Hayward Fishing

[rufishin]

The ice was deteriorating on Hayward area lakes. It has not only slowed with the cold snap, but the lakes are making ice again on April 1st! It's slippery so wear cleats.

Fishing has been slow, but some report hot bite fishing, most of it late afternoon. Most ice is in the 15" to 25" range with some water on the shorelines so be careful and check the ice before going out.

We received a report from DNR fisheries biologist Frank Pratt who says his earlier report of Spring Lake’s total winterkill were a little premature. Panfish on the lake are biting welk right now as well as on Lake Hayward. Ice anglers need to be cautious on this late-season ice. It can look good but offer little support. Survey crews hope to net Blaisdell lake and Barker lake this week. Other lakes scheduled for netting later this spring include Knutson, Chetac, Grindstone, and the west side of the Chippewa Flowage.

Any of youn guys have any outdoor reports or thoughts for Hayward-Cable-Ladysmith-Minong-Chippewa Flowage WI/Sawyer-Rusk County areas?

[snoozebutton]

Heard Musky Bay on LCO has some serious winter kill.

Would the west side of the Chip include Chief Lake? That suffers from some winter kill from time to time.

Anyway, thanks for the report. I haven't been out in over a week and the last time out was on Nelson. Pretty slow, only caught 2 crappies and the weren't anything to brag about.

[Saint Paul Dan]

Why would chief lake have winter kill? Thats one of the deepest parts on the west side of the flowage

[snoozebutton]

Yeah, there is some deeper water on it but the fact that they drop the level 6 feet after December 1st and the majority of it is around 10 to 15 feet and do you have winter kill on a bad year.

[tommyk]

I will be fishing Teal and Lost Land for opener. Hopefully I can muster up a decent report.

[snoozebutton]

That would be great Tommy. I'm still undecided which lake I'll hit but I'm kind of leaning towards LCO. Which ever one I decide on, I'll be back here with a report also.

[snoozebutton]

Pretty slow day yesterday. Caught 2 small northerns and 3 small perch. Water temp on LCO was 46.4 to 46.9.

[vman59]

was up to the camper at the Chip, lots of small eyes and only on the rocks. If you weren't banging your jig against rocks or some type of gravel bottom we couldn't find them.had to come home early as the wife got sick. Going back up Weds thru Sunday.

[snoozebutton]

Sorry to hear about your wife vman, hope she's feeling better. Did you get a chance to see the governor?

A friend from work was on the Chip over the weekend but haven't had a chance to talk to him yet.

[vman59]

Thanks Snooze, nope I did not see him and glad of it wouldn't want to have spoiled my weekend to bad.

[tommyk]

Sorry about the late report, but here it is. Fished on Teal Saturday through noon on Monday. Water was 52 when we started and by the time we left had reached 55. Found fish, all species, shallow in new weeds. 7 to 8 feet found smaller walleyes in the 12" to 14" range and the larger 15" to 17" walleyes were in 5ft of water. Caught plenty of pike, perch and a few large crappie mixed in all on the same bait. Fathead under a bobber, or Gulp! 3" curly tail grub pulled through the weeds. We got our limit easily for three guys. Then again Teal is 2 fish a day, total 4 possssion, but there were many many fish released. It was a good weekend.

[snoozebutton]

Thanks for the report Tommy, sounds like you had a pretty nice weekend.

[vman59]

Fished the Chip Flowage Weds through this morning. Did very good on eyes Weds Through Friday . I fish the east side only and found the eyes in deep water associated with rocks or gravel. Jig and minnow or crawler worked.

[snoozebutton]

Took my grandson out on the Chip this afternoon and we did pretty good on the crappies. We hit some small shallow bays and there seemed to be a few in each one. A warm sunny day should really turn them on.

[vman59]

never went after any crappies but I know guys were doing good on them. Were a bunch fishing from the bridge on the south end on CC and doing quite well.

[snoozebutton]

The crappies are still in shallow on the Chip. The small bay I was in this afternoon must have had over a thousand of them in there in 2 to 4 feet of water. They were feeding on some sort of bug hatch but they'd hit a minnow if I fished it right near the surface. Would have been a blast to have a fly rod along. Oh well.

After I got tired of catching them, I tried for walleyes but only managed 2 small ones (12 and 13 inchers.) Water temps were around 57 on the main parts and 60 in the bays.

[snoozebutton]

Well, the crappies have moved out but they got replaced by the bluegills. I caught all males today but they were pretty nice sized, 6 to 8 inches. I did get a couple of crappies but they were a little deeper, around 4 feet. The gills were in 2 feet of water and were hitting on just about anything I threw at them.