Oneida County

Had John in the boat today for 6 hours walleye fishing on a big not so deep lake. We caught around 30 nice Walleye’s, 20 bass 2 nice blue gills and a perch. Fish came on slip bobbers and a leech in about 12 fow over weeds. I have days open in July through the end of October. Thanks John it was a great day.

Some cool temps moved into the area following all that heat pushing lake temps down into the mid-60s
(from highs of mid 70’s to 80’s just over a week ago).  The cold snap did take an effect on fishing, with a nice bounce back late in the week as things warmed, till the weekend when the chill rebounded.
 
Smallmouth Bass:  Very Good-Good - Actually still finding some bedding fish as late as June 8th on the larger lakes that warmed last.  Ned rigs, Wacky Worms, and Chug Bugs for the “nesters”.  Once off the nest, working Husky Jerks and X-Raps along 8–12’ breaks, providing some post spawn hawgs to 19” this week.
 
Largemouth Bass:  Very Good–Good - Some bedding starting, but cold stopped most.  Staging Largemouth, along 6–8’ weeds taking jig/creature combos and Wacky Worms.  Once waters move back into the 70’s watch for shallow bite to pick up on top-water.
 
Yellow Perch:  Very Good-Good - Best in the weeds of 5-8’. Thunderbugs, medium leeches and medium fats. Look for broad leafed cabbage (brown Musky cabbage) for best results.
 
Northern Pike:  Good - Best on live bait over the weekend as cool seemed to slow bite.  Jigging chubs or floating through 6-10’ cabbage best, not a lot of chasing, but a few nice fish to 30” this past week.
 
Walleye:  Fair-Very Good-Poor-Fair - Just a roller coaster as some minor buggy hatches (March Browns), cold and wind with a few nice warming days in between made a guy go from a goat to a hero to a goat again.  Jig and leeches proved best, but some decent action on minnows and crawlers on Walleyes relating to weeds.
 
Bluegill:  Good-Fair - Gills are getting active yet pushed out by cold front.  Best in heavy weeds of 5-8’ using worms, small leeches and thunder bugs.
 
Musky:  Good-Fair - Most reports of smaller fish (under 34”) hitting smaller bucktails in shallow weeds.  Need to see some temps rise to get top-water bite back.
 
Crappies:  Fair - Anglers locating Crappies, yet hard to get bites. Crappie minnows best when Crappies negative.  Flowage anglers in wood, lakes in 8-12’ weeds.
 
Looks like the temps going to slowly rise this week, but not bounce back till next week (mid-week).  We’ve needed the little rain we’ve gotten, but not the cold (lows in mid to upper 30’s at night!)  Lows in the upper 40s to mid-50s will make early morning bites better.  With air temps 25+ degrees colder than water temps, steam coming off water looks pretty, but tough on bite. Once air/water temps get closer, bite will improve.

Unseasonably hot weather the past week (three days hit low 90’s) have had water temps soaring.  Surface temps in the mid-70’s are common with some reports of temps hitting 80+.  Fortunately, the coming week sees some cooling with daytime highs in mid-70’s and lows at night in the 50’s.
 
Luckily, fishing has been hot!  Weed growth to hide the bugs and minnows hatching, as well as Largemouth Bass and Gills moving in to spawn, have given anglers lots of options.
 
Walleye:  Very Good-Good – Weed bite is on.  Anglers working cabbage of 4-8’ finding plenty of fish using 1/16 oz weedless Invasion jigs to present leeches and fatheads doing very well.  With all the cloudless days we’ve had, any wind has helped.
 
Smallmouth Bass:  Very Good-Good – Catch and Release only.  Spawn winding down, but great action on Ned rigs, Wacky Worms and top-water.   Post spawn Smallies out on first break away from spawning areas (usually 8-12’) smashing Husky Jerks, X-Raps, Rattlin Rouges.  Working craw imitations on jigs putting some nice 18-20” fish in the net.
 
Largemouth Bass:  Very Good-Good – Starting to bed and working shallows.  Lots of top-water action on Chug Bugs, Torpedos.  Wacky worming and Ned rigs easy choices.   Shallow cranks and light (1/8 oz) bass jigs with craw trailers.
 
Bluegill:  Very Good-Good – Bedding up and aggressive.  Poppers on fly rods or behind small floats.  Thunderbugs, small leeches, worms or tiny tubes all being gobbled up.
 
Yellow Perch:  Very Good-Good Active in same weed areas as Walleye.  Nice eater Perch of 9-11” being caught on leeches and minnows meant for Walleyes.  Thunderbugs a favorite of Perch, the hatch is happening quickly now with temps so high, so availability will end soon.
 
Northern Pike:  Good – With attention in the weeds for Walleye, some Pike getting caught, but not when Walleye seem to control the cabbage.  Still some nice Pike to 30” this past week.  Live bait out producing artificials.
 
Crappie:  Good-Fair – Spawn being over, Crappies recovering.  Very scattered throughout 8-12’ weeds (Narrow leafed cabbage).  Fan casting through weed tops with small beetle spins, Crappie Thumpers and Slider Charlie Bees best bet for finding scattered fish.
 
Musky:  Good-Fair – Smaller bucktails and surface baits producing best action for anglers working shallows of 4-10’.
 
These unusually high-water temps help to accelerate fish metabolism, causing the need to feed more often.  The bright sun is a negative, but target low light times (early mornings, evenings) and any wind to offset the light.  Would not be surprised to see some Hexagenia (big mayfly) hatches soon due to heat.  That will put a damper on the Walleye fishing we’ve been experiencing.  But hopefully a couple weeks away.

I swore after that long winter we just went through that I would never complain about anything this summer.  It's tough though.  The skeeters are unbelievable.  Com'on dragon flies!  We finally did see a few dragon flies last night on the water and a few of them were laying flay on the water as they were too full to get up!  Well, that might be a fish story.  And it was 85 and humid this morning.  But I'm not complaining...  My arms and back are sore from catching fish but I'm not complaining.

The fishing has been incredible.  Perfect timing with the weather and time of year has made for excellent fishing for pretty much all species.  If you can't catch a fish now just bring in all your gear and we'll find someone who can use it.

Crappies of course are king with most folks this time of year.  It's hard to keep enough crappie minnows in stock and we have room for 14 gallons of them at a time!  Guys and gals love chasing those buggers.  Depending on the lake, they are just in, just out or in the middle of the spawn.  All sorts of small plastics work as well as even full crawlers.

Smallies are coming on strong.  Just about every warm shoreline has them lurking around.  We caught a bunch last night in 1 foot of water next to 8 foot of water on 1/32 oz jigs tipped with full crawlers.  But I'm sure leeches, minnows and a myriad of other plastics would have worked, too.

A couple days before that we were fishing the warmest bay in the lake next to stumps and we pounded, walleye, perch and bullheads.  They were pounding the mud for beetle bugs.  We were using gulp minnows and full crawlers on 1/32 oz jigs.

The heat's not going to quit for a while so plan your day accordingly.  The water temps have jumped almost 20 degrees on some bodies of water in the past week.  And with the increased sunlight the weeds are starting to emerge.  Find the green ones and you'll find fish.

That's it kids.  Everything that was good last weekend in still a go for this weekend.  Take different types of live and fake baits out there cuz you never know when their taste buds will change. The crappie bite is hot, big female walleyes starting to feed and the bass somewhere in the spawning stage.  Yeah!  Also, seeing a lot more jumbo perch coming over the side of the boat by those greening weeds.  Oh, and Musky are shallow and feeding. So get out there with friends and family and make some memories.
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, spikes, Crappie Minnows, Regular Fatheads, XL Fatheads, Dace, Blacktails, Redtails, Walleye Suckers, Medium and Large Musky Suckers, Jumbo Leeches, Panfish Leeches, M/L Mix and L/J 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.

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 6/1/23

Such a wonderful Memorial Weekend!  Mother Nature showed great compassion by giving us a Memorial Weekend with not so much as even a threat of rain.  Warm weather, lots of sun, good fishing.  Not a thing to complain about…almost!  The mosquitos are horrendous!  We need Dragonflies!  Any place with no wind, shade, vegetation made me feel like King Kong on the Empire State Building (only I didn’t have my beautiful wife in one hand, needed both to swat the skeeters!).  Enough whining…It’s tough to rank which species of fish bit the best over the weekend, we had so many great reports.
 
Crappie:  Excellent (OFF THE CHART!) – While water temps shot through the 50’s into 60’s (and some bays low 70’s with sun and not wind) not as much bedding fish being observed as staging fish in 3-7’ of water.  Casting small (1/32 oz and smaller) jigs of plastic or hair and good ol’ float and minnows had lots of anglers reporting limits of Crappies.   Probably the best holiday Crappie fishing weekend we’ve had.
 
Smallmouth Bass:  Excellent –Smallies bedding on most lakes with anglers reporting days of over 100 fish per boat from both staging and bedding fish.   Technique?  Our choice!  Tubes, Ned rigs, top-water, suspending twitchbaits.  Rising water temps had fish on fire, lots of action and of course lots of fun!   Remember, Catch and Release only!
 
Walleye:  Very Good – Despite the fact weed growth is still behind on most lakes (but catching up), keep in mind most lakes still had ice on them the first couple days of May.   Most stomach contents of filleted Walleye still containing mostly larvae of midge and mayflies.  The full on weed bite is just beginning.  That being said, leeches have been the ticket for a lot of the best catches.  Of note, guide Greg Bohn had a three day stretch of three 30”+ and over Walleyes on three different lakes-he’s not telling, but from his purchase history here, he’s probably using chubs, both black and redtails (when available), just guessing.
 
Northern Pike:  Very Good – Find standing weeds and you’ll probably find Pike.  Swimbaits, spinnerbaits and jig and suckers have been hot.   Lots of action and good fish into the low 30’s.
 
Largemouth Bass:  Very Good – Staging in the warm shallows.  Shallow running square billed crankbaits, 3 1/2“ swimbaits and flukes have been getting hammered.  Don’t be surprised that if water temps crest and hold into the 70’s on some lakes that Largemouth won’t start bedding soon.
 
Bluegill:  Very Good – Not bedding, but staging in the shallows.  Fly anglers using small poppers and dry flies as well as “normal” anglers using tiny tubes, worms, leeches or thunderbugs scoring very well in 2-4’ shallows.  Look for cover such as wood or flooded saplings.
 
Yellow Perch:  Very Good-Good – Not as much attention from the panfish crowd as most are targeting Crappies and Gills.  But Perch cruising the newly greening weeds in 4-8’ taking medium leeches, medium fatheads and thunderbugs on small jigs or under slip-floats.
 
Musky:  Good-Very Good – With only three days of the season in, some good reports from anglers boating Musky using smaller bucktails (think Smity’s Wizards, Bucher 500’s) and smaller twitchbaits.  Lots of fish being seen, but not hitting in shallows as fish paired up to spawn.  Top reported fish here was Charlie Scott’s 45”.
 
With highs in the low to mid-80’s forecasted for the remainder of the week, expect more of the same on fishing with certain species (Walleye, Bass and Musky) only expecting to get better.  Great time to be out on the water, just don’t forget the bug spray!

Went out with Scott today and the walleyes were biting almost as well as the mosquitos. We just used slip bobbers and leeches and it didn't take very long. Also caught a 20 inch smallmouth. 

You know, sometimes it's not complicated.  Here's where to find the fish.  Find the warmest water in the lake and that's where they are.  And if there are green weeds there, all the better. Period. 

Now, are they biting or what to use to get them to bite, there's your quandary.  And the answer to what to use is just like bums, everybody has one.  In my last 4 times out with friends and clients (I didn't need to separate those) it was important to have different ammunition to shoot at the fish because it was different each day and time period.  But everything worked at one time or another.  And when I say everything I mean crawlers, leeches, minnows and big and small plastics and crankbaits.  I always start out with everybody on the boat using something different and whoever starts to catch more fish we switch over to that. And as you know, I like light jigs.  1/32 oz is plenty as long as you can still feel the jig on the end of your line.  If it's too windy I'll go to a 1/16th oz presentation.  It surprises a lot of fishermen but it works.

That's it kids.  This is going to be a super weekend with the crappie bite hot, big female walleyes starting to feed and the bass somewhere in the spawning stage.  Yeah!  Also, seeing a lot more jumbo perch coming over the side of the boat, too.  Oh, and Musky are shallow and feeding. So get out there with friends and family (notice I separated those) and make some memories.

Be safe and have a great Memorial Day weekend.  Please don't forget what it's all about.

(This still works) Ok, a little secret that not many know about or take advantage of.  Get your firetiger rapalas out and hit the rocky shoreline flats early evening into darkness for a chance at a big mama walleye getting ready for the spawn.  Do it.

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, spikes, Crappie Minnows, Regular Fatheads, XL Fatheads, Dace, Blacktails, Walleye Suckers, Medium and Large Musky Suckers, Jumbo Leeches, Panfish Leeches, M/L Mix and L/J 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.

Jeff Bolander, owner of Dewey, Catchem and How Bait Shop and Guide Post at www.DeweyCatchemAndHow.com
Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DeweyCatchemAndHow

Thursday 5/25/23

Gang:

While driving through the Oneida County country side, I came upon foldable bumpboard laying on the highway. I am not able to get on here all the time, so will provide my cell number (715.892.6926) and you can text me a description, I'd be happy to return it. If I am unable to find the rightful owner, I will make it a donation to a student competing for one of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Fishing Association (WIFA) High School fishing teams.

Musky Ben

The effects of a late ice out are still being felt by anglers.  While water temps are moving in the right direction (overall), weed growth is still way behind.  This lack of vegetation is frustrating anglers looking for the typical post spawn spring bite.  Action is still being had.  Cold mornings have pushed the best bites to afternoons as warming water seems to bring in the best catches.
 
Crappie:  Good-Very Good – Moving into shallows to warm, not bedding yet.  Long cast with small minnows or Mini-Mites below small floats.   Calm shores receiving the most sun (usually North) are seeing Crappies pile up in 1-3’ of water.
 
Largemouth Bass:  Good-Very Good – Afternoon action best as waters warm in shallows.  Shallow running stick baits/twitch baits, as well as smaller spinner baits, beetle spins and 3” swim baits.  Largemouth over 18” with a pair of 20”+ reported by anglers pitching x-raps along black bottom bays.
 
Walleye:  Good – Heavily feeding on mayfly larvae in the mud as the lack of new vegetation in the shallows has been holding most Walleyes out.  Slip-bobbers with medium leeches in 12-16’ have been best.   Fatheads, Walleye suckers on 1/8 oz jigs around rocky points also producing, but not as steadily as the mud.
 
Northern Pike:  Good – The lack of weeds has been a problem, but any patches of broad leaf cabbage have been good for action on swim baits and smaller spinners (#3 Mepps).   Jig and chubs or suckers also producing.
 
Yellow Perch:  Good – Shallow bays in 4-6’.  Use medium fats under floats on 1/32 oz jigs to catch post spawn Perch ready to feed.
 
Smallmouth Bass:  Good –Catch and Release only!!  First drops from shore lines with rock/gravel using X-Raps, Husky Jerks and Keitech swim baits.  Fish staging prior to moving up to spawn.
 
Bluegill:  Good-Fair – Staging in shallows to warm up.  Small leeches or worms in 1-4’ of water.
 
The forecast for the week has some cool night time temps followed by warming afternoons.  Lots of sunshine should spur weed growth and minnow/insect hatches.   Action in the shallows should get better.  Looking forward to a good holiday weekend.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a lake or two that has a decent crappie population in the Elcho / Pelican Lake area? Not looking for secret spots, just a starting point (lake) for panfish. Will be up in about a week.
Thanks for any help.