Joel DeBoer

With a variety of species to choose from, the North-Central Wisconsin area is one of the finest fishing destinations in the Midwest! Some nice panfish, including slab crappies and jumbo bluegills, are finding their way into local livewells. Minnows, small leeches, and night crawlers are all working, as are small jig and rubber combinations. Look for areas containing blow-downs or stumps and work the wood thoroughly, even during mid-day hours. For the fly fisherman, morning and evening are producing nice catches using small poppers or dry flies.

The Smallmouth Bass bite continues to roll on. Early and late have been best compared to the heat of the day, but these time frames are seeing terrific action from solid fish, some into the 20" range. Jig and twister combinations, lipless crankbaits, and surface baits are all working well. As the sun climbs, try working docks, log-jams, and other shady areas with a small flipping jig or Texas-rigged worm for continued action.

Walleyes are still on the prowl with legal sized walleyes including "slot fish" (20"-28") continue to show up in the bottom of our Frabill nets. Jigging has been an effective method for staying on active fish, and the trolling bite has also been good as fish scatter over the flats in search of food. Slip bobber's rigs with weedless jigs tipped with live bait will provide all-day action when worked in heavy wood cover. This is a great way to pick up bonus smallmouth and crappies as well.

The Musky fishing has also been good during low light periods, at least when fishing your more 'typical' structure. "Burning" bucktails and erratically twitching both jerkbaits and twitch baits is producing on both pike and muskies. As the heat of the day approaches, muskies and some nice bonus pike are being taken out suspended once the weed/wood bite appears to die down. With the continued warm weather and ever-increasing surface temperatures, use extreme caution when landing and releasing these predators. The high temps place a great deal of stress on them and handling needs to be kept to an absolute minimum.

Tight lines,

Joel DeBoer

Fish Species: Musky, walleye, cmallmouth bass, crappie
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Joel DeBoer

About The Author: Joel DeBoer

Company: Wisconsin Angling Adventures

Area Reporting: Central and Northern Wisconsin

Bio: Greetings and welcome to the Northwoods! My name is Joel DeBoer; I grew up fishing the waters of Central and Northern Wisconsin and enjoying the beauty of Wisconsin's outdoors - I can guarantee you will enjoy them as well! As owner of Wisconsin Angling Adventures, I'll work hard to keep you on the fish and show you a good time out on the water! Through countless days and nights on the water, I have worked hard to uncover local "hotspots" while prefecting the techniques necessary to produce trophy fish from them. I have been an active member of Muskies Inc. and Bill's Musky Club, and am responsible for numerous awards for muskies caught and released by my clients as well as myself. In addition to guiding, I am an active musky tournament fisherman, having multiple Top 10 finishes. Not only do I fish tournaments for muskies, but a variety of local tournaments for walleyes and bass. I am active on the internet - providing articles and fishing reports to over 15 different web sites, in addition to doing web-radio shows. I am a published outdoor author and educator, including my weekly column, "The Guides Corner" in the Everest Herald. I specialize in multi-media presentations and seminars on the vast aspects of musky fishing. Please feel free to email me, at ANY time. In addition, take an opportunity to visit my bio pages at the St. Croix Rod or VMC Hooks Pro-Staff pages as a further reference. I am thankful to the wonderful companies I am privileged to work with promotionally: Bait Rigs * DeLONG Lures * Ducktail Lures * Dunwright Tackle * Frabill * Mepps * Mister Twister * Mercury * Optima Batteries * Pure Fishing (Abu Garcia, Berkley, Stren) * Roberts Outdoors * St. Croix * VMC Hooks

715-297-7573
Click Here For Past Fishing Reports by Fishing Guide Joel DeBoer