7-28 through 8-2-13 Chippewa Flowage - Hayward

7-27 through 8-2-2013
Weather: Generally cold for this time of year with the first couple of days very cold, with on and off rain showers
H2O: East side had a fair amount of algae bloom with the west side much clearer, 67 -70 ˚
Location: Chippewa Flowage, Hayward, WI
Caught: Multiple pike and LMB, a few SMB and three incidental crappies
Partners: Dwayne, Autumn and Colin
Comments:
It was our annual vacation week at Hayward and it has been cold! We got up here Saturday afternoon and we were greeted by rain, wind and upper fifty degree temperatures. Sunday morning was not much better, but at least it was not raining and there was no wind. The rest of the week was not too bad weather wise, but the temperatures were definitely below normal.
Surprisingly the fishing turned out to be pretty good. I caught northern and bass in the thick weeds, with lily pads being the best location. I fished both the East and West sides and had pretty good luck for the first time on the East side. I never fished for muskies much, except the last day on Friday night I gave it a solid four hours. I never caught a musky, but I did have a couple of follows over by Dun Roven Lodge. I even caught a couple of crappies out on Pete’s bar on a crank bait. I never caught a walleye this trip, but I never fished for them either.
Observations:
The water on the flowage for this time of year is cold, but the fish are still pretty active. The clarity is pretty good, with limited algae present in the water, but as the week went by and the temperatures rose, the amount of algae also rose. There is not as much weed growth on the flowage this year, which in a way is nice, since most of it is water milfoil anyway. I would have to say the water level is a little higher than normal, with exposed sand quite limited.