Chequamegon Bay & Hayward, Wisonsin Fishing Report 8-22-14

It’s been a smallmouth kind of thing this week, and the fish on Chequamegon Bay continue to be cooperative.  Wednesday morning was spent with Dan Krieger from Bangor, WI and his friend Dave Ames from Sparta, WI.  Dan received a trip with us as an anniversary gift from his wife and brought his good friend along for some steady action that produced some really nice fish including a 21 3/4″ beauty landed by Dave.  We fished with minnows in 10′ – 20′ of water and the bite was consistent throughout our trip.  Water temperatures held at 65 degrees as the cloudy weather pattern that’s been around continues to keep water temperatures reasonably cool on the bay for this time of year.  The extremely strong bite we’ve had over the past couple of weeks probably has something to do with these cool water temps, and you won’t hear me complaining about not seeing the sun!  Both Dan and Dave are retired from the National Guard, and it was a pleasure to have them in the boat.  Thanks for your service men, and thanks for the great morning!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the afternoon free, Terry Peterson decided to drive up from Hayward to investigate this smallmouth bite on Chequamegon Bay I’ve been telling him about.  Bad news for the bass… As usual, The Professor let those smallies know he could get the best of them as we caught  lots of fish up to 20″ on a variety of presentations from minnows to plastics.  The fish were a little more scattered in the afternoon as the sun actually made a bit of an appearance for awhile and warmed the water temps to 67 degrees.  We just kept moving and continued to catch fish in anywhere from 14′ – 25′ of water.  As always, it was good to spend some time on the water and share some laughs with my old friend and partner.  It’s a treat to watch Terry go to work and find different ways to catch fish as he’s constantly experimenting and fine tuning presentations.  I could sense a sigh of relief from the fish as we packed up and headed for home.  They’re hoping he doesn’t return any time soon!

Thursday was a BUMMER!!!  I was scheduled to fish with Curt Knudsen from Oklahoma City, OK and his son Michael Knudson from Fort Worth, TX in the Hayward area for a half day trip.  As I arrived at the landing, lightning flashes and radar with lots of red forced me to cancel the trip.  We fish in all kinds of weather, but lightning is nothing I’ll mess with.  It was an extremely disappointing way to end our trip.  While we contemplated our options in my truck, I found out that Michael is a TCU  grad.  Since TCU beat Wisconsin in the 2011 Rose Bowl, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was karma…  Regardless of their football loyalties, I’m looking forward to the next time I can get together with Curt and Michael.  We’ll get em next time boys!!!

We were back on Chequamegon Bay Friday morning with Ben Osmond from St. Paul, MN and his brother in law Andy Johnson from Burlington, WY.  These two guys were a hoot to have in the boat, and they caught a bunch of nice fish which made it even more fun.  Ben and Andy boated many nice smallies up to 20.5″ in 15′ – 18′ of water on minnows as we started the day with a double right out of the gates.  That’s usually a good sign…  A couple of bonus pike were also caught by Andy including a 39″ beast he put in the net at the end of the day.  It’s his personal best fish, and that’s saying something for a former big game guide from out west.  My favorite line of the morning came from Andy with he commented that Ben’s smallmouth just shy of 20″ was “built like a toaster”.  That’s the first time I’ve heard that, but it won’t be the last time I use it!!!  It was another cloudy day on the bay with NE winds and water temps holding at 65 degrees.  Congratulations to Andy on his personal best, and thanks to both Ben and Andy for a great time!