to an absolute minimum.
Tight lines,
The Smallmouth Bass continue to be quite active, especially early and late in the day. Quality fish continue to be present, with fish into the low 20” range having been caught and released within the past week. Jig and Mr. Twister combinations, lipless crankbaits, and surface baits are all working well. As the sun climbs, try working docks, log-jams, and other shady areas with a small flipping jig or Texas-rigged worm for continual bronzeback action.
The walleye bite has been decent, with legal sized walleyes including "slot fish" (20"-28") continuing to show up in the bottom of our Frabill nets. Jigging has been an effective method for staying on active fish, and the trolling bite has also been good as fish scatter over the flats in search of food. Slip bobber’s rigs with weedless jigs tipped with live bait will provide all-day action when worked in heavy wood cover. This is a great way to pick up bonus smallmouth, catfish, and crappies as well.
The Musky fishing has also been good, and has included action from some very impressive northern pike as well. “Burning” bucktails such as DC-10’s and Magnum Mepps Musky Killers and erratically twitching both jerkbaits and twitch baits is producing on both species of Esox. As the heat of the day approaches, muskies and some nice bonus pike are being taken out suspended once the weed/wood bite appears to die down. With the continued warm weather and ever-increasing surface temperatures, use extreme caution when landing and releasing these predators. The high temps place a great deal of stress on them and handling needs to be kept to an absolute minimum.
Tight lines,