Oneida County

Fisherpeople are still doing well here in the northwoods.  The weather continues to cooperate and it looks to be continuing that way for the near future.  I find it hard to believe that it's the middle of August already.  Where did this summer go?  Weed growth is pretty normal right now and water temps are in the mid 70' almost everywhere.  The water level in the Rainbow and Willow flowages are down 10 and 8 feet respectively.  Put this website in your favorites for up to date info on the flowages water levels http://www.wvic.com/WaterReports/Water_Level_Report.cfm

As far as the fishing goes not much has changed lately which in this case is good.  Walleye are active in 20-25 fow, Small mouth and large mouth bass are on fire in their usual haunts, perch are in the muds, gills are also in deeper water and the really good news is that the crappie are active in deep water or in the deep sand grass.  

Leeches are done for the season.  I know, a sad day for many.  But there are alternatives.  One really good one is the leech plastic by Gitzit.  Very unique shape that allows the bait to float up and down like a real leech on jig being retrieved or even on a slip bobber.  Those of you that have used their paddle tails and tubs in the past know how soft and full of scent they are and how well they work.

I know some guys think that fishing with a Garmin Livescope unit should be banned, and it's usually the ones that don't have them, but using one doesn't preclude someone from throwing fish back.  And, conversely to what the naysayers think, the fish do not jump into the boat as soon as you put the transducer in the water!  My wife and I went fishing for a couple of hours the other day (pretty rare in itself) and found some crappies using the Livescope.  But the schools of crappies did not contain hungry fish.  The fish we caught were chasing minnows in the grass in 20 fow.  The Livescope didn't show them.  We kept 10 of them, as we didn't have anything in the freeze at the time, and threw the rest back.  Yes, the Livescope helped but we still had to figure out the MO of the feeding fish.  My buddy Lyle, who just purchased a Livescope setup through us, echoed the only complaint I here from guys who have one.  "It sure is frustrating to see all those fish down there ignoring us!"

The lakes are starting to empty out a little with school starting in some areas so now is the perfect time to hit the water and make some memories.  Take the kids out, find a deep weed edge and enjoy the smiles.
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We got a big WAREHOUSE WINTER PRE-SEASON SALE going on now.  If you're thinking about a new Auger, Shelter, Flip-Over, Hub, clothing and/or any type of electronics, now may be the best time to buy them. Most items are at cost or below.  See the web site for details.  The sale is limited to items in stock, in-store or on the website.  No special orders.  Blackfish gear is still 20% off right now.

Right now for live bait we have Jumbo Crawlers, Small crawlers, Panfish Worms, Wax worms, Crappie Minnows, Regular Fatheads, XL Fatheads, Dace, Blacktails, Redtails, Walleye Suckers, Medium and Large Musky Suckers.  LEECHES ARE DONE FOR THE SEASON.

Our normal weekly hours are:
Monday thru Thursday from 5am to 7pm
Friday from 5am to 8pm
Saturday and Sunday 5am to 6pm

Let's squelch a few rumors.  The shop is for sale.  Business is great but Linda and I are ready to retire.  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 our Realtor, Eric Johnson, at 715-892-1234 or call Jeff at 715-892-2751.

Jeff Bolander, owner of Dewey, Catchem and How Bait Shop and Guide Post at www.DeweyCatchemAndHow.com

Facebook page at facebook.com/DeweyCatchemAndHow
Thursday
 
8/18/23

Starting to show some signs of a mid-August cool off.   Water temps dropped into the low 70’s and certain weeds are just starting to fade.  Patterns seem to be holding with some day-to-day changes relating to cooler nights and wind directions.  Overall, should not be seeing much of a change with a warm spell on the way for the weekend, into next week.
 
Smallmouth Bass:  Very Good-Good – Drop-shotting craw and 3” minnow imitations along coontail edges of 14-18’, as well as rock/gravel humps in 18-26’ producing well for Smallies in the 15-20” range.
 
Largemouth Bass:  Very Good-Good – Heavy cabbage in 8-12’ during the day using Wacky Worms has been outstanding.  Top-water action has slowed with cool mornings, still good in evenings.  Warm up this weekend will improve top-water bite.
 
Bluegill:  Very Good-Good – Work weed tops in 6-12’ with small tubes, Mini-Mites or switch to small leeches.  Nice Gills of 7 1/2 – 9”+ this past week.
 
Yellow Perch:  Good – Bite cooled off with drop in surface temp, but still good in heavy cabbage for nice 8-10”+ Perch or 1/2 crawlers/beavertails.
 
Musky:  Good-Fair – Bucktail action best mornings and evenings, along with top-water.  Cooler mornings slower, try twitchbaits or slower moving swimbaits.
 
Crappie:  Fair – Finding fish hardest part.  Work tall narrow leaf cabbage with small spinners or twister tails to locate fish.   Work back with live minnows to entice reluctant fish.
 
Walleye:  Good-Fair – Slight drop in water temp, changing wind brought building good bite to a halt mid-week.  Best reports have been anglers using Shiver Minnows in depth of 22-30’ of soft mud along hard bottom breaks.  Crawlers on spinner rigs drifted/trolled along same deep mud.
 
Northern Pike:  Fair-Poor – “In the summer, Pike lose their teeth and don’t bite”!  Old (fishermen’s) wife’s tale I’m starting to believe!  Few reports.
 
The early part of this week has seen a continuation of late last week’s cool down.  Bass seem to be OK with it, but other species off.  Heat by weekend (temps to hit high 80’s to 90’s+) should improve some bites for most game fish.   Rain this week is needed, low levels on most lakes and the Flowages.

Fished with Jim and Jimmy this morning on a big clear lake for walleyes. Found fish in 22 to 25 fow all over the lake over weeds and on mid lake humps. Slip bobbers on leeches is what we use to get are walleyes. Thanks guys you were great. I have days open. 

Stable Northwoods summer weather has helped lock in some good fishing patterns of late.  Surface lake temps have pushed into the upper 70’s with highs of 78 degrees being recorded.  Activity has been up as the week progressed with both Bass species, Gills, Perch and Musky activity topping the charts.
 
Bluegill:  Very Good – Depending on size and lake type, Gills providing great action in either 8-12’ cabbage or outside coontail edges of 14-18’ suspended 6-8’ down.  Small leeches, Mini-Mites, 1” twisters all under small floats to set depth have been very effective.  Lots of action with size!  Poppers in the evening along inside weed lines producing on these warm nights.
 
Largemouth Bass:  Very Good – Early AM for twitchbait action (Husky Jerks, X-Raps) on inside weed edges.   Throughout mid-morning until early evening, Largemouth feeding heavily on crayfish (according to the puke in my boat).   Working Wacky Worms, jig/creature, Sweet Beavers on Carolina rigs HOT!  Evenings cast plastic frogs, spiders, jitterbugs and Whopper Ploppers over shallow weeds, lily pads or docks.
 
Smallmouth Bass:  Very Good – Smallie action heating up with the water temps.  Humps and bars with rock/gravel tops in 16-26’ producing nice big Smallies on drop-shot rigs and Ned rigs.  Lots of 17-19” with plenty of 20-22” to make for some very memorable fights.
 
Yellow Perch:  Good-Very Good – Nice Perch working cabbage flats taking 1/2 crawlers on weedless 1/16 oz jigs (orange, brown, red, green) as Perch feeding heavily on crayfish in same areas as Largemouth.  Some anglers working Lindy style rigs baited with beavertails (small crawlers) and medium fatheads.
 
Musky:  Good – Top-water action on Dr. Evils, Fat Bastards, Whopper Ploppers good early and late in the day.  Bucktails have been best overall covering weed beds and outside edges.  Some off-shore action reported by anglers using rubber baits and big blade baits over open water.
 
Walleye:  Fair-Good – Some decent reports from anglers working 12-16’ weed edges with crawlers.   Action inconsistent, but nice “eater” fish of 15-19” working weed perimeters.  Flowage Eyes relating to wood.  Slip-floats with crawlers or leeches.  Trollers on large lakes reporting fish suspended 22-28’ down on cranks though mostly slot fish (20-24”), few eaters.
 
Crappie:  Fair-Good – Best around deep weeds using Kalins Crappie Scrubs, Beetle spins or 2” twister tails to locate fish suspended 1-2’ below weed tops in 10-16’ of water.  Work slip-float spread with Crappie minnows once active fish found.
 
Northern Pike:  Fair-Poor – Action off for most anglers.  Live bait (chubs/suckers) drug through heavy weeds on weedless jigs best.  Some spinnerbait action reported, but bite off.
 
Looks like surface temps will start to slowly come down as air temp highs go from low 80’s to upper 60/low 70’s over the next week.  Should see a continuation of the strong bites for Bass, Perch and Musky.  Nothing in forecast looks worrisome.
 

Fishing is pretty darn good right now.  Panfish are on fire on the deep weed edges.  The deeper the weed edge the bigger the panfish.  You can always go shallower but then the fish get smaller.  I had 4 guys out a couple of days ago and for 6 hours straight they caught one fish after another.  I sat in the middle of the boat taking fish off the hook and replacing their bait with another crawler or plastics, for six hours!  Bluegill, sunfish, rock bass, sm bass, lm bass, walleye and perch were caught.  And this has been the rule lately, not the exception.

There are so many ways to catch fish right now it is a great time to widen your scope of baits.  If there is something you haven't tried, get out there and try it now.  The fish will tell you when you presentation is good and when it is lacking.  If you're not sure how to get started on a new MO come on into the shop and we'll get you going.

Ya gotta get our there now.  We're in a good window so take advantage of it.  I do have a few guide openings left, not many, but I might be able to find you another one if we can't hook up.  See ya on the water or in the shop (or the golf course).
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We got a big Winter Pre-Season Sale going on now.  If you're thinking about a new Auger, Shelter, Flip-Over, Hub, clothing and/or any type of electronics, now may be the best time to buy them. Most items are at cost or below.  See the web site for details.  The sale is limited to items in stock.  No special orders.

Hey, the shop is set up for summer right now.  Folks come in frequently and tell us our selection is second to none!  And they are correct.  If you can't make it in you can always order from our website, at www.deweycatchemandhow.com and we'll ship your order to you or hold for you until you get here.  We add new items there all the time.  Blackfish gear is 20% off right now.

Right now for live bait we have Jumbo Crawlers, Small crawlers, Panfish Worms, Wax worms, Crappie Minnows, Regular Fatheads, XL Fatheads, Dace, Blacktails, Redtails, Walleye Suckers, Medium and Large Musky Suckers, Jumbo Leeches, Panfish Leeches, and M/L Mix Leeches

Our normal weekly hours are:
Monday thru Thursday from 5am to 7pm
Friday from 5am to 8pm
Saturday and Sunday 5am to 6pm

Let's squelch a few rumors.  The shop is for sale.  Business is great but Linda and I are ready to retire.  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 our Realtor, Eric Johnson, at 715-892-1234 or call Jeff at 715-892-2751.
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Jeff Bolander, owner of Dewey, Catchem and How Bait Shop and Guide Post at www.DeweyCatchemAndHow.comFacebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DeweyCatchemAndHow
Thursday 8/4/23

As we pass through July, finally getting some consistently summer like weather, fishing has also improved.  Surface water temps are slowly moving into the mid-70’s.   Typical mid-summer patterns are holding as we should have a couple weeks before the first cold mid-August nights start to change things.
 
Largemouth Bass:  Very Good – Best overall action in cabbage flats of 8-12’ using Wacky Worms, jig/creature combos.  Top-water action in the evenings as well as jerk baits over shallow weeds in the am.
 
Smallmouth Bass:  Very Good – Ned rigs along coontail edges and drop-shotting gravel humps producing very well.   Slip-bobber 1/16 oz hair jigs or large leeches over these same areas, suspend 2-3’ off bottom.
 
Bluegill:  Very Good – Gills active through and over weed tops.  Tiny tubes, 1” twisters worked across weeds to find active Gills.   Continue with waxies or worms.  Poppers in the shallows in the evenings.
 
Yellow Perch:  Good – Nice Perch scattered in heavy cabbage.  Jig small crawlers or medium leeches.  Follow up with slip-floats in pockets of 8-12’ cabbage.
 
Musky:  Good – Mornings and evenings casting top-water (Dr. Evils, Fat Bastards, Whopper Ploppers and Flap Tails-for a slow follow up) working.  Bucktails and spinnerbaits mid-morning through afternoons until evening, top-water bite returns.
 
Northern Pike:  Good – Cool mornings jig live chubs or suckers, follow up with chatterbaits or spinnerbaits as temps climb by mid-morning.
 
Crappie:  Fair – Scattered and inconsistent by most reports.  Work tall weeds casting 1/16 oz jigs/2” twisters or Mini Mite jigs suspended below small floats.
 
Walleye:  Fair – Small windows of action using crawlers or leeches along outside weed lines of 12-16’ in early AM.  Gravel humps of 18-26’ at night using lighted slip-floats with the largest leeches available.
 
Consistent temps should hold patterns for next couple weeks.   Overcast days and days of Canadian smog have helped bite on certain days.

What a great morning.It was this couples first time fishing ever. We boated a lot of fish. Bass, Crappies and Bluegills. They had a great time. They never had a fish fry before so they finished the day with fresh fish fry with coleslaw, baked beans, and french fries. All fish were taken on inside and outside weed lines in 6 to 8 feet of water on a large clear lake with water temperature of 72 degrees. The bass were taken on plastic worms and the pan fish on small plastics. Same area as the bass but the pan fish wanted wood around the weeds. We had a northwest wind about 7 mph. The fish were on the wind blown shore side.
Everyday we get to be alive and in the outdoors is a blessing.
Thank you Lord.
God Bless

Summer is heating up…again…here in the Northwoods!   Following some cool mornings last week, temps are rising into the upper 80’s this week, pushing lake surface temps up with them.  This warming trend should put the bites back into early mornings and evenings more than the previous week when cool mornings held bites off until mid/late AM.
 
Largemouth Bass:  Good-Very Good – Top-water action in the evenings has been getting good reports as anglers finding active fish hitting Whopper Ploppers, Jitterbugs, Frogs and Buzzbaits.  Pre-rigged plastic worms, twitchbaits (Husky Jerks) and Wacky Worms getting the nod mornings and afternoons.
 
Smallmouth Bass:  Good-Very Good – Sandgrass flats, off-shore humps, rock slides holding good numbers and size.  Drop-shotting Z-Man Craws and 3” Gulp Alive Minnows, as well as Ned rigging, has scored nice Smallies this past week from those targeting these fighters.  Simple slip-floating hair jigs or large leeches along coontail edges in 14-18’ of water also producing nice fish of 16-19”.
 
Bluegill:  Good-Very Good – Daytime work weed tops of cabbage flats in 8-10’ using Mini-Mites, 1” twisters or small leeches under small slip-floats.  Evenings fish poppers on the surface around calm shores.
 
Yellow Perch:  Good – Heat has Perch action picking up.  Both cabbage flats, and on deeper lakes sand grass flats, Perch taking beaver tails or pieces of crawlers.  On Flowages, target drowned wood using slip-floats with medium fatheads or beaver tails
 
Musky:  Good – Action picking up on top-water (Dr. Evils, Pacemakers, Flaptails and Fat Bastards), as well as bucktails, over weed flats.  Musky seem to be found all over, in water as shallow as 2-3’ and out along deep weeds (coontail) in 18-20’.  Deeper fish responding to rubber baits.
 
Crappie:  Good – Weed tops in 10-14’ using Kalin Crappie Scrubs or other 2” twister style plastics.  Fish are scattered, picking up fish here and there.
 
Northern Pike:  Fair – A recent drop off in activity by most reports.  Live chubs and suckers on weedless jigs or below floats when Pike not willing to chase spinnerbaits or chatterbaits.
 
Walleye:  Fair – Some signs of scattered late Mayfly hatches could be a reason for the “soft” Walleye reports.  Crawlers, redtails and the largest leeches available to tempt during small windows of activity.
 
Scattered weather in the form of small showers and warming water is a bit of an inconvenience, but should help spur some good action for both Bass species and Musky this week.

Fished Saturday with father and son on a big clear lake for 6 hours walleye fishing. John and Alex caught a bunch of walleye’s with slip bobbers and leeches and jig and crawler in 14 to 25 fow over weeds and on gravel bars. Was a good day to be out on the lake fishing with new friends. Thanks guys was a good time. 

As you might imagine, we have a lot of folks coming in and asking for fishing tips on the lake they are staying on.  Most of the time we can help unless it is a smaller lake with no public landing.  If that's the case then we try to match their lake description with another body of water we are familiar with.  Another great tool we tell them about are the numerous guide maps that we have on our website that are free to look at and print out if you would like.  These maps were all hand drawn by Tommy Zinda.  Many of you are familiar with that name as Tommy was a guide in this region for most of his life.  He was a fisherman through and through.  He died a few years back from cancer but before he left he asked me to put these maps on our website but not to sell them.  I honored that request.  They aren't to scale but they are stuffed with great tips and hot spots to find fish on the particular lake.  Tommy was never shy about telling people where and how to catch fish.  Even in the end, his last few days, you could find him on the water plying his love of catching that big one, or any one for that matter.  So, feel free to use the maps and tip a cold one to the sky when you catch one because of his advice.  I'm sure he'll be watching.

Thank goodness we finally got some rain.  We were fishing the other day and the fish were coming out dry!  Never seen that before! (hee hee) With the rain came a few cold fronts but nothing major.  The fish are cooperating very nicely right now.  Find those fish truck stops, you know, green weeds next to deep water or rocks and timber next to deep water, and you'll catch fish.  

Bass, largemouth, smallmouth and rock are hot right now.  Find a truck stop and you might be there for hours.  Crappie are starting to come on a little after a month or so of absences.  That makes a lot of fisherman up here really happy.  Northern not so much but perch are also great this year.  We've caught some real honkers this year.  Gills?  Well they've been weird, too.  But any day now, eh?  And walleye?  Well they're walleye.  The guys that have been doing the best are trolling with crank baits next to the truck stops.  They have banged some real beauties.  Want to know the effects of people not keeping walleyes?  Fish the Minocqua chain.  You can't not catch a bunch of walleyes out there.  The chain has had a 0 bag limit now for about 8 years so they are everywhere.  Poor little perch ain't got a chance anymore.

Bait choices to use now are plentiful.  For live bait, crawlers are number one, then leaches on a slip bobber, then minnows.  Of course I'll get many arguments on that but whatever works for you is what is working.  I my boat, nothing beats a 1/32 oz jig tipped with a half of crawler.

Plastics are just as good as live bait right now.  The key is knowing how to use the myriad of styles, colors and brands out there.  I know more and more folks are using them by the number of hooks we go through and the fact that our 30 ct bags of wacky worms are our number one seller.  100 ct bags are close behind.

Ya gotta get our there now.  We're in a good window so take advantage of it.  I do have a few guide openings left, not many, but I might be able to find you another one if we can't hook up.  See ya on the water or in the shop (or the golf course).
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Hey, the shop is set up for summer right now.  Folks come in frequently and tell us our selection is second to none!  And they are correct.  If you can't make it in you can always order from our website, at www.deweycatchemandhow.com and we'll ship your order to you or hold for you until you get here.  We add new items there all the time.  Blackfish gear is 20% off right now.
Right now for live bait we have Jumbo Crawlers, Small crawlers, Panfish Worms, Wax worms, Crappie Minnows, Regular Fatheads, XL Fatheads, Dace, Blacktails, Redtails, Walleye Suckers, Medium and Large Musky Suckers, Jumbo Leeches, Panfish Leeches, and M/L Mix Leeches

Our normal weekly hours are: 
Monday thru Thursday from 5am to 7pm
Friday from 5am to 8pm
Saturday and Sunday 5am to 6pm

Let's squelch a few rumors.  The shop is for sale.  Business is great but Linda and I are ready to retire.  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 our Realtor, Eric Johnson, at 715-892-1234 or call Jeff at 715-892-2751.

Jeff Bolander, owner of Dewey, Catchem and How Bait Shop and Guide Post at www.DeweyCatchemAndHow.comFacebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DeweyCatchemAndHow
Thursday 7/20/23