By George Langley
NORTHERN WISCONSIN – Now that fall is on the near horizon, we’re looking forward to some great fall fishing following a really active summer. Water temps have been in the mid-70s – great swimming on a hot day! The traffic on the lakes is slowing a bit now, which bodes well for daytime fishing, and the mosquitoes and flies seem to have backed off a bit. All in all, this is a great time of the summer.
Walleye fishing has stayed consistently good for numbers on all lakes. It seems harder to find some big fish at this time of year, but you can always catch some fish at the weed edges or off gravel points in 15 to 20 feet of water on the Chain. All bait types have been working very well, so minnows or leeches or half crawlers are all even in production. Evenings are best on the Chain, especially. Fish deeper during the daytime on the bigger lakes – weed edges at about 20 to 25 feet, at the dropoffs on the outside of the weeds. Leeches are definitely better on these bigger lakes.
Bass are hitting and hitting well in the area. Smallies are on the rocks, with the majority of them from 6 to 15 feet. While leeches are working, we are finding any weedless frog imitation plastics to be working best for these fish. Hard bottom is the key for these fish. Rocks in the boulder size seem to be the best holding areas, but gravel bottoms will also hold fish. Largemouth are hitting very well on plastics, with worms in darker colors the best producers. Try any shallow holding areas like piers or weeds. The great thing about bass is that they are hitting all day long, so you can go out whenever you feel like. Try some surface baits for the largemouth.
Panfish action is good, with bluegills leading the way. Good action has been reported daily in the deep weeds on all lakes, but you can try shallow cover, too. Crappie action has held up very well this year. Look for deeper weeds and brush piles for these guys, and use crappie minnows. Perch are in the deeper weeds also.
Northerns are hitting well in the weeds now, with good action reported throughout the area. Not a lot of real big ones, but good numbers of these fish are reported, especially in the mid to deeper weeds. Noisy, flashy baits work best. If you have some kids, try some northern suckers or chubs over weeds with slip bobbers for best action.
Musky action has been good in the area, with some nice fish being caught. They seem to be moving around with the weather, with some of the fish deeper, so you can fish both weeds with spinners and surface baits or deeper with plastics for the bigger fish. Night action has also been good, so if you are not getting fish at all on your lake you might think of night or evening fishing. The sunlight penetration and the heavy water traffic often cause these fish to change their feeding patterns at this time of year.
Good luck and good fishin’!