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Posts: 112
Location: Illinois | I’m going up to the Hayward area memorial weekend. I plan on starting shallow with some smaller twitch baits,rubber and spinners and seeing what happens from there. Any advise on location and plan of attack? I’ve never really fished for them this early and it seems the water/season may be a little behind this year. |
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| Fish4muskie - 5/17/2019 12:03 PM
I’m going up to the Hayward area memorial weekend. I plan on starting shallow with some smaller twitch baits,rubber and spinners and seeing what happens from there. Any advise on location and plan of attack? I’ve never really fished for them this early and it seems the water/season may be a little behind this year.
Things can change a lot in a weeks time. Here in Oneida county the water was starting to warm nicely but now they are saying highs in the mid 40s for the weekend with an inch of rain or more so that will set the water temps back. On an "average" opener on the chain where I live (dark stained water), they tend to be shallow, in warmer water areas, and if there are green weeds, that is always a good place to look. I was out yesterday trying to find crappies and weed growth is a week or two behind. Lily pads for instance are just starting to show up on the bottom. The area where I fished yesterday normally has some decent pads and other weeds by this time of the year. |
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Posts: 8828
| I'd start on the darkest water you can find, and preferably a smaller lake. From there, I'd find the likely spawning areas and fish shoreline structure in those areas. Find the warmest water. That's what they're going to be after is a warm place to hang out and to catch a meal. Shallow bays, downed timber, anywhere that's been in the sun for a few hours.... Fun time of year. Absolutely no need to be out on the water before 10:00 am. My kind of fishing! |
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Posts: 267
| Have the muskies completed their spawn in Vilas and Oneida counties? |
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Posts: 255
| North of 8: would you say it is about like last spring for water temps and weed growth in the area?
And for anyone on flowages, be careful. Last year and this year, new stumps and logs have shown up in my bay to make me very cautious. |
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Posts: 32926
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | goose007us - 5/20/2019 9:38 AM
Have the muskies completed their spawn in Vilas and Oneida counties?
Not yet. |
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| muskidiem - 5/20/2019 11:31 AM
North of 8: would you say it is about like last spring for water temps and weed growth in the area?
And for anyone on flowages, be careful. Last year and this year, new stumps and logs have shown up in my bay to make me very cautious.
Water is cooler than typical at opener and weed growth on the chain where I live is behind, but, that can change quickly. Normally by mid may I am chasing pan fish in the lily pads. Late last week, you could see them just starting to form on the bottom, so maybe a week behind? Ice went out a little later and cooler than average. To me, that means I will focus on shallow water that warms more quickly due to sun exposure, at least to start. I am sure it varies. The small chain I live on is shallow and very dark stained water, with three creeks feeding in. Ice went out earlier than on many other area lakes. Larger, deeper lakes could be quite different. |
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