Hayward, Wisconsin Fishing Report 5-19-14
The past several days since my last report have been an absolute blur, with many changes in weather conditions as well as fishing conditions. By the time the weekend was over it actually felt like spring. Warm temps, trees ready to leaf out, and birds singing. Man it feels good to be warm…
On Wednesday, I spent the evening putting together some video footage for Greg and Jake Miller’s Road Weary Productions. We didn’t have ideal conditions as the beginning of a nasty cold front was on the way, but we were able to get the job done in just a couple hours of fishing. After a little poking around and exercising some patience, we found fish up to 13″ in 6′ to 8′ of water all caught on plastics under slip bobbers. Air temperatures were falling with north winds as we fished, and you could tell the fish were slipping into a negative mood. Water temps in the bay we fished were steady at 50 degrees. We watched several other boats in the area, and they all appeared to be struggling. This was definitely a sign of things to come…
What can I say about Thursday? Not a lot! Strong northeast winds gusting up to 30 mph with rain, sleet, and even snow made for a super tough day on the water. I had an afternoon trip scheduled and spent the morning just trying to find spots we could fish out of the wind. Good guy and return customer Dan Uniejewski from Nashville, TN showed up with his father Walter from Chicago without a whole lot of positive news to go on. But heck, these guys are fishermen, and they know the drill. You won’t catch them sitting at the dock! We
fished out of Angler’s Haven Resort and spent a few hours trying to stay out of the weather while showing Dan some new locations to fish. Unfortunately, the walleyes were not cooperative. We lost one fish in a snag, and only managed to boat a few perch and rock bass. None of which were picture worthy. Water temps were pretty steady at 43 degrees, and we pitched jigs and minnows in anywhere from 10′ to 20′ of water. There was a silver lining to this trip however. I had the opportunity to spend time in the boat with another one of “America’s Greatest Generation”. Walter is a WWII vet, and an American hero. What a pleasure and honor to fish with such a great man. Thank you Walter, and Thank you Dan for making the best of a tough day!
The third weekend in May always brings the Sister Bay gang to town for their annual crappiethon, and thankfully they brought the warm weather with them. Dave Brown and I guided Scott Mueller from Cedarburg, WI as well as Mike Daubner, Matt Tishler, and Leif Mickelson all from Sister Bay, WI. This crew has become great friends of ours, and we always look forward to kicking off our season with them. Day one of the trip was on Saturday, and the focus was on crappies. Big crappies! After a slow start, both boats were able to locate some nice schools of quality fish. It was kind of interesting however that Dave’s boat was on a deeper pattern catching fish in 10′ of water and my boat catching fish on another part of the lake in 6′. By the end of the day, we had an impressive catch with many fish in the 13″ range. Plastics 
under slip bobbers caught everything, and water temps ranged from 47 – 53 degrees. Quite a difference a little warm weather makes this time of year!
After a good start to the weekend, my boat decided to begin chasing walleyes on Sunday. I’d say Mike and Scott made a good choice. We had our limit within 30 minutes to start the day with fish ranging from 14″ – 17″. Some of these fish were obviously still spawning, and they came on jigs and minnows in 10′ to 20′ of water. As the sun got higher, the bite noticeably slowed so we turned our attention back to crappies. We got into a good school in 6′ to 7′ of water right away, and it was looking like we were in for one heck of an afternoon. Something changed after lunch, I’m not sure what, but the bite became a one here two there situation. The only noticeable difference 
was that the wind kicked up pretty significantly. Whatever it was, we were forced to move around quite a bit and rarely caught more than two or three on a spot. We had one 13″ fish on the day, but the rest ranged from 9″ to 11″. Again, it was jigs and plastics with water temps continuing to range from 47 – 53 degrees. All in all, not a bad day whatsoever and a great weekend of fishing. A big thanks goes out to this crew for always starting us out right. We can’t wait to do it again fellas!
Terry Peterson, our dear friend and guiding partner since the beginning, unexpectedly lost his wife of over 40 years this weekend. Diane Peterson passed away on Saturday. Diane was well known by many of Terry’s customers over the years, and she will be missed by all. Our sympathies, thoughts, and prayers go out to Terry and the entire Peterson family. Rest in peace Diane.