Rainbow Flowage

Thursday 5/7/26

Flats of nightcrawlers are now $59.  That's about $1.50 per dozen.  Our part to make fishing affordable.

Jeemanee!!  The boat got a coating of snow today will out fishing with Dan and Kurt.  It was a tough two days but they are manly men (evidenced by we did this for two days) and we did boat a few fish.  Since it was so cold we had to stay out of most of the wind otherwise it was unbearable.  Problem there being wind blown shorelines are the ones fish mainly relate to.  (I saw many fish on the Livescope but they were very tight lipped)  I can come up with all sorts of technical reasons for that but I know its true.  Find green weeds, warmest water, balls of minnows and wind blown shorelines.  That's always the formula.  Luckily we got normally warm weather coming in.  That should get everything and every fish back on track.  Just a note.  We caught everything today on crawlers in 50 degree water temps.

Yes, Musky season does open this year on the Opener but we hope you'll leave them alone during their spawning period.   They really are not a hardy fish and it doesn't take too much to put them in a dying state.  And being weak during the spawn will not help, not to mention taking them off the spawn which they may not be able to return to.  And with the WDNR cutting Musky stocking by 70%, now is not the time to make their reproduction even harder.

Lots of changes to regulations this year.  Check the books and double check the landing to make sure you don't do something that could really cost you.  Highlights are reduced panfish limits on the flowages and not being able to fish for Musky or Walleye on the LDF reservation for non-tribal members.

Both the Rainbow and Willow flowages are down 1.5' below capacity.  Most lakes have water temps hovering around 50 degrees.

ON A SCALE OF 1 to 10, HOW THEY HITTING?
Walleye 5, Northern 6, SM Bass 4, LM Bass 6, Musky ??, Perch 6, Crappie 4, Bluegill 3, Rock Bass 2

OUR BAIT REVIEWS:Kurt has been fishing with the Spotlight Minnows and has been pounding the smallmouth bass from shore.  Come in and he'll love to tell you about it.

Enjoy your time in the northwoods and please slow down and be safe so you and others can do it again next year.  

I'm taking in a bunch of guide reservations for the summer right now.  Spots are filling fast.  Makes me feel warm inside.  Call me on my cell at 715-892-2751 and we'll get out and have some fun.
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IN-STORE & WEBSITE SPECIALS

Flats of nightcrawlers are now $59.  That's about $1.50 per dozen.  Our part to make fishing affordable.

FREE Line with any Reel or Reel and Rod Combo

Early season specials, up to 50% off

Right now for live bait we have Wax worms, Red/White/Multi Colored Spikes, Crappie Minnows, Regular Fatheads, XL Fatheads (Tuffys), Blacktails, Muds, Walleye Suckers, and a bunch of leeches and jumbo night crawlers.  Leeches will be by the dozen, 1/4, 1/2 and 1 pound.  Crawlers will be by the dozen, 2 dozen, 100 count and 480 count flats.

HOURS
Monday thru Thursday 5am to 7pm
Friday 5am to 8pm
Sunday and Saturday 5am to 6pm

Business has been fabulous but Linda and I are ready to ease into retirement.  WE ARE NOT GOING OUT OF BUSINESS!  If you have an interest in owning and operating the largest non-franchised bait shop in Wisconsin and making a living while doing it, call Jeff at 715-892-2751 or Derek Larson at 715-360-2364.  We'll give you all the help you need to succeed in the beautiful northwoods of Wisconsin.

Jeff Bolander, Dewey, Catchem and How Bait Shop and Guides
715-892-2751 cell
715-358-5130 shop
www.DeweyCatchemAndHow.com

Rain/snow with 38 degrees temps made fishing challenging. Tips ups and jig fishing with just a few small perch to show for my efforts. Ice was 6 inches thick with lots of standing water on top. Going down to 5 degrees tonight with a high of 15 tomorrow should freeze things back up. A few courageous 4 wheelers on ice????

Rainbow flowage iced up this AM

Way to go Dave.
You guide the Rainbow now too along with the Willow?

Wow.  Those are some BAC!

Took a little time for myself and Zoey. Jamie also came with for a morning of scouting and fishing. We ended up catching some Hogs. They were all down about 18ft hovering over the wood. We would catch 1 or 2 and move on. Using minnows and plastics. It was a beautiful day, and a nice fish fry afterward. 

Call or text 715-897-8308 if you would like to book a trip in October.

Thursday 9/25/25
I know, it's been awhile.  But for the most part fishing hasn't changed much in the past month.  Just about when it looked like it was gonna pick up we'd get a cold front with rain, then a couple of hot days and no wind and then cold and wind and rain then again, well, you get the idea. But that is starting to change a little (here we go again, I hope not).
This time of year I spend a lot of time on the flowages and deeper clear lakes.  The flowages because of the dark waters, wood and rock and the deep large lakes because of the deep points next to even deeper water.  The deeper lakes will have a well defined thermocline which makes it easier to find where the fish are hanging out.  Remember, they'll be just above that thermocline to partake of the oxygen thereof.  The flowages, because of all the moving water, will not have a thermocline.  But to find the fish right now all you need to do is find stumps, wood piles, boulders and cribs near the river channels.  They will keep stacking up there in droves all the way to ice up.
Right now the bite windows on the flowages are rather small.  The last few days we had to put in our time to be there when the windows were open.  Having Livescope on my boat we are able to see when the fish wound come up to the bait and just turn around and leave.  Switching baits multiple times will work sometimes but mostly that's when the windows are shut. Then when the windows open they rush to the bait and just slam it.  Boy, if we could figure out why that is we could make a buck or two.
Another thing I like about the flowages is the quality of fish.  When the windows were open we were catching lots of 1-3 pound crappies while the bluegills and sunfish were pushing 1 pound.  That's some good eatin' there I tell ya.  If I have fish in the freezer I don't keep any and I strongly urge my clients to keep no more than a few per person.  Although there were exceptions, the bluegills hit on crawlers and the crappies on minnows.  But the one thing that has been consistent is the 1/32 oz jig was king.
As far as perch go, we just started to get a bunch of nice ones.  10-13" fish are nice in my book.  Crawlers on very light jigs in the shallow weeds or the 15 fow deep wood.   Sometimes you have to sort thru a bunch to find the ones you want but remember, if there are small perch then the walleye can't be too far away.
As far as Musky go, they seem to be shallower, sometimes less than 10 FOW.  With the warm water temps, if you have to fish for them be very careful in handling them and get them back in the water FAST.  If you don't you will kill them.  Even if they swim away most can still die.
Northerns are getting a little more active right now with the cooling water temps.  Spinner baits and slip bobbering BIG minnows can get them excited.  Or do what we did the other day.  Fish for bluegills and let the northern hit them on the way in.  We got 4 of them that way.  Amazing!  And as far as eating goes, they're my favorite.
If you would like to fish with a sarcastic guide who loves to have fun, I do have a few days open between now and the end of the season.  Give me a call and we''ll see if I can fit you in and we'll go have some fun!

ON A SCALE OF 1 to 10, HOW THEY HITTING?  
Walleye 5 (all day), 
SM Bass 6,
 LM Bass 7, 
Rock bass 8, 
Perch 8, 
Crappie 10, 
Bluegill 10, 
Northern 6, 
Musky 5.

OUR BAIT REVIEWS:
None this week
The Willow is almost 6 feet down while the Rainbow is only about 2' low.  In fact on the Rainbow the water is above the docks so bring your boots.  Water temps are in the lmiddle 60's.  Pretty high for this time of year.  For current levels go to  https://www.wvic.com/WaterReports/Water_Level_Report.cfm
Most lake water surface temps are still pretty high, in the upper 60's to lower 70's on medium sized and larger deeper lakes.
So there you go.  Enjoy your time in the northwoods and please slow down and be safe on the water and off so you and others can do it again next year.  I won't be fishing this weekend, heading to my 50th high school reunion.  Probably gonna be full of old people.
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BIG BEAUTIFUL ICE AUGER AND ICE SHELTER CLEARANCE SALE
Ends Sunday 9-28
50% off Augers, Hubs & Flip-Overs
from CLAM, OTTER, ESKIMO, HT
If you can't get to the store for the sale, order your items on-line and specify in-store pick-up and we will hold them here for you until you can pick them up, even if it's not until February!

Also, Our BIG, BEAUTIFUL CLEARANCE SALE is happening right now.  
Best pricing of the year.
20% off ALL Musky Rods, Reels, Line, Nets and Lures!
20% off ALL Reels by Shimano, Daiwa, Pflueger, Abu Garcia, Zebco and Okuma
20% off Custom Rods by 2B, Vexan and Fox River
B.O.G.O. (buy one get one) 50% off on products by Moonshine, Flicker Shads, Reef Runners, Northland Eye Candy, Rapala Crush City, GitZits, Storm 360 GT, Keitech, Gulp!, and YUM
B.O.G.O. Free on Jars of Uncle Josh BaitIn-store and on-line orders!

Right now for live bait we have Wax worms, Crappie Minnows, Regular Fatheads, XL Fatheads (Tuffys), Muds, Walleye Suckers, Blacktail Chubs, Redtail Chubs, Northern Bait, Small, Medium, Large and Extra Large Musky Suckers. We also have Jumbo Crawlers in 1 & 2 dozen tubs and they are also being sold in bulk in quantities of 100 and 480 count flats. Our flats this year are only $69.  Please call and reserve them ahead of time.  Leeches are gone.  

NORMAL HOURS
Monday thru Thursday - 6am to 6pm
Friday - 6am to 8pm
Saturday & Sunday - 6am to 6pm

NOTICE: Our Facebook Page IS BACK.  Only took 7 months!  Make sure you follow it so you are in the know about the latest and great news in fishing.Business has been fabulous but Linda and I are ready to ease into retirement.  WE ARE NOT GOING OUT OF BUSINESS!  If you have an interest in owning and operating the largest non-franchised bait shop in Wisconsin and making a living while doing it, call Jeff at 715-892-2751 or Derek Larson at 715-360-2364.  We'll give you all the help you need to succeed in the beautiful northwoods of Wisconsin.

Jeff Bolander, Dewey, Catchem and How Bait Shop and Guides
715-892-2751 cell
715-358-5130 shop
www.DeweyCatchemAndHow.com

Slowwwww on the flowage today.  Hit several old hot spots a nada. Not even a rogue smallie, northern, perch, crappie, etc..  anybody find em today?? 

I have been fishing the Rainbow Flowage for the last couple days and it has been GREAT fishing. The walleye and perch are biting in 12 feet of water on leaches with a 1/16 ounce jig.

The Rainbow is on fire! I’ve seen some people fishing and figured I would try. Caught a two man limit of nice walleye. Trolling in the river channel was the most active.