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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | Just got back from several days of guiding, and the fish are finally showing some signs of getting out of the funk. We boated at least one fish each day, but Thursday was the day to be out. 8 fish were boated on Thurs., and only two were under 40". The largest fish was 46".
Almost all the fish to visit my boat were caught fishing suspended, and the majority of those fish were running high in the water column. In fact a 42" found the Frabill after eating a Rylure Globe over 37' of water. Way cool!
Some fish were caught over flats with some weed on them, including another 46" fish on a Lee Lure Fish Stick.
With the exception of Thursday the fishing has been tough. We have been fishing from sun-up to sun-down in order to boat a fish or two. Don't give up and keep plugging away. The suspended bite is going really well on some of the cisco based lakes, while the sucker/perch based lakes are still not producing the suspended bite all that well yet. Mid day fishing is still proving to be very tough, and the evening bite was best. There hasn't been a definite bait preference since the following baits all had fish eating them: Lee Lure Fish Stick, Mepps Marabou, RyLure Globe, Mag Bulldawg, Reg. Bulldawg, Triple D, Jointed Reef Digger, Warner Crankbait, and the Nitro.
Water temps were around 68-72° depending on the lake, and time of day.
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | The last week of fishing continued to be inconsistent, and I suspect it is due to the instable weather patterns that we have been having. One day several fish are boated, and the next nothing. What has been a pattern (as much of one as there has been) that is working lately is:
• Cisco base lakes have been far better for me than the non-cisco (sucker/perch) base lakes. This doesn’t mean that suspended has been the best method. In some cases yes, but in others the shallow water bite has been better. The key has been to keep an open mind, and bounce around until you find what is working.
• Suspended Fishing – It’s not the answer on all the lakes, but on some of the lakes it has been the only answer! Almost all of the suspended fish being caught remain to be contacted in the upper 10’ of the water column. Big Joe’s fished high in the water column have been doing well.
• Weeds – Argh!!! I hate to say it, but we have had to venture into the weeds on some lakes to get anything going. However, some very large fish (Upper 40’s, low 50’s) are showing themselves on the cabbage edges of some lakes, including cisco base lakes. A Mepps Marabou has been the answer for the most part, but I am quickly finding out that Big Joe’s fished over the weeds are GREAT! Had one particular fish that was easily in the low 50” range all over a Joe worked erratically over shallow weeds, but she just would not commit.
• Evenings – No doubt the best time of the day this year. Mornings have been pretty inconsistent, but the evenings have been pretty good. For me the best times have been from 5:00-8:00 pm for the most part. Some days started a bit earlier, and others a bit later depending on the lake. Find the pattern for the lake you are on, and stay with it for your trip. I raised the same upper 40” fish 3 of the 4 days on the same spot, at almost the same time each day.
Unfortunately a lot of the shallow water fish have been nippers. Missed several very nice fish due to being snout hooked. Fishing the deeper breaks in the 15-20’ depths haven’t been as productive as I had hoped, but it has shown some promise. Working crankbaits that are neutrally buoyant as well as Big Joe’s have been the best.
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | Suspended fishing has been much better than the shallower water stuff this past weekend. Spent quite a bit of time night fishing due to the high daytime air temps, but it just wasn’t as productive as I would have thought. A few fish here and there were contacted, mostly on cranks, but the daytime hours were better. We did far better in the morning than afternoon this past weekend, so perhaps the morning bite is finally kicking in.
A wide varity of baits are still being used to move fish. Some lakes they are showing a preference for Big Joe’s and Bulldawgs, while on others crankbaits have been better. All fish we are contacting are high in the water column, and with our higher water temps recently I highly encourage keeping your baits high to minimize shock to the fish as much as possible. Fishing for the true suspendo fish (not relating to any type of structure) is also producing better than fishing around structures. Also contacted some nice fish over the deeper flats (16’-20’) containing some deep weeds.
Water temps are getting mighty warm, ranging between 76°-79° on the lakes I was fishing.
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | Fishing was just ok this past weekend. We had to work hard for the action we got, and it was long intervals between action. Best times were mid-day, and then again around 11:00 pm. Fish were moving suspended on Longtail spinnerbaits fished very deep (counted 20 seconds down), and on Big Joe's at night. Don't know what it is, but the fish still aren't taking baits like they should be. Short strikes and bumps have been the theme for the last two months, and that makes for some frustrating action. Boated a fish on a Joe Sat. night that just took the back end. Normally you are cutting the front hook because they usually eat the baits head first.
Water temps are in the mid 70's, and no blume to speak of on the clear, deep lakes. | |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | The big cool down has begun, and the fishing has picked up. The fishing during the late evening into the night was best. Topwaters as well as crankbaits are putting fish into the boat along breaklines. Some suspended fish were contacted, so you must keep checking those fish even though more and more fish will be sliding shallow the next couple of weeks.
For a full report check out:
Report 11-Sep - The Big Cool Down!
The big cool down has begun! Major cold front rolled in Friday bringing in rain, wind, and cold temperatures. Sat. and Sun. morning was a balmy 28° around sunrise! The geese were flying, and the steam was coming off the water! Gotta love this time of year.
Hit the water for a couple of quick hours Fri. night, and it paid off to fight the early cold weather. Just before dark a fish made a complete fool of itself by flipping through the air after trying to eat my topraider. Pretty cool hit, but no hooks found home. In fact, I never felt a thing as it completely missed my bait. As it got dark I swithced to ripping a 10” Jake up off the breakline and on the flats. It quickly paid off with an upper 30’s fish in the Frabill. The fish must be feeding heavily already as this fish was fat! Jason Eichorn had enough and put on a crank himself. After only the second cast the net was in the water again for a fish a bit smaller than the first. As Jason released the fish we saw the moon peeking up over the horizon. I figured that was it, but lets keep fishing. About 15 minutes later I put a twin to Jason’s fish in the Frabill again. Whew, the fish were chomping! We quite about an hour later, but that was pretty good results for 3 hours of fishing.
All three fish were caught after the rip of the crankbait in about 8’ of water over a sand/rock bottom. One other fish had bumped my Jake, but she must have just been testing the waters a bit.
Sat. my hopes were high for a good day a fishing. The bluebird skies proved to be a bit tough though. A couple of follows shallow and suspended made for a slow day until dark. Another heafty fish in the low forties did find the net right at dark again suspended over a mid lake hump. The fish ate a mag dawg jigged at boatside as we were drifting off the edge of the hump.
Cisco’s were being marked all day long, but very deep. Most baitfish schools were running 35-40’ down, and lots of large hooks were also down there.
Sun. a few more follows on topraiders is all we could muster up.
Water temps were mid 60’s. One lake dropped about 4° from Fri to Sun. All fish were caught on Cisco Based lakes, and we moved fish both shallow and deep. The next few weeks the fishing shallow should heat up as more and more fish wonder up with the colling water temps. This is the time of year to stay versatile and fish everything. Even though we didn’t get anything suspended over relly deep water this weekend, I should have had one over 65’ of water. So just don’t think they are all shallow.
Lets hope for a steady decline in waters temps so that we have a early turnover and consistent fishing. | |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | I had expectations of the weekend being in mid-turnover, and was I wrong. I fished several lakes in the Eagle River and Manitowish Waters area, and none of them are turning yet. They are , however, close to turning. Unfortunately this weeks weather is to be warm, and may delay turnover for a week. Waters temps were hovering at 54-57° depending on the lake. One lake was showing signs of turnover with a slight green film forming on the surface, but it wasn't anything major.
The fishing was a bit slow. We bounced around from deep to shallow water checking to see where the fish were. We had one fish grab a sucker fished about 30' down that we missed on the hookset. Fortunately we were able to rebound and get a nice 44" fish in the boat on a jerkbait fished "inside out". What is inside out you ask. We had the boat in shallow water and was casting to the deep break. A few more fish were moved, mostly all on jerkbaits.
Edited by CiscoKid 10/2/2006 12:58 PM
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Posts: 476
Location: WI | Cool belly markings on that fish!
GotOne | |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | Ah yes, the Northern Wi musky opener finally arrived, but I think the fish didn’t know it quite yet on Sat. The weather was right Sat. morning for a good day, but the fish just didn’t think so. The fishing was real slow with only a few trailers seen all day. Water temps were as warm as I have seen them for the opener in quite some time running at just below 60° on the smaller green tinted lakes, and mid 50’s on the deep clear lakes. I did get a few reports of some nice fish caught opening morning, and it sounded like 10:00 am was a hot time! Weeds were key also.
Speaking of weeds, Holy smokes are they up right now! Very good weed growth was seen on all lakes I was on. The cabbage beds were green and filled out, which may make it interesting in the summer for those that typically fish shallow.
Sunday started off quite slow also, but did show some promise. I switched gears from the clearer lakes on Sat., to the more tanic colored water on Sunday. A few more follows to start the day, and had one fish miss my DDD at boatside. A pattern was developing of the fish holding along the breaks near bottom. Sunday afternoon I stayed with the tanic water plan, and it paid off. At 6:30 pm I boated a 41 ½” ripping an Ace crank over a weed hump dropping to deep water. The fish hit just as the hump was breaking quickly. Again at 8:00 pmish a second upper 30’s fish was boated on the same Ace crank on a 12’ break . I was fishing the Ace more as a rapala with a rip/jerk/pull retrieve with some pauses. The fish would come up and grab it, and you wouldn’t know it until the next pull.
Mon. morning I went back to the clearer lakes with the great weather we were suppose to have. I ran myself into the cabbage and started fishing a jointed shallow raider with a slow retrieve, but with erratic jerks thrown in. It took about an hour before the fish woke up and I raised a very good fish that was hanging back a ways. I threw back the Ace crank, and the fish was a lot more interested in it as she tried several times to “suck” the bait in. Realizing the Ace was preferred I stuck with that. A few more follows were had in the heavier weeds, but I decided to run out deeper. History has shown me that the fish usually hang out in the 15’ range this time of year. Two casts into running deeper and I had up more aggressive fish! It wasn’t long before a 43” found the Frabill Big Kahuna, and the next hour (7:00 am-8:00 am) was crazy with fish! One of those days where every other cast a fish was chasing, but just that. Had several swings and misses, some trying to suck in the bait, and had one hit my Big Joe I tossed as a throw back but no hooks found home. Just as the action slowed another upper 30” fish found the net.
All these fish were running very deep in the water column in the 15’ range with an irregular weed bottom. I think the fish were just above the weeds waiting for some perch/walleyes to swim by. Running the Ace down deep (I tried shallower) was the key, as well as the aggressive jerks mixed in with the pauses. Just like rapala fishing for bass.
I only got a couple of hours in each morning and night, but made it pay off by staying versatile and trying different things. Once I found the pattern I stayed with it even though I was on different lakes.
Water temps ran 58-59° for the most part on all the lakes I fished. Key feeding windows were observed by me around 6:30-7:00 pm Sunday night, and 7:00-8:00 am Mon. morning. I heard 10:00 am on Sat. was also hot. An interesting observation was Sunday afternoon running to the lake I saw a lot of deer along the road feeding. Always a good sign since I hadn’t seen any wildlife moving up until then. I have used the wildlife/fish activity correlation for some time now, and I can say there is something to it!
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | WOW! Water temps jumped about 10° over the last week, and it has affected the fish a bit.
It’s almost like Dejavu. Just as last year started out, the clear cisco based lakes are doing better than the perch/sucker based lakes right now. We had some action fishing suspended this past weekend, and it was much better than the shallow water stuff. I believe do to the quick jump in water temps the fish weren’t as active as one would expect for high 60° water. We had several fish bump baits out suspended rather than eating. Even though most of our action came early and late in the day, we did get one fish in the boat midday.
Crank baits and the usual for everybody to throw suspended, rubber, produced action from fish in 35-45’ of water. Make sure you are ripping or jigging your baits at boatside. Each year we convert fish by doing this including one this past weekend. Don’t get too hung up on looking for baitfish on your graph as every fish we contacted weren’t around any baitfish (on the graph). Do pay attention though as some cisco’s were running very high (flipping on surface), and therefore you wouldn’t mark them on the graph.
Staying persistent is the key when we have the type of weather we are having right now. I kept telling my boat partner this past weekend we’ll get a good one before the day is done, and it will probably happen late in the day. Sure enough I boated a nice 45”+ on an Ernie with a few minutes left before darkness fell in. If you are moving much during the entire day stick with it as the fish will eat sometime that day!
Water temps ranged from 67-72°.
Reports will be a bit sparse from me in the next few weeks as I won’t be on the water much. Get out suspended as the next few weeks will be rockin!
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | It's been awhile, but I can finally get back at doing some reports on a bit more frequent basis than a full month apart!
Hmmmm, 68° water temps in July! A bit too cool in my opinion but the fish are still moving depending on the lake you are fishing. Over the course of the weekend we ended up boating 7 fish, and booted 6 more. We contacted fish over deep water suspended, timber along the shoreline, underwater points, and weedlines. Yep, we were hitting everything!
Due to all the rain that fell last week and this weekend the water clarity on the lakes were a bit "cloudy", but should clear up if the rain decides to let up for a few days. The best baits proved to be bulldawgs and Big Joes, but a double #10 bucktail accounted for a couple of fish as well.
One thing that became quite apparent about this weekend after talking to a few others is lake choice was critical. Sat. was pretty slow for us, but I know others on different lakes lit the fish up. Sunday we hit different water and we lit them up while others suffered. I know I have said it before on here, but it is worth repeating. If the lake you are on is not producing after a couple of hours jump to another. | |
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Posts: 1057
Location: Medford, WI | Like Travis mentioned, we found the same thing out as far as your action heavily depends on the lake you're fishing. The cold front didn't really seem to help a whole lot on Friday and Saturday, but Sunday the fish seemed to turn on: a 38" musky and a 40" Tiger on a mag dawg over deeper weeds. We saw several other; including one mid-40" fish and an upper 40" fish which was hooked and came skying out of the water shaking the hook out. One of the neatest things I've ever seen while fishing. You have to be very patient with the fish right now and it seems working lures a little slower/deeper is what we found to be working. Spinnerbaits fished a little deeper and bulldawgs run deeper after letting it drop a while after your cast were the most effective methods we found. On a different lake, we couldn't find anything deeper, but up shallow, I had three follows on a Manta. All between 35" and 40"; pretty tight on the bait but nothing willing to take it.
Hopefully we will be able to get up there again soon. If anyone is in the Presque Isle area, stop by Skyview Lodge and get a bite to eat. The food is great; especially the good ol' Friday night fish fry! I'd like to thank Adam Johnson for the great place we stayed at and the great food. We will be back Adam; that's no question! Thanks again!
-Jake Bucki | |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | Fishing has been sporadic. One day a lake is hot, and the next it is the dead sea. We have been moving fish on the deep weed edges and suspended though, from clear water lakes to bloomed up lakes.
Suspended fishing is not what I would expect for this time of year with the fish running high in the water column. Shallower running cranks were best this past weekend with rubber not getting too much action.
The fish on the deep weed edges have been moving on a lot of different baits. Rubber, cranks, and double #10's all saw action.
Water temps are running 74-76°.
For a full report see:
http://pub34.bravenet.com/forum/2902599033/show/1047775
Edited by CiscoKid 8/6/2007 12:18 PM
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| I'll send you the 12 inch walleye picture when I get a chance! | |
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Posts: 114
Location: New London, Wisconsin | I had big expectations for Labor Day weekend but I took the collar myself. Put my time in both early and late only to have one follow up around noon on Saturday. Threw the whole box at them to no avail. Good to be out on Kentuck again after about 10+ years. Not as crowded as I had anticipated and my 10 year daughter and I had a great time together, even without a fish to speak of. Looking forward to getting back up there in Oct again and will try my favorites agian.
Anyone able to give me a definition of "ripping" crankbait. My guess a long version of "twitch and pause" type fishing.
Thanks ... Labs
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