Chequamegon Bay & Hayward, Wisconsin Fishing Report 6-5-16

Rain, rain, and more rain…  We’re a bit soggy right now after dealing with plenty of nasty weather over the weekend.  I know better than to complain about the weather, so I’m not going to.  For now…  Dave Brown and I teamed up over the past few days, and Paul Dongieux from Oxford, MS returned to fish with us.  He brought along one heck of a crew that included Steve Money (Little River, TX), Jesus Atencio (Venezuela), and Chris Skibba (Charlotte, NC).  This trip was all about smallmouth bass, and I started out on Friday with Steve and Jesus on Chequamegon Bay.  We had perfect weather with calm winds and sunny skies to start the day, and we quickly found a hot school of fish in 4′ – 5′ of water on plastics.  It was a catch, catch, catch kind of morning, and we didn’t have to move the boat much as the boys put good numbers of fish up to 20.5″ in the net.  I believe most spawning is complete on the bay, and this is the beginning of the post spawn bite.  We switched locations in the afternoon and fished some really muddy water due to all of the rain we’ve had.  Fish were there, and we caught them inconsistently throughout the rest of the day.  Water temps were 60 – 61, and I’m sure this big swing in temperatures has had an effect on fish activity.  A really good post spawn bite should be on the way once things settle down a bit on the bay.  Steve and Jesus did one heck of a job, and it was a great start to our trip!

We were in the Hayward Lakes area on Saturday, and we found plenty of smallmouth near spawning areas in 4′ – 6′ of water.  Steve Money was back in the boat along with Chris Skibba.  It was an interesting day from a weather and fishing perspective.  We had everything from flat water and sun to wind and rain throughout the day, and I believe the smallmouth spawn on our inland lakes is in a complete state of flux.  We observed a lot of empty nests, and we also saw fish spawning with the male and female together.  Jigs and plastics caught plenty of fish throughout the day up to 20.5″, but we had to cover a lot of water to stay on active fish.  I’m certain all of the weather fronts we’ve had over the past week have the fish a bit confused, and we just kept moving until we found fish that wanted to cooperate.  Steve and Chris made the most of every opportunity, and we didn’t miss many.  Plenty of good fish were put in the net, and our totals at the end of the day didn’t disappoint.  Water temps were 61 – 63 degrees.  We also snuck up on a deer that had no idea we were there.  Pretty cool!  Once again, our rain gear got a workout, and the boat was put away wet.  Again…

Paul Dongieux was back in my boat on Sunday along with Steve Money.  It was good to have my old friend back in the saddle as we wrapped up our three day trip in the Hayward area.  Paul is a really good dude, and we always have lots of laughs between fish.  Our day started with sunny skies and calm seas as we boated several good smallmouth in 4′ – 8′ of water on jigs and plastics.  Water temps were in the mid 60’s, and the lake we fished appeared to be nearing the end of the spawn.  We saw lots of empty nests with fish cruising the gravel flats.  Our largest fish of the morning was a beautiful 20.5″ smallie landed by Steve.  We’re having a tough time getting off that 20.5 number…  Storms were approaching, and we chose to switch lakes in the pm.  After a one hour rain delay we were back at it in Lake #2.  We quickly found aggressive fish in 5′ – 10′ and wrapped up the day catching some really nice smallies up to 19.5″ on jigs and plastics.  Water temps were in the low 60’s.  Our day ended quickly as another thunderstorm was looming, but not before our gang had netted another bunch of nice fish.  There’s just one left out there for Paul and Steve that we need to teach a lesson.  We’ll get em next time boys!  What a great weekend with a bunch of incredible guys.  Can’t tell you how hard I laughed.  Now, if this rain would just quit… Have a great week everyone!