Cold Front/Fishing Report

Wow, it was chilly this morning. Times like this can make for some tough fishing if you don't adapt.

Bass fishing is marked by two easy rules of thumb under these conditions. 1.) slow down. no matter how slow you are fishing, you can still slow it down. 2.) fish tight to cover. Fish will have a small strike zone right now. Just getting it under the pier won't be enough right now, you'll need to skip, pitch, or flip to the piece of the cover that's holding the fish.

No matter what else you try, slow down.

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Bass fishing has been consistent, but the bigger fish have been hard to come by lately. The last couple of weeks we've had fish under 4lbs win Tuesday night, and that's a pretty accurate summary of what we have been hearing from around town. Live bait will be a great option for the duration of these frontal conditions, but jig/chunk, spider grubs, wacky, jigworms and tube baits will all catch fish. Expect things to be slow but steady, with a big pickup in activity after this weekend.

Panfish are moving out to the weedlines. Crappie are suspending out over deeper water, but the best fishing has been for bluegills in 12-18 feet of water.

Walleye fishing dropped off a bit the last week, but that was primarily weather related. Backtrolling with live bait, or pulling cranks behind boards on the windy edges of rocky structure was producing. If the wind dies down this week, rigging and bottom bouncers will get hot.

Musky fishing has been between good and great with lots of mid 40 inch fish coming to the boat. Trolling is producing on the sunny days, working the weededges and topwater near rock/weed transition areas is also giving up some fish on the cloudy days. Two people have told me downsizing their baits a little seems to be making a difference. Oconomowoc has been especially good this season.

Pike are on the deep weedlines or suspending over deep structure. Pulling suckers on a slip sinker rig will produce as will slow rolled spinner baits. Watch for baitfish schools on your electronics, and look for concentrations of pike along weed points in 18-25 feet of water.


CT