Hayward, Wisconsin Fishing Report 7-23-15

It’s steaming hot in northern WI right now, and we’ve had a great week beating the heat!  It’s been well documented that Jim Oyen and his wife Sarah from Atwater, MN have caught some incredible walleyes with us over the years.  Normally they arrive in the fall, but there was a change of plans this year.  Jim wanted to bring his 5 yr. old daughter Sophie fishing, and he scheduled a half day trip to the St. Louis River.  With the recent results we’ve had up there, that wasn’t going to happen, so we decided to go with Plan B and fish an inland lake on Tuesday.  We had very little wind on a bright sunny day, and the action started out slow as we fished weedlines with slip bobbers and leeches along with jigs and minnows in  9′ of water.  After spot hopping a bit we found some fish, and Sophie caught her first walleye all by herself.  She put a nice 15″ fish in the net, and several more followed between 15″ & 17″.  With time running out in the morning we decided to move to some deeper water, and got into some really nice fish.  Sophie and Jim put a hurting on big walleyes up to 24″ in 18′ of water as the morning ended with one heck of a flurry.  Water temps were steady around 74 degrees, and I’m certain we’ve got another Oyen Walleye junkie in the making.  Sophie did one heck of a job, and it’s obvious that mom and dad have taught her well.  Bad news walleyes…  More Oyens are on the way!!!

Dave Schroedel from Madison, WI and his son in law Randy Hampton from Verona, WI had one heck of a day with us last fall, and they brought along Randy’s 8 yr. old son Jackson for another trip to the Hayward area on Wednesday.  With the performances of the kids in our boat this year the future of fishing looks bright, and Jackson was nothing less than impressive.  We caught an incredible mixed bag of fish throughout the day on slip bobbers with leeches and minnows working deep weed lines and rock structures in 15′ – 20′ of water.  By the end of the day, Jackson had caught 8 different species that included walleyes up to 19′, smallmouth up to 18″, and pike up to 30″.  Water temps hit 75 degrees on a hot day with little wind.  It’s always amazing to have three generations of fishermen in the boat, and Jackson certainly did dad and grandpa proud.  These poor fish are going to be in trouble with kids like this fishing with us!!!  Keep listening to Rock & Roll Jackson, and watch out for that curve ball…  Can’t wait to see you again!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dave Bender from Bullhead City, AZ fished with us in the Hayward area on Thursday as air temps continued to climb into the mid 80’s.  A slight west wind helped us out a little, but the morning started out slow as the walleyes didn’t want to cooperate.  Around mid morning we switched our approach to dragging crawler harnesses along weed edges in 15′ – 20′ of water, and that was the ticked as we put a bunch of nice fish in the net between 15″ & 18″ before lunch.  The afternoon was spent focusing on smallmouth, and we had to do a bit of searching to locate active schools of fish.  Once we did, it was on…  Dave caught a pile of smallies up to 19″ as we worked deep rocks in 18′ – 20′ of water with leeches and minnows.  Water temps were nudging 76 degrees by late afternoon.  The action was steady, and I got a good workout running back and forth between fish.  I like that kind of exercise!!!  Dave is an Army Vet. who flew Apache helicopters in the first Gulf War, and it was a pleasure to have him in the boat.  Thanks for all you’ve done Dave, and congratulations on some great fish.  Safe travels back to Arizona my friend!!!