Hayward, Wisconsin & Chequamegon Bay Fishing Report 10-28-14

An unexpected change in my schedule gave me an opportunity to get in the boat with some family and friends over the weekend.  It had been over a year since my brother Jason from Two Harbors, MN had been in my boat, and he spent Friday on the water with me for a much needed, deserved, and overdue trip.  We started the day crappie fishing with the promise of warm temps and sunny skies.  The sun was slow to appear, and the crappies started slow as well.  We searched around quite a bit in 20′ – 28′ of water to find active schools of fish while catching only one or two in a spot before needing to move.  Eventually the sun poked its head out, and the crappies picked up.  By noon, we had a nice mess of fish up to 12″ caught on jigs and plastics.  Water temps ranged from 48 – 49 degrees in the morning.  With dinner in the livewell, Jason decided we should finish the day by catching a musky…  Wouldn’t that be nice?!!!  After switching lakes and gears, we pounded the water for a couple of hours before one of our suckers got slammed late in the afternoon.  Jason hit it with a good hook set, but the fish popped off instantly.  As we’ve seen in the past, sometimes a musky is going to eat no matter what.  As Jason was reeling his chewed up sucker back to the boat, the musky charged in and drilled it again 10′ from boat side.  It was a very cool change in fortune, and we had the best seat in the house!!!  Talk about an emotional roller coaster…  This time, Jason was able to connect on the set and landed a very fat 43″ fish with great markings.  It was the perfect end to a perfect day.  Jason’s musky came out of a main lake basin over some deep weeds in 24′ of water.  Congratulations brother on a great fish, and thanks for a spectacular day!

On Sunday, it was time to get my father back on the water for one last trip of the season.  We went after crappies on another gorgeous fall afternoon with light winds, sunny skies, and warm temps.  There was no place I ‘d rather have been on a day like this.  The crappie bite has definitely slowed a bit on our area lakes over the past week, but we were still able to find a few active fish in 22′ – 30’ of water.  In fact, we caught some of the biggest crappies of the season including a 14 3/4″ fish that was my dad’s personal best ever!  One of the things I’ve always loved about fishing is that no matter how long you do it, something new can happen any time you’re on the water.  It was pretty neat to see my dad land the largest crappie of his life after all of the time we’ve spent on the water together.  All of our fish were caught on jigs and plastics and water temperatures held at 50 degrees.  As our day came to an end, there was sure a lot to be thankful for.  The fish we caught and the opportunity to spend time on the water with my brother and dad at the end of a busy season were both examples of how extremely fortunate I am on many levels.  Congratulations on your super slab dad!  Until next season…

Chequamegon Bay was made for guys like Nate Berg from Babe Winkelman Productions.  Nate loves catching smallmouth, and he loves catching them on live bait rigs.  Sounds like a match to me!  After a slow start with a funky bite on Monday morning, we lit them up in the afternoon as the fish went nuts.  Our best bite was in 20′ – 22′ of water using large minnows.  It was a “big bait, big fish” kind of day as Nate put on his usual fish catching clinic.  It’s always great to have people in the boat who truly appreciate these fish, the way they fight, and their incredible size.  We had a ton of fish in the 19″ – 20″ range with our largest topping out at 21″.  We also had multiple doubles, and Nate perfected the “tuna set” while using minnows the size of lake trout.  Well that may be a bit of an exaggeration,  but not much!!!  Water temps ranged from 48 – 49 degrees on another pleasant day to be on the water with light winds.  With a nasty system moving in later in the week, I was soaking it all in!!!  It was a really neat day to be on the bay as we heard snow geese flying over, watched smallmouth surfacing around us throughout the day, and also observed a school of salmon breaking water not far from our boat.  Neat stuff for sure and exactly why we’re out there this time of year.  Thanks for another memorable day Nate.  It’s always a blast!  Only two more days left folks…