Minocqua area fishing report 9.30.11 Looking like a typical fall. Water temps hovering around that turn-over point (54-56 degrees). Clouds, rain, wind and the trees are changing color. Low pressure may have been too low this weekend, action not as good as you'd think, but overall looks like a nice fall.
Walleye: Good. Pick your style. Deep, clear lakes, fish gravel/rocks with 1/8 - 1/4oz jigs or Lindy rigs baited with redtailed, black chubs or suckers. Work depth of 22-40'. Small lakes without depth work remaining live weeds with 1/16oz weedless jigs and small to medium sized redtails. Flowage walleye relating to wood. 1/16oz Jack's weedless jigs with a medium redtail or slip floats to hold large fats or a full crawler above the wood.
Crappies: Good. On lakes look to deep weedlines of 16-25'. Fish 2-3' off bottom with small minnows, small plastic tails below sip-floats. Flowages: medium to large fatheads under floates in 12-14' depths.
Musky: Good (but not great). Despite what looked like excellent musky weather action has been so-so. Fish relatively shallow in and along weeds. Twitch baits (Cranes, Grandmas), Sebiles, Majic Swimmer, bucktails and topwater all moving fish. Sucker action ok, but improving. The sucker bite will be best over the next 2-3 weeks. Sucker supplies are fair, larger suckers harder to get.
Pike: Good. Weeds of 6-12'. Jigging chubs best bet, but casting spinnerbaits, lipless cranks and twitch baits also scoring. Several nicer pike (26-34") reported on 7" Cranes meant for musky.
Perch: Good. Medium fatheads or 1/2 crawlers on 1/16oz jigs best. Fish ANY green cabbage or drowned timber.
Smallmouth Bass. Fair-Good. Not being fished as much, but still nice fish being caught on tubes, creature baits. Shallower than a couple weeks ago. Gravel humps 15-22', but check out weedlines of 8-12' also.
Largemouth Bass: Fair-Good. Fish heavy weeds with jig/pig combos, crawfish imitation plastics.
Bluegill: Fair. Not good weather for gills (cool, cloudy, windy) but nice fish 8-9" coming off flooded wood/cribs.
Kurt Justice
Kurt's Island Sport Shop
www.kurtsislandsports.com
