09/15/2026
Minocqua Area Fishing Report
Moving into mid-September and surface temps finally breaking below 70° and some color coming up to the trees! Monday morning (9/14), temps in the 30’s helped a bunch! Forecast of lows in the 50’s the highs in the upper 60’s bodes well for a smooth transition. Should make for an easier to pattern remainder to September.
Largemouth Bass: Good–Very good - Working heavy w**d growth, drop shotting, Texas rigging, jig and creatures to get down into the thick stuff. Wind wasn’t doing any favors, so slow and heavy did the trick!
Walleye: Good – So far, (with a few exceptions of bites that were normally there at this calendar date but aren’t) Walleye action has been good. It’s the where that has the question marks, find them and they’ve been biting. Three days, three different types of lakes, three different types of terrain, wind made setting up tough, but Walleyes were found in 22-24’ depths holding over sand on one lake, 12-14’ w**d edges on the next day on a different lake and 14-16’ rock bar tops the third day, third lake. Redtails on 3/16 and 1/4 oz jigs if possible (heavier with wind) to 1/8 oz w**dless in the 12-14’ w**d depths. Crawlers actually worked best on the rock bars.
Smallmouth Bass: Good – Out on rock/gravel bars made for tough fishing on mid-lake locations due to wind. Heavy drop shotting rigs or football jigs to keep in contact with bottom was the key. Some nice Smallies still cruising the 14-16‘ w**d edges taking Kietech swim baits on 1/4-3/8 oz jigs!
Musky: Good – Bucktails up over shallow w**ds. Top-water baits when possible with wind. Fish cruising shallows of 4-8’ of water. High riding swim baits also scoring.
Northern Pike: Good – Most caught targeting Walleyes (jig/chub combos) or Musky (bucktails, twitch baits). Work any green w**ds.
Bluegill: Good – Best Gills over wood in 8-14‘ of water. W**ds seem to be holding smaller fish. Slip bobbers and pieces of crawler. Jigging has been tough due to the wind.
Crappie: Fair – Not as many reports this week due to windy conditions. This has hampered holding and fishing. Live bait over plastics in these conditions.
Yellow Perch: Fair – Mostly due to weather. Best over wood with a medium fathead or ½ nightcrawler on a jig or under a slip float if possible.
With temp slowly coming down (readings of 67 to 68° on most lakes), fishing should remain good. Signs of w**d die off on certain types of w**ds, avoid these areas. Walleyes are transitioning to soft bottoms on some lakes based on signs of feeding on Mayfly larva, shows mud use. Yet still some w**d bites available. Musky should remain strong on top-water and bucktails for a while. Weather had a lot to do with it, but fishing pressure light this past weekend.
Lakes still very low, use caution, especially on Flowages and chains where channels leading from one lake to another are impassable due to low water.
Pics of the Week
Chaz of Rhinelander with his first Walleye
Michelle with her “catch” of the day
Joseph Bogdonas of Rockford, IL with his Uncle Scott Peterson of Winnebago, Il with part of a nice catch of Walleye
Joseph Bogdonas with a chunky Smallmouth Bass
Nick Etten of Chicago with an impressive Smallmouth Bass and his friend (whom shall remain nameless and faceless) with his, not so impressive Smallmouth Bass (his name is Steve)!
Tony Stefanski with a dandy 16” shore caught Smallmouth Bass
Rob Avery from Roscoe, IL with a Musky
Joe Avery from Rockford, IL with a nice Smallie
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