Fishing Reports for Minocqua and Lake Tomahawk Wisconsin

Hot, Hot, HOT. It's that time of year again. As water temps drop the fish start to fatten up for the winter. Get up here now before the weather gets too uncomfortable.

Bluegills and Crappie are suspended but feeding in deep water. Walleye are chasing minnows in the shallow rocks and weed pockets. Musky are chasing bucktails and jerkbaits over the weeds (don't go too big with the baits yet) and don't forget to start dragging suckers!

When I'm fishing for Walleye with minnows, make sure you use a wire leader this time of year cuz the Northern and Walleye are going to be smacking your bait too. And don't forget the Smallies on sucker minnows on the deeper humps.

Expect some nice fish from the Musky tourney in the Manitowish Waters area, the Walleye tourney on the Turtle Flambeau Flowage and the Walleye tourney on Lake Gogebic.

Hey, get up here if you know what's good fishing for you!
Jeff Bolander <jeff@upnorthpublishing.com>
- Friday, September 08, 2006 at 18:03:40 (CDT)

Summer patterns are solid right now. Crawlers are king and low light conditions are queen. All species are active right now but the windows are small. Deep water during the day and the shallows at low light. When the weather is this warm and the fish are inactive during the day, it's a great time to pull an all nighter fishing with top water baits for all species. There isn't much more that will get your heart pumping than an explosion strike in the night darkness. Try it, if you can take it!

Hey, get up here if you know what's good fishing for you!
Jeff Bolander <jeff@upnorthpublishing.com>
- Friday, July 21, 2006 at 15:32:05 (CDT)

A very hot and humid weather system came through the northwoods this past weekend and it really lit up the fishing.

On Monday, I drove back into the woods to a 100 acre bass a bluegill lake becuase I was in the mood for action and I love to see the fish in the shallow clear water and then go after them. I fished for about 2 hours and caught bass or bluegill on 95% of my casts. Only two of the bass were females as most were males protecting the beds. Same with the bluegill as only the males were up on the beds.

I did find a few female gills, about a dozen over 9", staging off the beds in 5-6' of waters, in wood. In fact, I found the most of them by wading in the lake near the sanding boat landing and sneaking up on them. And it took big peices of worm, not small ones, and not waxies, to get them. I released them all so they could do their thing. I'll come back for them a little later when they hit that post spwn feed.

I never did take the time to drop the camera in the water to find the water temp but I'm sure it was around 72-75 as it wasn't cold at all wading.

You may be asking yourself, "hey, I'm fishing a 500 acre lake this weekend, what good does a report fro a 100 acre lake do for me?" Well, each lake, big or small, has indiviual lakes in it. What I mean by that is even the 100 acre lake I fished was not producing every where. You had to find the pattern. One of them was the lake was at about 70-75 degrees and the bass were going off the beds and the gills were staging. Find these water temps and conditions on a part of the 500 acre lake you are fishing and the same pattern should hold true.

The weather is suppose to be stablizing for the next week or so, highs around 75 and lows around 50. That's perfect for this time of year. Remember to take all kinds of bait with you now as the transition from minnows to crawlers and leeches will be taking place and you don't want to be in the boat fishing with something the fish don't want.

Get up here is you know what's good fishing for you!
Jeff Bolander <jeff@upnorthpublishing.com>
- Tuesday, May 30, 2006 at 13:14:30 (CDT)

LOOK OUT! Warming temps, calmer winds, sun shine, water temps crossing the 60 degree mark and Memorial Day. The next week is going to be dynamite for fishing. Here's what I'm looking forward to:

Perch: Small minnows on small jigs in warming mud bottomed waters. Anywhere from 4' to 15' depending on water clarity, darker the water, the shallower the fish.

Bluegill, Sunfish: Waxies and worms on small ice jigs in greening shallow reeds and grass on Northern shores. You should almost be able to see the fished backs in the shallows.

Crappies: Minnows on small jigs in greening weeds on north shores in 2 to 10' of water on the bottom or suspending half way up. Remeber to fish above them at all times.

Walleye: Summertime is here for them. Try 10' to 20' deep humps of rocks and gravel. Use Walleye minnows and leeches and crawlers, one of which should work on a 1/16 or 1/8 oz jig. There should be small windos at dusk and dawn to catch them hitting the minnows in the rock to mud lines in 2 to 10 feet of waters. Use minnows or twitch rapala type baits.

Northern: Put your net in the water and they'll swim in. Well, maybe not that easy, but close. Spinner baits rolled slow to med speeds through weeds to open areas up to 10' deep. Minnow baits and live bait casted or under slip bobbers are working also.

Musky: Slow retreives, small baits, and most importantly, fish for something else and they will come after you.

Bass: They are spawning so look for beds and pluck them off with cralwers and minnows for LM Bass and Leeches for SM Bass.

Hey, get up here if you know what's good fishing for you!
Jeff Bolander <jeff@upnorthpublishing.com>
- Tuesday, May 23, 2006 at 17:55:02 (CDT)

What an Opener weekend. On Saturday it was cold enough that we had to clear ice from our rod guides every two or three casts. And the fishing was tough. Trout catches were 1/10 of last year's but not surprisingly with the harshness of the cold front that came through. It scared a lot of fisherman off too.

Sunday was a different story. Water temps up from the lower 50's to the upper 50's, sunshine, lower winds, and a lot more fish caught. I hunted Crappies in the afternoon, on shallow north bays and caught bluegill, perch, bass, sunfish, walleye and lost a good musky. Luckily, others in the boat caught some crappie, but that's this time of year, a mixed bag, ACTION. Even a couple of turtles were caught! Minnows, waxies, and small jigs were the baits to use.

Then we headed out for walleyes on a smaller dark lake and did well. We caught close to twenty but could only keep one. All were caught on jumbo leaches and Powerbait twisters on 1/16 jigs pulled through the weeds near the weed line. Again, North, northwest shorelines, rock or sand into mud.

Another nasty cold front is due in on Thursday and I'm sure it will make thing difficult for a day or so, but this time of year, the fronts don't seem to effect the fish that long. Well, I got a few more spots I want to hit before I head south to my daughter's college graduatiuon this weekend so I better get going.

Get up here, if you know what's good fishing for ya.
Jeff Bolander <jeff@upnorthpublishing.com>
- Tuesday, May 09, 2006 at 17:09:25 (CDT)

i was looking for crappie and bluegill in secluded bays off the main lakes on the manitowish waters chain. the waters there was 55 on top and 51 20 feet down. the water had just turned over while the main lake basin hadn't yet. and by the way, the water level on the chain is ABOVE SUMMER normal. can you beleive it? a summer of busted props and tough skiing and now when the level should be in draw down, it's above where it should be in the summer. we did get ALOT of rain in the last few days.

i did catch a couple of fish but it was very much like ice fishing. bobbers and deadsticking didn't work. you had to hold the hold and feel the tension change as the fish were swimming up to the bait and putting it in their mouth without moving it. pretty typical for being so close to turnover.

i suspect that the main lake basins on the chain, and other lakes like them, will turn in the next couple of days. problem is though, we have some more unseasonably warm weather coming. hopefully they'll turn over and stay that way. a few years back we had another turnover in middle-late november and that really messed things up for early ice.

the next week should be hot as other species that are fall spawners are staging near creek beds and lake inlets. i'll let you know more when i know it.
jeff <jeff@upnorth.info>
- Sunday, October 09, 2005 at 00:02:17 (CDT)