Nice weekend ahead

Looks to be a good one this weekend, maybe one of the last nice ones of the year. It's time to get out.

Musky fishing is picking up as the water temperatures are creeping down. Those cold nights really trigger fish movement. Anglers are catching them on suckers but also while casting. Many fish came as anglers started up-sizing their casting presentations. Bucktails are producing, especially over mid depth weeds, and swimbaits are catching some deep weededge fish but the hot bait looks to be a jerkbait right now. Perch and pearl white patterns have been doing some heavy lifting the past ten days.

Okauchee, Oconomowoc, and Pewaukee are always solid lakes to try, but don't overlook Fowler, Lac Labelle or Fox Lakes for musky. If you were thinking about heading up north, the vilas county lakes appear to be red hot right now.

Don't want to fish musky? Then head out for some walleye. The Rock River is giving up mixed bags of walleyes and white bass right now. The fish are moving into the river, and I know some fish are being caught in Ft Atkinson, but the mouth at Blackhawk Island has been pretty good by all reports. I haven't heard much about Lake Koskonong recently, but I'll make sure to check it out with my sources. My guess is that most of the locals are in their treestands or fishing the river.

If you feel like driving, the Fox River near Oshkosh has been good and a few fish are showing up in Winneconne. The dam at the dells and the petenwell flowage have also had some positive reports.

Locally, bass and pike continue to bite, with crankbaits and livebait your best options. Warm sunny afternoons will pull largemouth onto shallow rocks just after midday, and smallmouth can be caught of deeper points on small suckers while drifting. look for them as deep as 25 feet.

Good luck,
CT