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Posts: 331
Location: Stevens Point, Wisconsin | It was an interesting trip to say the least. Probably the worst bucktail (blade) bite I have ever seen for this time of year. Water temps (main lake areas) was 65-67 when we arrived and even after a nice week of sun and low winds the temps only came up to 67-69.
Water is dirty in the sense that it's a darker color than normal, kind of like root beer in some areas making it hard to see following fish but still somewhat clear enough to see baits down a ways. Bloom was starting in some areas and actually didn't fish some spots because of bloom clarity but not as bad as I make it out to be.
We did best on 7" and 9" twitch baits (Big Game) with the rest coming on bucktails and a few on top water. We did see a good number of big fish starting to show up on rock mid week. First part of the week sand bays were holding some nice fish but as the week progressed it seemed the larger fish transitioned out to rock while smaller fish were still using the bays. We were able to raise the same fish for the most part all week but their mood never changed.
I have never seen such lethargic fish for the first week of July! The "death rise" was when most fish would show themselves and I know in our boat very few "hot" fish were raised on bucktails. In fact most of the time I was casting a bucktails and my partner was throwing twitch baits. I would cover the area well with my bucktail and see nothing while the twitch bait was pulling fish out.
For us it was primarily a late afternoon and evening bite. Many long hours in the morning and early afternoon casting without follows.
Between three boats we boated 33 with the largest being 49. Need a continued steady warm up and some wind to get things going.
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Posts: 133
| I fish out of Minaki and have seen very similar things to what yiu have stated.. Feels like I can't move fish on bucktails for the life of me. Most fish I've seen have been slow. I've fished 20 days so far this year and have only seen the fish in an aggressive mood twice. And I have alot of hours on the water. |
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Posts: 331
Location: Stevens Point, Wisconsin | This seems to be the case across Minnesota and Wisconsin as well. Hope they come out of their funk soon! |
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Posts: 56
Location: Land of 10,000 Lakes | Very similar results on our trip from 7/1-7/8. Very sluggish fish and short activity windows. Landed 8 for the trip with the biggest being 42. All caught fish on cranks and gliders. Had a few nice fish follow on 8's but would not go. We had limited actual muskie fishing as I spent most of the trip wrangling my 2.5 & 5 year olds! The highlight of the trip was my 5 year old catching his 1st muskie with Papa.
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Posts: 36
Location: Kansas City MO | Oddly enough, we fished 6/29-7/2 and caught 16 of our 20 on blades. Saw plenty of fish that weren't hot but ran into plenty that were. That cold front went through on our last day and probably messed with the blade bite. Oh well. Sounds like a great trip anyway! |
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Posts: 331
Location: Stevens Point, Wisconsin | Yes actually the first two days of the trip were pretty good but as the weather got nicer the fish got more sluggish. |
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