Fresh Oneida County Fishing Reports

DON'T MISS THE FALL WALLEYE ACTION! STARTING IN MID SEPTEMBER THERE ARE SOME REAL OPPORTUNITIES TO CATCH SOME WALLEYES. PLAN YOUR TRIP NOW. I WILL BE FISHING INTO OCTOBER. THESE ARE EATER WALLEYES, NOT WALL HANGERS

6/16/19 Hi from the shores of "Kennedy Bay" on Lake Minocqua. It has been an interesting week Tuesday and Wednesday I fished with Bob and Neal Weir we have fished together for a number of years. We headed out to a good Pike lake we have fished over the years, at the end of the morning the guys had a nice mixed bag 1 nice Perch, a 19 inch Walleye and some mid 20 inch Pike. Wednesday we gave the Willow a try, small Pike provided a lot of action, we did manage to catch some Pike that were big enough to keep along with a nice 18 inch Walleye and a 13 1/2 inch Crappie. It was a good couple of days. My son David and his son Lawson came up from Stoughton for a few days fishing with me. Thursday we fished a 1000 acre lake west of Minocqua that had been producing great Pike action, the Pike had slowed down but we did manage some nice Pike 2 Perch and a couple Walleyes, the biggest 19 inches. The next day I was scheduled to fish but it started raining early that morning and the client canceled so the boys and I put on rain gear and hit the lake. The rain never let up but we stuck it out for 3 hours, it was a great morning, we ended up with 5 Pike, 1 Largemouth, 2 nice Perch,and 4 Walleyes. Saturday a cold front with a mile high blue sky, and a stiff breeze, rolled in, we stayed on Lake Minocqua fishing was tough we managed a few Walleyes and one Bass , we were about to quit when my son suggested we try the spot where Lawson caught his first Pike years ago. We covered the entire weed bed and were ready to call it a day when Lawson yelled "fish on" I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it. At 10 years old he fought and landed a beautiful 39 1/2 Pike (I have only seen 3 other Pike that big in northern WI.) he released the Pike to fight again, it was a great ending to a great couple days. Even though the weather still leaves something to be desired the fish continue to be active. I have been catching fish in 4 - 9 feet of water on the lightest jig the wind will allow tipped with fat head minnows. Finding green cabbage seems to be the key. Fish continue to hit very lightly meaning there are a lot of missed fish. That's it for now folks good luck fishin' and remember "KEEP YOUR LINE TIGHT AND A BEND IN YOUR ROD" DAVE LANG

5/18/19 Hi from the shores of "Kennedy Bay" on Lake Minocqua. Two weeks into the 2019 season we finally got temperatures that were normal or above finally bringing water temperatures up to the low 50's. Monday Bill Abbott and his fishing partner John Birbaum from Madison pulled into Minocqua just after noon, they were staying on Minocqua for 4 days so my plan was to show them a lot of spots so they would have an idea of where to fish the next couple days until we would fish together again on Thursday. We hit 8 different spots fishing everything from 4 feet down to 25 feet, the water temp was in the low 40s. At 5 o'clock when we pulled the boat I had only 1 bite that produced our only Pike, Bill caught and released a nice 19 inch Walleye, and John had a nice Perch. Certainly not what I was looking for, the guys did miss a few bites but that was it, the biggest surprise was no Bass. Thursday morning we went down to the Willow the conditions were as good as they get water temps were in the low 50s with cloud cover and a nice chop. At the end of the morning we had 5 nice Pike and 1 Perch. Again it was a day of fishing a lot of spots with little or no action until we found a small concentration of fish on a small point of an island that due to the high water is under water. Along with the fish kept the guys released 1 Pike, but we were lucky if we landed 1 out of every 3 fish we had on say nothing about the missed bites. Tuesday and Wednesday I fished with Bob Garbott and John Junck from Milwaukee, Wednesday morning we went down to the Willow. With our wet spring the water level is up to almost full. We picked up a fish here and there only finding one area that held a small concentration of Pike and Perch it was a day of catch and release we boated 10 Pike and a couple of Perch, Bob had a dandy that was just hair short of 12 inches. Wednesday we headed out to a Pike lake west of Minocqua. Even though the water temp had gotten up to 54 degrees the fish were still lethargic and bites were hard to feel. At the end of the morning we had boated 10 or 12 Pike and one Perch. Even though it was a light bite we did get 3 bite offs indicating that the fish had swallowed the jig go figure. All the water we fished normally produces Walleyes this time of the year but the only ones we caught were on Minocqua. Bass were absent so it was Pike and Perch. I am using Xlarge fat heads on 1/16 oz jigs except on Thursday when the wind picked up and we forced to switch to 1/8 oz they produced equally well. Both days we fished the Willow, we were forced to hit a number of spots picking up a fish here and there before finding a small group of fish where we picked 3 or 4 fish. It was a different spot each day. I have a couple of friends coming up to fish the Minocqua Chain for the next week so I will get a report from them. The bad news is the weather is going right in the dumpster for the next 5 days with temperatures in the 40s with a real feel of mid30s that won't help. That's it for now folks good luck fishin' and remember "KEEP YOUR LINE TIGHT AND A BEND IN YOUR ROD" DAVE LANG 

Wednesday I fished with Hank Rhein and his granddaughter Andy on Lake Minocqua. Even though we were fighting a pretty strong cold front we managed a nice catch of Bass, no Pike or Walleye. Sunday was my last day on the water, I was back on the Minocqua with Jim Waclawik. Once again we were fishing under the influence of the cold front that came through but we did end the morning with 7 nice Bass and one 28 inch Pike. The week was a good reflection of the 2018 season we had good catches with Walleyes being tough but Bass and Pike providing good action. Dianna and I are looking forward to getting out on the water next week but I don't know what to expect. This area was hit by a severe Red Tide and a Blue Green Algae killing thousands of fish. Florida reacts quickly when something like this happens and they closed the Snook and Red Fish to catch and release only. I will post what we find after a couple trips out. That's it for now folks good luck fishin' and remember KEEP YOUR LINE TIGHT AND A BEND IN YOUR ROD DAVE LANG 9/18/18 Hi from the shores of "Kennedy Bay" on Lake Minocqua. Our weather has taken a big step towards fall with the temperature nearly 30 degrees cooler than last Thursday when I left Minocqua for Canada. It has been a busy 8 days for me last Monday Tuesday, and Wednesday I fished with Bob Garbutt. Monday and Wednesday we spent on the Willow, Bob is a catch and release guy so I don't have accurate numbers of how many fish we caught but the action was good, we did have a lot of small Pike in the mix but had we been keeping fish we had some nice sized Pike, Bass, and 1 good Walleye. On Tuesday we hit one of Bob's favorite Pike lakes, we didn't catch as many fish but the fish were larger on average. Thursday I fished with Frank and Ann Kerschbaum. In the 10 years that we have been fishing together we have covered a number of lakes in the area. They are comfortable fishing some of these on their own but save one morning to fish the Willow with me. Once again we had good action and managed to keep 4 nice Pike, it was a good morning. When my trip with Frank and Ann was over I dropped my boat at home, loaded up the truck with Musky tackle, a Lake Trout rod and headed for Canada to spend 3 days fishing with my son and some of his buddies. We stay on Lake Of The Woods but also fish some nearby lakes. We spent Saturday morning looking for Lake Trout, although we marked fish in 100 feet of water we didn't catch any, that afternoon we raised a couple Muskies and caught 2 Pike and a Smallmouth by accident. Sunday one of the guys caught a 34 inch Musky on his first cast. Storms had rolled through the night before with lots of thunder and lightning with a high moving after it the skies cleared and the wind kicked up to 30 mph by afternoon. After lunch we headed back out expecting the worst and were rewarded with the most unbelievable afternoon any of us had ever seen. With white caps covering the lake the fish turned on, we only caught one 45 incher just before dark but during the afternoon between our three boats we had between 50 and 60 follows it was unbelievable. We know that we saw some fish more than once but judging by size and location we know that we had to have seen at least 25-30 individual fish. Almost as unbelievable as the number of fish that we saw is the fact that only one fish hit. It was truly an UNBELIEVABLE afternoon. I plan to get out and do some scouting for fall Walleyes in the next couple days and will let you know. My season is coming to a close, I only have one more trip scheduled at this time. That's it for now folks good luck fishin' and remember "KEEP YOUR LINE TIGHT AND A BEND IN YOUR ROD" DAVE LANG