Vilas County Lakes

A nice weekend for those fortunate enough to get out on the water.  Cooling night time temps with comfortable daytime.  Plenty of action from many species, good weather with good fishing – can’t be beat!
 
These first two fish species reports, I want to thank the WISCO Bass Anglers Single Series for helping out.  37 anglers registered 182 bass with 5 fish limits.   Amongst the top ten contestants averaging 2 1/2 – 3 1/2# in weight.
 
Smallmouth Bass:  Very Good – Lots of action as the mornings warmed.  Tubes, drop-shots and Ned rigs for the bulk of the action.  Lots of 14-18” fish reported over the weekend with some bruisers to 21 1/2” boated.  Mostly off shore humps and coontail edges, but some big fish up shallow!
 
Largemouth Bass:  Very Good – Better as wind picked up each day.  Reports of some big fish in lily pads.  Fish to 5#’s.  Top-water action good in shallows.  Wacky Worms and jig/sweet beavers in weeds.
 
Bluegill:  Very Good – Very nice Gills of 8-9 3/4” on crawler halves under floats in 7-9’.   Mid-morning action picks up from colder early AM.  Even picking up larger Gills on Crappie minnows meant for Crappies.  With weeds still looking healthy, good time to capitalize on this bite!
 
Musky:  Good-Very Good – Shallow weeds, 3-8’ working bucktails, swimbaits and top-waters (Dr. Evils, Pacemakers up front, follow up with anglers in back casting Flaptails or Hawg Wobblers).  Evening, top-water best!
 
Yellow Perch:  Good-Very Good – Lake fish relating to cabbage and wood in 6-10’.  Crawlers, medium fats on 1/16 oz weedless jigs or under slip-floats.  Flowage fish scattered, working woody bottoms.  Same methods, fewer, but larger fish (9-12”).
 
Northern Pike:  Good – Cooling temps getting Pike in mood to chase.  Spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, #3 and #4 Mepps Aglias, as well as 4” swimbaits, getting it done!  Jigging or floating a big chub or sucker also nice way to spend a beautiful September afternoon.
 
Walleye:  Good – Bite varies, but Walleyes active in both deep gravel/mud locations on Shiver Minnows and Jigging Raps, as well as working 1/8 or 1/4 oz jigs tipped with crawlers or large fatheads.  Don’t give up on weeds yet.  Also finding Walleyes in shallower (6-9’) weeds and wood.
 
Crappie:  Fair-Good – Picking up as anglers targeting Crappies reporting action in afternoons casting small twisters (1&2”) on 1/32 oz & 1/16 oz jig heads.  Kalin Crappie Scrubs, Mini Mites also picking up some nice slabs this weekend to 13+”!

Continued cool mornings (lows forecasted to hit 40) with mild warm ups to upper 60’s to 70 for the rest of the week should bode well.  Water temps have dropped at the surface into the upper 60’s and fish activity should only improve from here out.

Client and friend Dave and I were out for some early fall action. We caught appox. 20 walleyes all on jigs with fatheads. These fish have moved to their fall locations in 22 to 26 depths. 

Fished Wednesday with Dave on a big lake for walleyes for 4 hours. Hit few schools caught 3 shorts, 5 keepers and a 26”. Walleyes were on gravel in about 25 to 29 fow. Jig and crawlers caught all are fish 

As summer winds down, temps felt more mid-summer like with highs by Monday (9/4) hitting upper 90’s.  Surface water temps surged up, cracking 80 degrees+ on many lakes.  That’s quite a jump up from the upper 60’s of mid-week last.  We actually had air temp lows in upper 30’s then!  With a new front coming in 9/6 and forecasted highs not to crack 60 degrees until Friday after that, angler expectations are all over the board.  We’ve seen some species biting better while others seem to have “moved out”.
 
Smallmouth Bass:  Very Good – September is a time where it seems to be two separate locations to find Smallies.  Numbers wise and some big fish are relating to gravel/rock humps.  Look for these areas in 16-28’, drop-shotting 3” Wacky Worms, minnow imitations and craw imitations.  Football jigs with smaller Sweet Beavers and other creature baits also effective.  There also seems to be a small population of big Smallies that prefer to work the inside weed lines, mixed in with September Muskies, that love to attack top-water baits such as Whopper Ploppers, Buzzbaits and Topper Stoppers.  These fish always are 18”+ fish, big tough guys who don’t mind hanging with the Skis.
 
Bluegill:  Very Good – Actively working over weeds and around docks (perfect timing for Labor Day family fishing.)  Nothing special, just worms. waxies or Mini-mites.  Some larger Gills being caught around deeper weeds of 10-14’.   Some even taking small minnows meant for Crappies.
 
Yellow Perch:  Very Good-Good – Drowned wood and cabbage patches!  Perch feeding on small crayfish and insects utilizing these areas taking beavertails, 1/2 crawlers and medium fatheads on light jigs or slip-floats in 6-10’.
 
Walleye:  Good-Fair – Action improving!  Despite heat bites building on gravel humps of 15-28’ (depending on lake) jigging/dragging 1/8 oz jigs tipped with crawlers, large fats or medium redtails.   Jigging Shiver Minnows and Raps also producing.
 
Largemouth Bass:  Fair-Good – Some of the action has slowed (could be with Musky controlling shallow weeds).  Probing deeper weeds with Ned rigs, Ned craws, tubes and Wacky Worms producing.   Still some good top-water evening action on frogs, buzzbaits on shallower lakes.
 
Musky:  Fair-Good – With heat, most anglers laid off targeting due to the stress it would put these fish through.  Early mornings using fast moving bucktails, top-water lures best.  Those that did report fishing noticed action died off when temps started to rise mid-morning.  Should improve with cooler weather by weekend.
 
Northern Pike:  Fair – Not loving the heat this weekend.  Should see a uptick in action as water cools by week’s end.  Some reaction hits on chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, but best on live bait during heat.
 
Crappie:  Fair? – Lots of anglers searching, but not much for lake action.  Deep weeds best, but hard to locate.  Some Flowage fish found near wood.  Medium fatheads under slip-floats best.
 
The drastic change in temps from Monday (9/4) through Wednesday should make for a bit of a slow down on Thursday.  Though the lower water temps shouldn’t be a big issue for anglers targeting Musky, Walleye, Smallies, Crappies, and Pike.

(NO FISH NO PAY (GUARANTEED!)
Hot this afternoon.
Live bait and deep rocks for this late day bite.
All fish on live bait.
The larger rocks, for us, on this rock bar were producing,
Water temp at 70, where we were fishing although, this is going to change during the next few days as a large cold front is approaching.
Day 4.
Same clients again for tomorrow.
Some openings in September and October.
As always, stay positive think clearly, do not listen to negative talk and do not listen to negative people.

God Bless John Andrew

Wed-sunday "on big deep lakes" lol were great for big walleyes. Hard to find the keepers actually.  But all the lakes had the exact same bite going. 

These fish are feeding on crayfish and Cisco in low light then just in the middle of nowhere through the day.  In the dark was actually the hardest time to locate due to them being so close to the surface with the bait at certain hrs or so close to the bottom eating crayfish.

Long story short the last day we ended with 30 walleyes in 4hrs on a highly guided lake. Only 3 shorts our limit and the rest over 20" From 7am-11am. Every day we pounded slot walleyes and always fewer keepers than big fish 

Auntie Bevie and I had a very good day on a large area Lake over the holiday weekend. We caught enough nice perch for several fish fries. 10 to 12 feet in the cabbage beds produced some fast action.

(NO FISH NO PAY (GUARANTEED!)

Switched over to Walleye for the day.

Some rain during the time this photo was taken.

All fish on live bait. Rocky section of this rock bar was producing, water temp at 69, where we were fishing.

Day 3.

Same clients for tomorrow. Some openings in September and October.

As always, stay positive think clearly, do not listen to negative talk and do not listen to negative people.
God Bless John Andrew

(NO FISH NO PAY (GUARANTEED!)

The pattern is still the same, deep wood, live bait.
 
Very big fish are being produced as shown.
 
Day 2.
 
As of now, this lake is a new option. 
 
Same clients for tomorrow. 
 
Some of the best clients any Guide could want to fish with, these are extremally hard working and loving parents to there 3 daughters.
 
Some openings in September and October.
 
As always, stay positive think clearly, do not listen to negative talk and do not listen to negative people.
 
God Bless John Andrew

Yesterday had Jim in the boat all day walleye fishing on a big lake. Started out on a bunch of short walleye’s then we went to different school, got two slot fish and a few more short walleye’s. Hit a few more school and we ended with 4 keepers 3 slot walleyes and I don’t know how many shorts. We were in 20’ to 25’ of water using jig and crawlers. Thanks Jim we had some fun.