Hayward, Wisconsin Fishing Report 7-17-13

I’m not complaining, I’m just saying…  It’s been hot!!!

We started out the week with Dave Plemon and his brother in law Steve Waters.  Both guys are from the Wisconsin Rapids area, and they’ve been coming to northern Wisconsin for several years.  I couldn’t be prouder of the performance they put on.  Bottom line…  It was a tough bite, and every fish we caught was a struggle.  Temps soared into the mid 90’s and water temps spiked at 79 degrees on a hot and muggy day.  The boys hung in there though and put their limit of walleyes up to 18″ in the boat with fish to spare.  All fish were caught on crawlers in 15′ to 17′ of water.  We had to work for every fish, and it was obvious that the extreme heat along with the mayfly hatch that ended last week have had an impact on the bite.  Patience and perseverance paid off of for Dave and Steve, and I couldn’t be happier for two great guys!

Long time customer, friend, and President of Big Tine, Mike Bassett, arrived with his wife Kathy for their annual northern Wisconsin walleye extravaganza.  After throwing my wife an incredible surprise 40th birthday party, they turned their attention to catching fish.  On the first day of our trip we were faced with extreme heat and windy conditions, but the walleyes were on fire as well.  Catching fish with any size was a struggle however.  We boated a ton of fish in the 12″ to 16″ class along deep weed edges in 15′ of water with crawlers.

Day two of our trip was another story.  Extreme heat, and south winds continued with water temps reaching 79 degrees, but the bite slowed.  Willing biters had moved to around 19′ of water off of deep weed edges, and we caught most of them on half a crawler with an extremely finicky bite.  We also landed some larger fish at the end of the day on a jig and minnow combination while working deep weed edges.  We’re definitely into our mid summer patterns of fishing, but don’t be discouraged…  You can still put good days together, you just have to grind it out and keep moving until you find active fish.  As usual, Mike and I solved most of the world’s problems over the past couple of days while chasing his favorite fish that swims.  I can’t wait to do it again!!!