Shore Fishing Locations:
DNR Site For Waukesha County
DNR Site for Milwaukee County
Becky Smith's List of Local Shore Fishing and Boat Rentals
Other Useful Links
DNR Equipment Loaner Program
DNR Site for Maps of Trout Streams (Direct link for Waukesha County is here)
DNR Site for Boat Launches in Wisconsin
Have fun this weekend.....
Friday, June 15, 2012
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Fishing Report 6-14-2012
Middle of June already....
Conditions have stabilized into early summer patterns. The only two items of note are that the water is a little cooler than normal and weed growth is far ahead of normal.
Panfish are close to done spawning on most of the lakes. You may find some stragglers here and there, but the bulk of the nesting activity is over. Time to start looking for panfish suspending off the ends of points or off weedlines. 12 feet down over 15-22 FOW is a good starting point. I like to fish vertically for these fish, although slip bobbers can really produce. If you're on fish, but they're running small, try getting you bait a foot-18inches deeper...the bigger fish are traditionally at the bottom of the school.
Largemouth Bass fishing has been above average. The shallow fish are moving into traditional spots: slop, docks and shallow rockbars and the larger fish are recovered from the spawn. On bright sunny days, fish tight to cover...flipping into weed pockets, or texas rigs on deep weed edges can really produce. On the windy days, try crankbaits or spinner baits on edges or transition areas in 8-12 or 12-15 FOW. I'm catching a bunch of fish on black w/red flake plastics as well as smoke colored flapper grubs. Natural colors (browns, pumpkins and greens) have been better for the jig/chunk-jig/craw combos.
Smallmouth are biting, but the bite seems a little inconsistent by most reports. Some days you can knock them dead, some days they have been a little scarce. Stick to the plan...look for them on top of mainlake structure and points early and late, and look for them in deeper water during the main part of the day. White deep diving crankbaits have been hot, as have smaller (3") tubes in watermelon red, and I wouldn't overlook a traditional approach: size 9 or 11 floating rapalas in a silver/black pattern.
Northern Pike continue to bite. Shallow fish are actively chasing buzzbaits, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits and lipless crankbaits, especially on the shallow-flat areas with scattered weeds. Out deep, slip-sinker rigs with small suckers or the biggest shiners have been red hot for larger fish. Okauchee and Fowler have put out some nice pike the last week, but some of the smaller lakes (School Section/Pretty/Moose/Emily) are also producing.
Walleye fishing has slowed down as the fish have moved out deeper. If you've been catching eyes at one depth, look for them in the same areas but at the next major depth contour. Deep weeds seem to be key, but a few people have been catching them off of deeper sand. Nighttime trolling bite should pick up this next week if the weather stays stable. Pine and Oconomowoc had the best reports. Koshkonong has a very low water level right now, and it is impeding the fishing out there some.
Musky fishing has been pretty good. Bucktails are catching/raising some decent fish along mid-depth weed breaks while crankbaits/jerkbaits are raising some fish off the first deep break. Pewaukee has been solid, although all reports have heavy mats of weeds floating in many areas. Oconomowoc has been better than Okauchee, and Lac Labelle has been better than Oconomowoc...no direct word on Fowler or North lakes from this past week.
On the shore fishing front...some gamefish and smaller panfish were caught at the Moose Lake and Ottawa launches...and some decent panfish have been caught from Forest Lake in Nashotah Park. White bass run in Jefferson/Ft Akinson is winding down, but catfish have been caught out of the deeper shoreline holes from the Crawfish and Rock Rivers. I'll have more next week on the shore fishing around the area...so stay tuned.
Good Luck, and take Dad fishing this weekend.
Cheers,
CT
Conditions have stabilized into early summer patterns. The only two items of note are that the water is a little cooler than normal and weed growth is far ahead of normal.
Panfish are close to done spawning on most of the lakes. You may find some stragglers here and there, but the bulk of the nesting activity is over. Time to start looking for panfish suspending off the ends of points or off weedlines. 12 feet down over 15-22 FOW is a good starting point. I like to fish vertically for these fish, although slip bobbers can really produce. If you're on fish, but they're running small, try getting you bait a foot-18inches deeper...the bigger fish are traditionally at the bottom of the school.
Largemouth Bass fishing has been above average. The shallow fish are moving into traditional spots: slop, docks and shallow rockbars and the larger fish are recovered from the spawn. On bright sunny days, fish tight to cover...flipping into weed pockets, or texas rigs on deep weed edges can really produce. On the windy days, try crankbaits or spinner baits on edges or transition areas in 8-12 or 12-15 FOW. I'm catching a bunch of fish on black w/red flake plastics as well as smoke colored flapper grubs. Natural colors (browns, pumpkins and greens) have been better for the jig/chunk-jig/craw combos.
Smallmouth are biting, but the bite seems a little inconsistent by most reports. Some days you can knock them dead, some days they have been a little scarce. Stick to the plan...look for them on top of mainlake structure and points early and late, and look for them in deeper water during the main part of the day. White deep diving crankbaits have been hot, as have smaller (3") tubes in watermelon red, and I wouldn't overlook a traditional approach: size 9 or 11 floating rapalas in a silver/black pattern.
Northern Pike continue to bite. Shallow fish are actively chasing buzzbaits, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits and lipless crankbaits, especially on the shallow-flat areas with scattered weeds. Out deep, slip-sinker rigs with small suckers or the biggest shiners have been red hot for larger fish. Okauchee and Fowler have put out some nice pike the last week, but some of the smaller lakes (School Section/Pretty/Moose/Emily) are also producing.
Walleye fishing has slowed down as the fish have moved out deeper. If you've been catching eyes at one depth, look for them in the same areas but at the next major depth contour. Deep weeds seem to be key, but a few people have been catching them off of deeper sand. Nighttime trolling bite should pick up this next week if the weather stays stable. Pine and Oconomowoc had the best reports. Koshkonong has a very low water level right now, and it is impeding the fishing out there some.
Musky fishing has been pretty good. Bucktails are catching/raising some decent fish along mid-depth weed breaks while crankbaits/jerkbaits are raising some fish off the first deep break. Pewaukee has been solid, although all reports have heavy mats of weeds floating in many areas. Oconomowoc has been better than Okauchee, and Lac Labelle has been better than Oconomowoc...no direct word on Fowler or North lakes from this past week.
On the shore fishing front...some gamefish and smaller panfish were caught at the Moose Lake and Ottawa launches...and some decent panfish have been caught from Forest Lake in Nashotah Park. White bass run in Jefferson/Ft Akinson is winding down, but catfish have been caught out of the deeper shoreline holes from the Crawfish and Rock Rivers. I'll have more next week on the shore fishing around the area...so stay tuned.
Good Luck, and take Dad fishing this weekend.
Cheers,
CT
Monday, June 11, 2012
Father's Day is right around the corner. If you're looking for a special gift for dad, why not get him a fishing lesson or guided trip. He doesn't need another tie anyway.
I have a special rate going $50 off a half trip...and I'll extend that to any certificates purchased as Father's Day gifts.
Email me or call me 262-893-2183 For Details.
I have a special rate going $50 off a half trip...and I'll extend that to any certificates purchased as Father's Day gifts.
Email me or call me 262-893-2183 For Details.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
