Hayward, Wisconsin Fishing Report 6-22-14
The walleye and smallmouth fishing on our inland lakes continues to be nothing short of fantastic. I haven’t had a chance to compare numbers yet, but this has to rank right with last June which was our best ever. I don’t hide my feelings about winter, but I may have to change my position if these late ice outs continue to produce fishing like this. Scott and Wyatt Evans from Mineral Point returned on Friday for day #2 of their trip. This time they brought along Wyatt’s 14 yr. old sister Sierra. We absolutely hammered the walleyes in the morning up to 21″ on jigs and minnows along with leeches and slip bobbers in 14′ – 18′ of water. The afternoon was spent on 
smallmouth, and we found plenty of biters in 2′ – 5′ of water on plastic worms and crankbaits. Our largest was a dandy 20″ fish landed by Sierra toward the end of the day. What a tank! Water temps ranged from 65 – 68 degrees. Look out Wyatt… Big sis is hot on your heals my man!!! Thanks to the Evans gang for another memorable trip!
My old friend Brent Jacobson (Jake) returned on Saturday with the Berry boys. Dan from New Lisbon, WI, Joe from Tomah, WI, and Andy from Lake Delton, WI all helped Jake put a new roof on my house last August, and it was time to pay up. They did an incredible job for me, and it was going to be a hard act to follow. Thankfully the fish cooperated for us, and the guys smashed em over the weekend. Saturday morning I had Jake and Andy in my boat, and the walleyes went ballistic. We caught fish after fish up to 21″ on jigs and minnows along with slip bobbers and leeches in 14′ – 18′ of water. We also ran into a bunch of smallmouth up to 18″ mixed in with the walleyes which caught me a little by surprise, but maybe it shouldn’t have. It’s all about food right now, and the deep weed lines that are setting up are loaded with forage. I finished the day with Dan and
Joe fishing smallies. We struggled at first to put a pattern together but eventually got into some very nice fish up to 18″ in 4′ of water using plastic worms and crankbaits. We ended the day on a stellar father and son double with twin 18 inchers. It doesn’t get any better than that! Water temperatures ranged from 65 – 67 degrees on an absolutely perfect day to be fishing.
Joe Berry is a smallmouth nut, and he was back in my boat on Sunday morning to focus on bronzebacks while the rest of the crew hunted walleyes. The boys had to hit the road in the afternoon so we fished until noon. Warm temps, sunny skies, and light winds made for a great morning, and the smallies were on fire. Joe and I landed 20 fish up to 20″ on plastic worms and crankbaits in 2′ – 5′ of water. Water temperatures ranged from 67 – 69 degrees. The smallmouth equation isn’t hard right now. Find the rocks and you’ll find fish. If your close to a spawning flat, better yet. They’re definitely making up for lost time from the spawn, and this is a great time of year to fish them. I suspect you could do
pretty well with top water baits on certain days also. I did a little experimenting, and missed a few fish but didn’t stick with it long enough to make a good judgement. It’s definitely worth having a rod rigged up and ready with your favorite popper or chugger. It usually only takes a cast or two at each spot to tell you if they’re interested. Oh, I forgot about our friends in the walleye boat… They managed to catch some very nice walleyes up to 21″ in 15′ of water using slip bobbers and leeches with Jake landing the largest. There you go buddy, I gave you the credit you deserve! After another great lunch and awesome service at Angler’s Haven, the guys were on the road with a cooler full of walleye fillets and sore arms to go with it. Thanks for an incredible weekend fellas. I appreciate everything you did for me, and I’m happy the fish treated you well. You deserved it!!!