Thank you for visiting our fishing report page. During the fishing season, we will regularly post fishing reports and provide you updates on the general condition on the Historic Chippewa Flowage.
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Below you will see the current fishing report posted on: 07/12/2008
General Conditions
With the last ice going out on May 1st, this is one of the latest ice outs the Flowage has ever had and we had the rare opportunity to get in on some great pre-spawn walleye fishing; whereas the big females may still be in the shallows and be catchable... especially in the evening. Sure enough, some great walleye fishing was experienced opening week, with one 29" 8# walleye being caught by one of our guests. We had a father and son team catch their limit of big walleye one night openoing week (see their photo on our website), with the two biggest going nearly 5# and 4 1/2# and the rest 17" to 22". They caught all of them on rapala husky jerk lures... working them slow and often pausing them. They were fishing gravely shoreline areas near the old river channels. Water level remains high on the Flowage, which makes shoreline fishing all the more productive because there is good water depth right close to shore where alot of the shoreline cover is located. The water level has been very stable the past 2 months, only dropping about 6 inches since opening in May.
Walleye Report
The walleye fishing was great this spring and we expect some great shallow water casting conditions into July. Try casting beetle spins, mimic minnows, rapalas, or husky jerks over the shoreline cabbage and weed beds that will be coming up on the shallow bars. Also try casting shoreline fallen trees and brush that is close to deep water. Do this mornings and evenings and throughtout mid day if it is cloudy. They key is to find the weed growth. If you find deeper weed growth in 8 to 12 feet of water, bottom weed, work that with a jig & leech or jig and big gulp artificial bait. Big gulp bait is dynamite and longer lasting. Give it a try. Our top guides are doing great with it. Lately, the walleye fishing has picked up, and we are getting some decent sized walleye catches at times even during mid day... although it is at times spotty. Another hot method has been using leeches with slip bobbers off the edges of the bars, in the 12' depth range.
Crappie Report
For crappie, early in the morning fish the shallows: brushy areas, fallen trees, bog edges with either 1/90th or 1/64th oz maribou pinkie jigs or mini mites on a bobber rig set about 3 feet from the jig. Bluegill will be in those areas all day long. Bog edges where there is deeper water (20' deep) have been excellent lately for good sized crappie (12" -13" range) during the morning and evening. Try minimites (or small minnows) either with a slip bobber rig or vertically fishing so that the lure is just off the bottom. When fishing alongside the bogs, look for any transition areas that break from mid depths to deeper depths. Look for, for instance, areas that maybe drop from 12 or 14 feet of water to 20 feet or more. Look for bluegill in the fallen tree tops and shallow brush and use little crappie jigs or pieces or worm on a shallow bobber rig.
Muskie Report
Muskies are being now caught every day by our guests with fair to good action most days. All day long has been productive with a variety of lures: however, between 9pm and 9:30 pm has been a very productive window that you don't want ti miss!!!. Great weeds on most of the bars. Mid to late July should be very good for muskies. With water temps now up to the low to mid 70s for highs, the muskies are now fairly active on the shallow bars in their normal spots. Look for fresh green weeds and try evenings for sure with surface baits. Try small weed humps and point bars, especially ones near spawning areas. The mid lake bars are now starting to show fish.
Northern/Smallmouth Bass report
Northern pike have been hitting great with a number of large ones being reported. One of our guests caught a 37" northern near some shallow stumps. Northern are in the weeds and on the shoelines. Use small bucktails, crank baits, and even large spinner baits. Bass fishing is absolutely fantastic at the moment, on a catch and release basis. This past week, one party of 3 fishermen at our resort caught and released well over 200 bass, large and small mouth alike. The bass are extremely fat and well built and are built like footballs. For largemouth this lake is virtually untapped and a virgin fishery. The flowage is a bass angler's pardise and one of the best kept secrets around. Make no mistake, there are lunker bass here. One of our guests, an avid bass fisherman, lost the largest bass of his life this week... maybe a 6#er. This angler caught around 100 bass this week himself. For largemouth he is casting tight to the pads and wood along shore in trashy, shallow bays and backwater areas. The Chippewa Flowage is full of this type of structure. Anglers are taking largemouth on sinko rigs (plastic worms) rigged texas style (with the single hook thru the worm head and turned around and embedded back into the worm body to make it weedless). You can cast these rigs right into the "trash" without hooking up or snagging. You can also "skip" the lure on the surface to get underneath tree overhangs into near the structure you are targeting. Favorite plastic color is green pumpkin or watermelon. Fish are hitting all day long. Another hot lure is the shakey head jig with a floating worm. Whereas the Largemouth bass are hitting in the back og the bays, the smallmouth or hitting along the shorelines at the entry or outside the bays. They are hitting well mid morning and all afternoon and evening on beetle spins, shallow cranks baits, and tube jig rigs. If you are casting tight to brush or obstructions try texas rigging your tube jigs so the hook point remains hidden and you snag less. If you don't texas rig, be very accurate with your casts so you don't cast directly into the trash. Also, the smallmouth are hitting great at sundown, dusk, and after dark. on the shallow gravel or rock bars, in the weeds or where there is brush or any cover tight to shore. They are hitting muskie surface baits like creepers, toppers, and hawg wobblers consistently. Lots of 15 to 20" smallmouth being caught!!!