I recently returned to Chicago from my second major trip of the year, to work for 10 days until my next trip. I fished May 31st thru the 15th. Just like my incredible month of May with the smallmouth bass, June was spectacular as fish were in midst of spawning, or concluding. As for other species, I didn’t spend too much time on them, and the musky fishing was the worst and most atrocious I’ve ever experienced in Wisconsin for early June. This won’t be much of a musky report.
During my month of May, I got spoiled by all the big bass and nice walleyes that were caught. Based on the fish my friends and I caught during the first week of June, we got spoiled again! With the bass either spawning (conditioned on beds and not hungry), and in post spawn (still thick in number and very hungry), the fishing will remain pretty good for them into early July as they begin dispersing and transitioning into their deeper summertime locations. At this writing, the spawn has been completed on every lake I fish, and as far as I know.
During this month, summer came fast and along with the heat and humidity came swarms of mosquitoes. Like the awful musky fishing experienced, the mosquitoes were the worst they’ve ever been.
During these two weeks of fishing, I fished solo roughly 75% of the time and then enjoyed being in the company of my friends on the weekends. With each lake fishing differently and in different stages of the bass spawn, I also increased my lake hopping routine by fishing a total of 26 different lakes and three river systems, and adding some new places into the mix. Like last month, I focused most of my time on trophies and very little on numbers. By the end of these two weeks, I was finally able to run my first float trips of the season with the jon for muskies on area rivers.
The week of June 1st through 8th already felt like the dog days of summer. The best smallmouth feeding windows took place in early mornings and late afternoons and again in the evenings until the mosquitoes came out like clockwork at 9pm each night. During this week, water temperatures eventually reached its peak at 72 degrees. With this warm weather, fish spawned quickly and were done for the most part by the beginning of the next week. The fishing during this warm water period was HOT, and highlighted by the amazing early season topwater bite we had.
Topwaters from mid-lake structures? I’ve seen stranger things happen in early June, but this 50 fish afternoon, all on surface lures from mid-lake structures near open water, was ridiculous and something rarely seen for “spring”.
Just as May was oddly reminiscent to last year, June has been near identical to last year as well. Like last year, I began my month fishing on the largest, deepest, and coldest lakes in the region containing ciscoes and smelt, and lower smallmouth bass population densities. As a result of forage and less fish, these lakes have the larger average fish sizes, and the best probability at yielding a potential state record.
Despite having to fish these very large lakes long and hard in order to locate pre-spawn fish, I caught several nice specimens surpassing 20 inches. Unlike last month, absolutely none of my fish were hitting jerkbaits. The presentations for June have been entirely topwaters and surface poppers, powerfishing with shallow crankbaits, burning Freedom Lures spinnerbaits, swimming 5 inch Kalin’s grubs on a minnow head, and going through lots of bags of Strike King Coffee Tubes.
A few unique patterns emerged in June, which I thought were interesting. Before and after the spawn, fish were frequently observed cruising in wolfpacks in depths as shallow as 1 foot deep. I was catching these mobile fish by staying mobile myself, raising the trolling motor and casting with the 5 inch Kalin’s swimming grub rigged with a minnow styled jig head. A second pattern was fish already utilizing shallow mid-lake structures near deep open water. Some fish were spawning in these locations while others were already using them as holding and feeding areas. On windy days, crankbaits such as the Crankin Rap were catching fish in number. Meanwhile, on calm flat days, topwaters such as the Rapala X-Rap Pop were catching numbers and sizes and a ridiculous amount. The third pattern by end of the first week was the tube jig, as smallmouths wanted it meticulously scurried and dragged along the bottom. At this time, fish wanted nothing else besides a simple tube jig.
The big, deep clear lakes fished much better than the dark stained waters I fish often.
Here’s some prespawn and postspawn tanks caught with the variety of presentations above.
^ Swimming grub in shallow depths accounted for this obese fish on 6/4.
^ Rapala Crankin Rap became a standby for me this time last year. 19.5 incher crushed it on first cast from this spot.
^ Per the recommendation of my buddy and guide Rob Manthei, I explored this lake for a first time try and was rewarded with my fourth 21 incher of 2014. My largest fish of June, so far. It crushed the Freedom Lures spinnerbait from deep cribs, 6/3.
^ The tube jig was a player early and often. About 80% of the big fish caught in June came on Stankx Bait Company tubes and Strike King Coffee Tubes.
^ Again, one of Manthei’s recommendations: I fished another new lake on 6/4 and pulled out this pair of unmeasured giants. Both fish on tube jigs.
At the end of week 1, my good buddy Zach Quinn joined me for a weekend of trophy hunting. He had the time of his life catching an infinite number of 18 and 19 inchers from the six different lakes we fished during those three days. He fishes the region often, as his family has a summer home on the Three Lakes Chain. Due to work schedule and married life, his fishing time has been limited. The company was entertaining and I’m glad he returned home as a happy angler. The remainder of the bass photos are the better fish from my weekend with Zach.
^ We started off the weekend by fishing a new lake I hadn’t fished before, one with catch & release only regulations. We caught lots of these.
^ Tube jigs accounted for much of everything caught on this C&R only lake.
^ On the afternoon of 6/6, a 50 fish afternoon was enjoyed, courtesy of topwaters and the Rapala X-Rap pop. Water temperatures on this day peaked at 72 degrees which is never happens on the first week of June.
^ Another tube jig fish.
^ Another tube jig fish. A lot of casting and dragging was required for this. The bass wanting nothing else, other than tube jig. Didn’t matter which brand, color, or scent type.
^ Zach with his largest from the weekend, a 19.5 incher.
^ Same fish from above.
^ Another tube jig fish.
^ Here’s a spawned out 19.5 incher, caught on tube jig.
Lacking the motivation with continuing on with my trophy bass pursuits unless I was exploring a brand new lake or had requests to take some friends out on a trip, I began musky fishing on Monday, June 9th. This turned into a regrettable decision as the fishing was the worst I’ve ever experienced in early June.
First, the weedgrowth was lacking and nonexistant on several lakes, flowages and rivers. The very cold winter and ice cover killed off a lot of plant life and whatever growth was sprouting was only beginning to form.
Second, with the cold spring, musky spawn was delayed by several days and only wrapped up on the first week of June. This resulted in little undesirable fish being active and the large females inactive and disinterested in feeding.
Third, multiple coldfronts and post frontal days put a hamper in any activity I had. On this week last year, a friend and I raised nearly 110 fish during an 8 day period. Last week, I raised only a lousy 30 muskies from 10 or so different lakes. Of those 30, I caught four with none over 36 inches. Each evening I ended up raising one “giant 45+” from a different lake but the most action they’d provide me with was nipping the rear hooks of a topwater at boatside, open mouths wide and let a 10 inch jerkbait swim right through them, or t-bone a lure and miraculously avoid hook penetration. How? Why? I don’t know. I focus on bass up here for a reason I guess…..
Now here’s a story…..
The largest muskellunge contacted was a 48 inch class fish on a river float with the jon on an undisclosed stream. At moonrise on 6/13 (8-9pm with full moon) I drifted downstream to one of my favorite pools of river which I’ve pulled and raised a number of muskies from before. First cast into the riffles with topwater a HUGE WAKE lunges towards the prop bait and proceeds to follow it twice in the figure-eight without opening her jaws. A while later I circled back into the area working a Manta and she came back again, proceeding to follow into the figure-eight twice, again without opening up. I then tossed back the original topwater and she returned for the third time, less interested. After that, I worked a few throwback baits quickly and fish wasn’t to be seen again. I revisited the same flow and stretch of water on a float trip the next day and big fish was nowhere to be found. The problem with river muskies is they are always migrating somewhere whether it’s for food or refuge. In summer 2008, I was able to follow the same 45 incher for three straight months WHILE WADING until I hooked and lost her. Thus I believe the same can be done here again, but this time I will hook and land her by boat. Luckily this spot is less than a 15 minute drive from the house so I’ll be floating this river a lot more in the next few months. I’ll find her again, whether in that same palace of hers or elsewhere in the river. Without question this was the largest and fattest musky I’ve ever seen in person from this particular section of river. A good 30 pounds of muscle.
All heartbreak aside, the muskies in early June have been very stubborn, inactive, and disengaged everywhere I fished and with everything I threw with them. They were even stubborn on the fly rod as I was finally able to hook into one on a float trip, and proceeded to lose it due to aerial acrobatics. It was a good 38 inch class fish that took one of Jonn Graham’s articulated flies; a custom he tied this winter to resemble river redhorse. Once the fish leaped out of water, the hooks came flying out. Nothing I could do on that one.
Now I know what the thrill of hooking a musky on the fly feels like. They EXPLODE with fly rod doubled over and it’s a battle like nothing I’ve seen nor experienced before. I’ve got the confidence now to make them strike. Just need to finally net one, and I will.
Thanks for matching the hatch, Jonn.
As a consolation prize, I did end up catching a number of big smallmouth with the fly. By accident.
So the bass fishing for June was excellent, and will continue to be excellent throughout summer. Meanwhile the muskies were awful and I can only hope the fishing conditions and their behaviors will improve. As far as I know, several guides were getting blanked as well, and not a whole lot of activity was going on for anyone. All I can do at this point is to keep fishing for them and hope for an improvement during the weeks to come. Right now my attitude for these fish sucks and if anyone came to me asking for a recommendation on where to catch and where to go, northern Wisconsin wouldn’t be on that list. I’ll keep those reasons to myself.
I’m in Chicago until Wednesday the 25th when I’ll be leaving for my next trip. I’ve gotta stop for a few days up north to fish a musky tournament on Saturday the 28th, hosted by my Muskies Inc. chapter, Northwoods Muskies. The next morning, I will be off to Ontario’s sunset country to fish Rainy Lake with Camp Narrows Lodge for a week. Since winter I’ve been doing a lot of web and promotional media work for them so this will be my opportunity to experience their outstanding smallmouth bass, walleye, and pike fishing and the amenities they offer. This trip will take me through either Monday July 7th, or Tuesday the 8th as I will be returning to the north and eventually returning here for a few weeks in July. No date has been set for my return, which is nice.
That’s all for this June.
If anyone wants information on lakes or has questions for me concerning the north, I’ll be more than happy to help anyone out. When I get the new boat at season’s end, I am contemplating on starting an “experimental” guide service for the 2015 season. Give me a shout anytime through my sites at www.ragasfishing.com and www.fishing-headquarters.com
Last but not least, short videos and daily documentaries from May and June have been posted in my YouTube video gallery.
