Musky Shop Northwoods Fishing Report: Early May

Hi Everyone,

The game fishing season is off to a good start here in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. We have had some rain in the last couple of weeks and our lake water levels are getting close to normal as they were down a bit. Fishing is off to a good start with some nice reports of Walleye and Panfish being caught. The water temps in Oneida and Vilas county lakes are low to mid 50's and a lot of species of fish are shallow, from shoreline out to 5'-6' of water.

The smaller dark water lakes will warm up quicker and it might be a good idea to head in that direction. Look for any down trees along the shoreline and old or new weed growth or rock. All of these areas or structures will hold fish. For the most part, all species have finished spawning and will slowly move out a bit but for now everything is pretty shallow. One of our guide staff members Al (Frosty) Frost has been catching a lot of fish. Frosty has been using a jig and Fathead minnow and casting all of the previously mentioned structures. He has been catching pretty much anything including Walleye's, Panfish, Crappies, Bass, and Pike. Al said fishing has been a lot of fun.

If you're coming up to the Minocqua area maybe consider one of the more shallow dark water lakes to start out your fishing but if clear deep-water lakes are your jam that's OK too. On the clear water systems, a lot of species will be shallow as well but I would say from the shoreline out to the first structural edge which could be 15'-18'. There will be a few Walleye's near the edges as well as shallow. Panfish, Bass, Cappies, and Pike will be a bit shallower from shoreline to 6'-8' of water. Casting a jig and Fathead minnow is a good choice for everything but if you're targeting Walleye a jig and a larger minnow such as an XL Fathead, Walleye sucker or Blacktail chub would be good choices. Nightcrawlers and Leeches will work okay but so far the bite has been more of a minnow bite. Trolling on the deep clear water lakes is a good tactic as well. Slowly dragging spinners and a Blacktail chub or Nightcrawler works very well or small cranks such as Rapala F-5's and F-7"s work great.

We have a full selection of Walleye, Bass, and Panfish baits in our store as well as more Musky products than anyone in the world. The Musky season in Northern Wisconsin opens on May 25th and all of us here can't wait. We have a full line of Fresh Live Bait that is in Cold running well water so it's always lively as well as Night Crawlers, Worms, Beavertails, and Leeches. If you're planning a trip to Northern Wisconsin please let us know if we can be of service to you as it would be our pleasure.

Lastly mark your calendar for Saturday, July 20th. We will be having our 4th annual Musky Bash. This is a super fun event where a bunch of vendors will be in attendance to represent their product line and there will be some really good sales promotions as well. The Musky Bash is a super fun day learning and talking about Muskies, we hope you can join us as you are all invited.

Well, that's it for this time around, we hope all of you have a great fishing season.

Good Fishing and God Bless, Jim Stewart

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