Chequamegon Bay, St. Louis River, & Hayward, WI Fishing Report 7-8-15

It’s definitely been an interesting start to the week…  Our good friend, former Wisconsin Badgers All American, and current Cleveland Browns NFL All Pro Joe Thomas returned with his father in law Greg Nelson from New Auburn, WI and brother in law Matt Schneider from Woodbury, MN.  Scheduling conflicts kept this crew from joining us last year, and it just wasn’t the same without  them.  I look forward to this trip every year, and it was great to see these guys again.  They joined me in the Hayward area on Monday with a forecast that called for rain.  They were correct.  Rain it did…  We started the morning with a light rain, and the fish were cooperative as we put some nice walleyes up to 18″, smallmouth up  to 17″, largemouth up to 17″, and a 25″ pike in the net as we fished over weeds in 15′ – 18′ of water with leeches and minnows.  Water temps held arond 72 degrees, and we had steady action until late morning when the wind turned strong out of the NE, and we found ourselves in the middle of a monsoon.  Not sure they were calling for that…  We wrapped things up around noon when it was obvious that the weather wasn’t going to clear, and we were all pretty well soaked from head to toe.  Although I was disappointed that we didn’t get to put in a p.m. shift, it was still great to see the gang and catch some nice fish.  Always lots of laughs and a great time.  Best wishes on the field Joe, and don’t work too hard Greg.  Maybe we can find a better poncho for Matt next year???  Thanks fellas!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We continued our quest to put in a day on the St. Louis River on Tuesday as Chris and Brenda Diesing from Brookfield, WI and the Wounded Warriors In Action joined us to get after some walleyes.  We arrived at the landing to find muddy water, floating debris from the rain, and north winds.  Perfect!  Although I probably knew what the result would be, we gave it our best shot and ended up with a 12″ crappie, sheephead, and a donated crankbait to a musky in 3 hrs.  The walleye bite wasn’t going to happen, and we had to get…  Water temps held around 68 degrees.  The p.m. was a different story however.  We moved to an inland lake and found cooperative walleyes up to 17 1/2″ along weedlines in 6′ – 8′ of water on leeches and minnows.  Brenda caught her first walleye, and we even put a nice double together at the end of the day.  A couple of bonus smallies up to 17″ added to the excitement as we had a really nice afternoon with near perfect weather.  Water temps held around 72 degrees, and we had light NE winds with sunny skies.  Chris and Brenda were an absolute pleasure to have in the boat, and we can’t thank them enough for all they do for our wounded soldiers.  I’ll see you at the Bayfield County Cast & Blast Diesings.  Can’t wait!!!

 

 

 

Jason Keesy and his father Marty from Cedar Falls, IA arrived just in time for an epic storm and some epic fishing last fall.  They put together a trip we’ll be talking about for a long time, and they decided to bring Marty’s brother Bob from Niwot, CO for another crack at northern WI.  The first leg of our three day trip was spend Wednesday on Chequamegon Bay.  Fish are starting to transition to deeper structures, and we began the day on a hot school in 12′ – 15′ of water.  After putting a few in the net they quickly turned off ,and we bounced around a bit before putting together a nice late morning run of some really big fish up to 20″.  Bob put on one heck of a performance as he took his brother’s money, and Jason also hooked up on a really nice pike (we never got a good look at it) that ended up cutting the line before we were able to get close.  Don’t worry Jason…  I know that fish was less than 50″!!!  We went in for lunch with a positive vibe as we’d located a school of nice fish, and I was confident we’d put it to them in the afternoon.  Wrong!  Winds switched, and it didn’t have a positive effect as we were only able to muster up a few fish with very little action at every spot we tried despite our best efforts.  Thank goodness for Bob’s hot hand or we would have had a dry net!  Despite the slow p.m., it was sure good to have the Keesy’s back, and I’m certainly looking forward to the next few days with some good fishermen and great guys.  Keep one eye open tonight Bob!!!