Bam… First “50” of the year! Doug Aziz made it happen when he landed a GIANT musky this past week while fishing with me. The monster struck a topwater bait made by Lake X Lures called the Fat Bastard. In addition to the great musky caught by Doug we have seen several other nice muskies this week along with some great walleye and crappie fishing.
 

Here we go…. Musky fishing has really heated up this past week and the warmer temperatures combined with a moon phase has really turned them on. Most of the action has been on Slipper Sam bucktails made by Don Pestka of Super Slayer Tackle right here in Wausau, Wisconsin and top water lures made by Lake X Lures out of Phillips, Wisconsin. Most of the fish have been in shallow water less than 6 feet deep associated with weeds. The real key for us being successful has been religiously doing our figure 8’s. In the river system that we fish the water is stained a root beer color and you cannot see down very far. Following fish are seldom if ever detected until they are right at the boat side or they actually strike. A lot of fish would be missed or never seen if we did not figure 8 our lures after every cast. The big fish that Doug caught virtually came out of nowhere and struck on the figure 8. Doug never saw the fish coming as it exploded on the bait right in front of him!
 

Crappie fishing has been very good this past week with lots of good fish being caught. Slip drifting in 12 to 16 feet of water with jigs suspended under slip-bobbers has been our best tactic for catching both numbers and size. The key to catching the larger fish is to stay higher in the water column. With crappies the smaller fish will generally hold tighter to the bottom where the larger crappies will suspend high in the water column.
 

The walleye bite has been fantastic this past week. We have had action from both numbers of fish along with some very good size. A lot of the walleyes are scattered in shallow wood right now but targeting them has been relatively easy. Weed less Ricky jigs from Baitmaker tackle have been the ticket for success. Tip the jigs with a crawler or minnow and work it carefully in and around submerged wood in 4 to 8 feet of water to pluck out the walleyes. Using your electronics is a must to detect underwater structure and having side-imaging is a real bonus when searching out large areas. But once the structure is located it is as simple as connecting the dots as you go from one location to another picking off walleye after walleye.
 

Have a great week,
 

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