Musky Shop Northwoods Fishing Report: Late July
Hi Everyone,
We hope you're all having a great summer. Fishing in the Northwoods of Wisconsin has been good. Lots of all species are being caught.
One of our guide staff members Fred Palermno and his clients have been having great success catching lots of really nice Crappies and panfish as well as some really nice smallmouth bass too. Kalin’s Crappie Scrubs as well as Crappie Minnows, Leeches, and Nightcrawlers have been working great. Most of the bite has been in the 8'-12' range in weed cover and wood.
Walleye have been sliding in and out a bit. Good numbers are being caught in the 15'-25' humps using drop-shot rigs and a leech, crawler, or Redtail chub. We've had a few pretty severe cold fronts move through and during the fronts, walleye seem to move a bit shallower and tighter to structure. But after the front moved through the Walleye bite picked up and a lot were on the humps and weed lines. Floating Rapalas work great and trolling a Northland spinner with any of the above live bait works as well. One of our guide staff members Josh Kreger and his clients caught a bunch of nice walleye in the 13'-16' sand grass on a jig and XL Fathead minnow.
Musky fishing has been up and down as the weather has had some extreme changes and cold temps, but Muskies are still being caught. During the cold front, we hopped in the boat with Josh Kreger and caught 2 Muskies, lost one, and missed another boat side. We had to work hard for them but it is a testament that during a strong cold front look for a lake or lakes that have a good density of muskies and work slowly and methodically. Most of the time muskies will move toward the shallows so move in and work bucktails, twitching crankbaits, and surface baits in and around cover, and most likely you will find them. After the cold front, move out a bit, and cover the deepest weed edge where you can cover the top of the weeds, the edge, and out of the edge.
If one can also fish in and around the major and minor feeding windows throughout the day or night, this will increase your chances for sure. However, the best thing is to go when you can go and be confident. If you have confidence in your approach, you will automatically be a better fisherman and up your odds for success Download the free Musky360 app for moon phases and tons of fishing information. And check out the weekly podcast as Steven Paul and staff member Jay Esse share a bunch of fun stories and in-depth fishing information.
Some lures we’ve had success on this week: Bucher Topraider, Mepps Single Flashabou, Lake X Lil’ B, and Slammer 6” Minnow Bait. Lastly, the suspended musky baits have produced action all season so far and for those of you who like to fish out of structure, don't be afraid to give this a go. You don't have to run your baits particularly deep as you will always want to keep your baits above the fish as muskies can swim up very fast. More great baits to use: 10” Red October Monster Tube, Big Fork Reef Diggers, and Toothy Tuff Assault Eels.
Well, that's it for this time around,
Good Fishing and God Bless,
Jim Stewart