By George Langley
NORTHERN WISCONSIN – We’re getting some typical fall weather right now, albeit a bit warmer than we’re used to for this time of the season. Water temperatures remain in the 50s – we’re seeing both upper and lower 50s, depending on the body of water. Turnover is imminent, and we’ve heard of some smaller lakes where it has started. We’d love a good stretch of colder days and nights to get us past this time.
Walleye fishing is generally good at this point, although just like the water temperatures, we’re getting very different reports from different lakes. Fish are being caught on the deep flats and in the holes on many bodies of water. This makes them pretty easy to find, and these deep spots will be exactly where you’ll want to be after turnover, too. Jigs and minnows have been doing the trick, with walleye suckers or large fatheads working well. On the bigger lakes, you may have luck looking off the breaks, at hard bottom areas in water from 20 feet to 35 feet or so. Again, larger minnows seem to be the most common bait.
Bass action has slowed, and other than a few large smallies being caught in very deep water, we just haven’t heard much from those anglers. Some largemouth are still being caught in deeper weeds on plastics.
Northern action is good, with a lot of musky anglers reporting catches of northerns on musky baits while fishing in or near weeds. As usual, the deeper the weeds the better for these fish.
Musky action is decent, even with the warm weather we’ve recently had. The sucker bite has been getting good now, and we’ve also seen some great action on bucktails and jerk baits. It’s not yet time for a super slow retrieve or giant plastics. We’re just basically waiting for turnover to get to some of that really great late fall action.
Enjoy the warmer weather while you can. Those cold days on the water when it’s 40 and rainy – or worse yet, snowing – will be here soon enough.
Good luck and good fishin’!