It’s Fall – It’s Musky Time!
It’s Fall – It’s Musky Time!: Upper Chippewa Basin fisheries report – Musky have continued to provide most of the fishing pressure on Northwoods waters and action has been good. Most of the musky anglers have switched from artificials to live suckers, and this has been the most successful method. The smaller size suckers (10″ to 14″) have provided the best action in the last week and good numbers of musky up to 40 inches have been landed. However, the nicest fish have been coming on large suckers – with some 42-plus-inch musky being caught on 18-inch or better suckers. Look for this ‘large-sucker’ trend to continue as the fall season progresses, with the trophy potential getting better as the water temperatures cool into the 40s and it gets closer to the season’s end on November 30. Artificial baits have still been enticing a few musky but they’ve mostly been follows and have been mid-size fish in the 30 to 36-inch range.
Walleye fishing has been especially erratic and it seems that the fish haven’t fully settled into a solid fall pattern yet. Late October and early November should provide a little better walleye action as water temperatures continue to cool. For now, jig and minnow combinations and a minnow on a slip bobber have shown the best success, with cloudy days often producing some fair action during the daytime hours. Panfish action has been fair, with some decent crappie and perch being found along deep weed edges and near mid-depth cover.
Water temperatures have dropped into the low to mid 50s and this has pretty much shut down most bass activity. There have been a few die-hard bass anglers that have still been trying their luck with the unseasonably warm fall weather. The have had some fair success for largemouth bass in the afternoon hours on warm, sunny days, with soft plastics fished around woody cover in 4 to 6 feet of water. – Skip Sommerfeldt, senior fisheries biologist, Park Falls.
It’s Fall – It’s Musky Time!
*Louis Spray caught his Musky in the fall!
