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Taylor County fishing report
June 5, 2008

Changing weather patterns have thrown last week’s fantastic fishing into a funk.
“It has slowed down all over,” Rock Point Bait and Convenience Store operator Nancy Shotliff said. “The front has come through, it has cooled down and the fish have stopped biting. Over the last weekend, they were catching fish like crazy.”
For those who are going fishing, Shotliff recommended fishing eight feet of water to find the suspended crappies and four feet of water or shallower for the spawning bluegills. The best action seems to be on black and blue Cubby Tails or Rubber Legs with white legs. Tip them with waxies or worms for the bluegills and small minnows for crappies, she said.
Shotliff said Chequamegon Waters (Miller Dam Flowage) are typically popular fishing destinations this time of year. Northerns have been hitting on minnows casted out from shore, but they have been of the small variety.
Gary Ellenbecker at Fuzzy’s General Store and Bait Shop said some anglers have been doing all right at Miller Dam and Mondeaux flowages. He also recommended deeper for crappies — 5-8 feet of water — and shallower — 1-3 feet of water — for bluegills. The crappie spawn has got to be almost over with fish moving deeper as bluegills come in for their turn.
The Rib Lake area is bucking the trend, according to Pete Peterson at Pete’s Service and Bait Shop.
“The fishing is excellent up here. The panfish are biting on all the lakes,” Peterson said. “The walleyes are hitting. They are catching a lot of little one, but there are big ones up to 27 inches out there.”
Peterson recommended leeches or minnows fished near the bottom in 5-6 feet of water at Rib and Spirit Lakes. Harper and Spirit Lakes have been producing nice catches of bluegills on nightcrawlers and crappies on minnows, he said. Peterson said the panfish have been caught in the shallows along shore.
According to the state Department of Natural Resources, the erratic and continually changing weather has made for some rather tough fishing conditions across the Northwoods in the past week. Several days of nice weather have been followed by severe cold fronts and this really disrupted fish activity. Fair success has been experienced during the stable weather, but the cold fronts seem to really shut down the action.
The biting insects have just started to come out in the far north and the first mosquitoes and black flies were noted in the last few days. Mayfly hatches have not yet begun and look for those to start in the first part of June.
Walleye have been the most sought after fish so far in May and reports have indicated just mediocre success. There really hasn't been any consistent pattern yet to the early season bite and walleye anglers have been having some success on both jig/minnow combinations and crank baits. The jig and minnow anglers have had the best success in 8 to 15 feet of water on the deep edges and break lines. The action has been concentrated in the early morning hours and in the hour before dark, and most of the walleye have been in the 11 to 15-inch size. A few nicer fish in the 18- to 23-inch size have been caught on Rapalas in the shallow muddy bays, but the strikes have been generally light and short.
Northern pike action has been fair with anglers catching medium-size fish along the newly developing weed beds.
Panfish action could only be termed fair as the colder water temperatures have kept most of the fish in deeper water. Both crappie and bluegill have been creeping back up into shallow water on warmer days and this has provided some decent action when conditions were right. Look for this to greatly improve with any kind of warming trend.
Bass activity is just starting to pick up and there have been the first few observations of largemouth being seen fanning out their spawning beds. Anglers are reminded that the catch and release season is still in effect in the Northern Zone and all bass anglers must be using barbless hooks.