Hayward, Wisconsin Fishing Report 5-26-13

I had the good fortune of spending the holiday weekend on the water with my family.  Morgan hadn’t yet been fishing this season, and my brother Jason and I haven’t fished together in two years.  Consider both problems solved!  On Saturday, Morgan landed her first bass of the year.  An 18 inch largemouth grabbed a Berkley Atomic Mite under a slip bobber in two feet of water as we were catching bluegills that were beginning to push into shallow cover.  We also managed a few large gills in the 9″ range during our first outing together for the 2013 season.  Water temperatures were between 56 and 58 degrees.  From what I could tell, the bluegill spawn is still a couple of weeks or more from happening.  Larger fish are just starting to show up in less than five feet of water.

On Sunday, Jason and I spent the morning chasing crappies.  We landed several in the 9″ to 13″ inch class, and they all appeared ready to spawn any day.  The females were bursting with eggs, and we caught quite a few smaller males mixed in.  Everything we landed was in four to six feet of water with 55 to 57 degree water temperatures.  After lunch, we moved to another lake and landed several beautiful pre-spawn smallies on jerk-baits.  Water temperatures were between 55 and 56 degrees, and all fish were holding in six to eight feet of water.  There was no signs of nesting starting yet, and I would suspect that we need a few more days of warm weather before beds will appear.

Back to work tomorrow with crappies on the agenda.  Happy Memorial Day to everyone, and special thanks to all of our veterans for everything you have done for this great country!