Good morning, late fall weather has arrived and looks to stay with temps dipping below freezing at night and not getting above 40 from what I am seeing in the 15 day forecast. It does not appear there will be very much precipitation, but what we do get looks to be the “S” word. We won’t say it for now as I know nobody wants to talk about that!!! The fishing continues to be good, lakes are still hovering around that 50 degree mark, although they will start to drop pretty quickly with lows below freezing.
Musky–The musky bite has been good with most fish coming on suckers. It should get even better as the water drops below 50 and those fish are looking for bigger meals more frequently. It sounds like fish are still relatively shallow and relating mostly to deep weed edges or breaks off of points. Trolling crank baits is another great option if the weather is not conducive to casting.
Northern pike–I am not hearing much on a pike specific bite, and honestly haven’t had too many anglers telling me that pike are taking their musky suckers so smaller baits may still be the way to go to target pike. Small bucktails, spinnerbaits and smaller live bait such as walleye suckers in and around weeds should put some fish in the net.
Walleye–A few anglers in this week were telling me they were finding walleye stacked up in deep holes. On the lake they were fishing, it was the deepest hole in the lake. That is all relative from lake to lake, but a good start would be in the 20-25 FOW range. Jigging bigger minnows or walleye suckers seemed to work for them, but blade baits or baits like jigging raps would work to get down fast and catch fish.
LMB–No report on a largemouth bite.
SMB–No report on a smallmouth bite.
Crappie–Crappie are also being found in deep holes and schooling up out in the basins. Crappie minnows fished through the schools with jigs are catching piles of crappie. It sounds like anglers had to weed through small fish to get to some nicer ones, but they were on a good bite. Look for fish in 15-20 FOW or in a deeper basin as your lake relates to depth.
Bluegill/Perch–No real report on a panfish bite, but they should still be relating to shallower weeds with some oxygen left in them. They are normally in these areas for first ice so they should not be too far away from those spots now. Look for fish in 5-8 FOW and use jigs or hooks under a bobber with waxies, plastics, or even crappie minnows for bigger perch. Baits like Northland’s mimic minnow can be great this time of year for aggressive fish.
Archery season is also in full swing and we should be getting into the rut here in the next couple of weeks. I have only heard of one nice 8 point buck being harvested so far this archery season. I have a couple of nice bucks I have seen around my area over the last month or so and I am hoping one of them slips up enough during the next few weeks so I get a chance to let an arrow fly downrange at them.
Have a great weekend and we will talk soon!
Greg