Minocqua, Lac du Flambeau, St Germain, Boulder Junction, and Manitowish Waters Wisconsin open water and Ice Fishing Report

Thursday 5/9/24

If you haven't heard by now the walleye fishing is open to all on the MInocqua chain.  You are allowed to keep one fish over 18" but nothing over 22".  Remember you can still keep 5 largemouth bass and 5 northern pike with no size limitations.  Small mouth season will open on Father's Day weekend.

The Opener weekend was great.  But who cares.  We need to catch fish now, right!

Walleye didn't end up being as far into the spawn as we had thought.  But they are pretty much done now.  A few exceptions but now's a good time to go after them.  I would head to the shorelines near their pawning grounds and throw minnow bait plastics and crankbaits.  The males are on the feed now and will hit those baits aggressively.  Give those big females another few days before they go on the feed.  I fish a good hour and a half after sundown.  Same MO for the morning,  Get out there early.  During the day I'm on the warmest water with the greenest weeds giving off that fresh oxygen.  Weeds are ahead of schedule this year for a change so they shouldn't be too hard to find.  Fish the deep edges of them. The more sunlight the more the fish will be in the weeds where with less sunshine they will be outside of the weeds.

The other favorite fish this time of the year is Crappie.  They are in warm water enjoying the heat and chasing the little minnows that share their love of that warmth.  There are so many ways to catch them it's almost impossible to list them all.  The main thing is to use the lightest presentation you can and still feel the bite.  Start with a 1/64 oz jig and go from there.  Beetle spins, mister twisters, trout size spinner baits, a plain gold hook tipped with a minnow or crawler or leech or small plastic and a sinker under a slip boober.  My favorite plastics are Gulp! 1 1/2" minnows, Berkley Power Grubs (1 1/2") and Kalin Crappie Scrubs.  And sometimes color matters so don't be afraid to put a few different ones in your tackle box.

Me and a sales buddy fished a local lake last night and got about 50 crappie, 10 bluegills, 2 perch and 2 walleyes fishing with those lightly presented plastics.  All were released to fight again.  Proving again there is no one way to catch a fish.

Get out there!  The fishing is just gonna get better all the way though June.  I love this time of year.  You wanna make some memories and see some giant smiles?  Take a kid or two out to some shallow warm water with the above mentioned baits.  It's the reason we all fish.

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I've started taking a few reservations for guiding this summer.  That always warms my bones.  Give a call and we'll get out and have some fun.  All the info is on the website at https://deweycatchemandhow.com/pages/northwoods-fishing-guide-service

The shop is set up for open water tactics now.  A few new items and a whole bunch of your favorite tried and true weapons are hanging on the hooks waiting for you to pick up.

Right now for live bait we have Jumbo Panfish worms, Crawlers, Wax worms, White, Red, Blue, Green, Orange, Yellow, Pink & Multi-colored Spikes, Crappie Minnows, Regular Fatheads, XL Fatheads, Walleye Suckers, Dave Minnows, Mud Minnows, Blacktail Chubs, Northern Bait, Mousees!  

As far as leeches go we have to great batch of M/L and L/J.  As always we sell them by the dozen, 1/4. 1/2 and full pound.  Prices are on the website.

HOURS:
Monday thru Thursday - 5am to 6pm
Friday - 5am to 8pm
Saturday & Sunday - 5am to 6pm

We have to continue to squelch a few rumors.  The shop is still for sale.  Business is great but Linda and I are ready to ease into retirement.  WE ARE NOT GOING OUT OF BUSINESS!  If you have an interest in owning and operating the largest non-franchised bait shop in Wisconsin, call Jim Cheshire, Realtor, at 715-892-4223.