There are a lot of excited hunters out there this week as the kill permits for the 2018 Wisconsin Bear hunt were recently released. With that said, if you are looking for a guided bear hunt, we here at Hooksetters have a few openings left. Fishing remains very good in the central part of the state with good catches of pike, walleye, and panfish.
 

The best bite we have been on lately have been perch. We have had several lakes producing both good numbers and some decent size. A lot of the perch that we are catching are being taken on tiny minnows on slip bobbers or tip-downs, but we are getting into some of the larger, nicer fish, by working larger spoons in deeper water.
 

Crappies and bluegills are coming in a close second this past week with not only good catches of fish but some really large fish being taken. Just this past week alone we have had several really nice crappies over 14 inches and one slob that topped the scales at over 15 inches. We also had one really big bluegill this past week that was just shy of 11 inches! Now those are some big panfish!!! Most of the panfish are being caught in 12 to 16 feet of water related to submerged wood. We are using tungsten jigs that have been tipped with either a wax worm or a couple of spikes. The real key to “catching” fish this past week was running red spikes as bait as opposed to the normal white spikes.
 

Walleye and northern pike have been showing up pretty frequently on our outings and have been a pleasant addition to our daily catch. Most of the time we are catching the walleye and pike on tip-ups that have been baited up with a large golden shiner or sucker minnow, but we are also picking up a few nice fish while jigging with spoons or jiggin raps.
 

Phil Schweik
Hooksetters Guide Service
Phone: 715-693-5843