Hayward, Wisconsin Fishing Report 7-9-13

I finally had my first trip of the season strictly dedicated to muskies.  Jordan Gensmer from Angler’s Haven Resort joined me for a day of pounding the water.  Our original plan was to fish the St. Louis River, but northeast winds and thick fog pushed us inland.  The first lake we fished produced one follow by a small fish in the low 30’s.  We switched lakes in the afternoon and saw four fish with one good strike at the end of the day that didn’t result in a hook up.  Bummer!  Jordan did manage to land a fat pike that smoked his minnow bait.  All of the muskies we saw in the afternoon were suspended high in the water column over deep water adjacent to weeds.  We had a big mayfly hatch, and I would suspect these fish are following the food as there is a ton of bait in the top 1/3 of the water column.  I Actually dropped a Cow Girl on top of one’s back in 25′ of water!  After a cloudy and cool morning, the afternoon water temps spiked at 76 degrees with high skies and very little wind.  Although we didn’t put one in the net, it was a good day spent with great company.  Thanks to the whole crew at Angler’s Haven for the great brats and beverages at the end of the day.  You guys are awesome!

Tuesday was spent with Patrick Couri and his father in law, Terry Spayer from Peoria, IL.  We had an interesting day with every kind of weather imaginable.  Conditions ranged from sunny, hot, and humid to thunderstorms and wind.  We had to pull off the lake for about an hour to let things pass around mid morning, but we still managed to put a full day together.  The mayfly hatch definitely effected the walleye bite as we were only able to put two small fish in the boat, but thankfully the bass were cooperative.  We ended the day with a pretty impressive mixed bag of smallies, largemouth, and pike.  Patrick and Terry were great company throughout the day, and I’m looking forward to fishing with them again.  Water temps hovered around 75 degrees throughout the day, and I’m thinking that the transition to traditional summer patterns of fishing is underway.  We’ll keep you posted!