6/15/25. Hi from the shores of "KENNEDY BAY". on Lake Minocqua. The weather continues to be a major challenge. In the last 10 days I have had 1 trip canceled and 3 other trips switched by a day or two. I was scheduled to fish with Doug Drake on Monday and mother nature stepped in with wind, rain, and cold temperature, so Doug switched to Wednesday. The cold front that came through slowed fishing action but we managed a mixed bag of Pike and Walleyes. Not a great bag but reasonable.
Again after a couple more days of below normal temperatures I headed back out to the reservation with Jason Heindl, fellow Minocqua guide that was fishing with me for the day. We were fishing with 2 boats and 7 anglers. The fishing forecast was about as bad as it could be. Dressed with layered shirts, a hoodie, a jacket, and rain gear we hit the water hoping for the best. To my surprise the first cast in my boat put one Pike in the box. After about an hour and a half the rain let up. I pulled up near Jason to compare notes, he had a couple of Pike in the box and had to release a 17" Walleye that was too short to keep. In my boat the guys had 3 Pike in our box, but no Walleyes. The weather held up with no more rain but never got above 48 degrees. After 6 hours of fishing the two boats with 7 anglers caught a total of 20 Pike ranging from 19 to 26". Far surpassing my or Jasons expectations; given the predictions. These fish all came out of weeds in water from 5 to 10 feet deep. They came on a variety of baits, jig and minnow, Paddle Tails and Chatter Baits. It was a tough 6 hours but everyone agreed it was worth it.
The weather finally took a slight turn back towards normal with high temperature getting into the mid 60s today.
I am back on the water tomorrow with two anglers for a normal 4 hour trip. With the weather improving, we should do well. That's it for now folks good luck fishin" and remember. "KEEP YOUR LINE TIGHT AND A BEND IN YOUR ROD.
DAVE LANG
6/8/25 Hi from the shores of "KENNEDY BAY" on Lake Minocqua. This Wednesday I had the pleasure of fishing with Jim & Ken, the pizza guys, and Ken's son. We headed out to one of my favorite lakes on the reservation. It was one of my first trips out there this season. It was a good morning. At the end of the morning the guys had 6 Pike in the box ranging from the low 20" to
26 1/2". They caught and released 5 Walleyes. On reservation lakes the minimum size for Walleyes is 18", the largest Walleye they had was 17 1/2", they also had 4 Smallmouth, but that season doesn't open until June 21st.
A really good morning.
Friday I fished with Abe Shinners and Marty Benes from Antigo. We fished one of my favorite Pike and Walleye lakes west of Minocqua. At the end of the day the guys put together a nice mixed bag including 1 Walleye, 1 Largemouth, 2 Perch, and, 2 Pike. The guys are good fisherman which certainly helped with their success. Three of the fish they had in the box came in our last hour that morning. That means 3 tough hours of fishing. I often say "patients and persistence is the secret to success" .
I was scheduled to fish with Randy Yockey, his wife Debbie and friends Mark and Linda, on Sunday. Luckily we were all able to move our trip up to Saturday when the Sunday weather forecast took a turn for the worst. We headed back out to the reservation. We started our morning out on a midlake weed hump only 6 feet deep. We had action on each drift for the first couple hours at least getting bites or picking up a fish. When the action came to a stop, I moved to a weed line that followed the east shore line and found some more active fish. At the end of the four hours we declared the morning a success with every body having put at least one fish in the box and having returned some.
On all of these lakes, the fish were all caught in shallow weeds from 5 to 10 feet deep. Weedless jigs tipped with fathead minnows and Chatterbaits both produced fish. Depending on the day one presentation would out produce the other. That's it for now folks good luck fishin' and remember KEEP YOUR LINE TIGHT AND A BEND IN YOUR ROD
DAVE LANG
6/1//25. Hi from the shores of "KENNEDY BAY" on Lake Minocqua. On Thursday the 22nd I had the pleasure of fishing with my neighbor Paul Sommers and a couple of his friends from Milwaukee. We headed out west to one of my favorite spring lakes. Weather left a little to be desired but not terrible, "Guides are like farmers; never happy with the weather". At the end of our morning we were a little disappointed with only 4 fish in the box. The good thing was they were all good fish,
a 12 1/2" Crappie, a dandy 14" crappie, a 26 1/2" Pike, and a 27" Pike. It was one of those days when you decide that quality wins out over quantity, and you call it a good day.
Friday I fished the same lake with Mike Heroux. It was a good day for Mike. He is a good jig fisherman and he put the majority of our fish in the box. At the end of our 6 hours we had 3 nice Perch, 4 Pike, and 4 Walleyes. A really good day.
I was off the water for five days. During that time the weather dealt us a mean blow with water temps dropping. Thursday I was fishing with Tony and Jackie Patanella. We headed down to the Willow Flowage hoping that water would be less effected by the cold conditions, plus Jackie remembered that the Willow produced a beautiful mixed bag of Pike and Walleyes last year. In spite of the conditions we managed a decent catch of Pike.
Friday and Saturday I was fishing with Bob Gaskusky, his friend Scott and his grandson Ryder, The weather continued to be a challenge as it picked up some wind. I headed back down to the Willow after our decent action the day before. At the end of the day, the guys managed 5 Smallmouth whose season isn't open yet and 2 nice Pike. Not great but under the conditions we knew we were going to have a rough day. The next day it was time to leave the Willow and head out west of town hoping for the best. Some days you just can't catch a break. Not only was it an even cooler morning we had mile high blue skies and no wind so the lake was flat as glass," BAD CONDITIONS". Ryder saved our day catching 2 nice Pike and the last minute Walleye that weighed in at 2.94 lbs a real beauty. Yes, I wish we would have caught more fish, every one knew that under those conditions we did well. The weather was much better today and even hitting possible 80's on Monday. Then all day rain on Tuesday that should improve the action as I get back on the water Wednesday.
That's it for now folks"good luck fishin" and remember
KEEP YOUR LINE TIGHT AND A BEND IN YOUR ROD. DAVE LANG
'
5/18/25 Hi from the shores of "KENNEDY BAY" on Lake Minocqua. The beginning of the '25' season continues to be much warmer than normal, being 10 degrees above normal getting water temps up into the mid 60's. Last Friday I fished one of my favorite spring lakes that is on highway 70 west of Minocqua with Mike Heroux. Our goal was a mixed bag of Pike and Walleye, fishing shallow weeds that were just starting to turn green, using weedless jigs tipped with fat head minnows. Action was slow and I switched to a white Chatter bait, Mike stayed with jig and minnow. At the end of the trip we had 8 nice Pike in the mid to high 20" range and one nice Perch, but no Walleyes. The Pike were pretty evenly split between minnows and chatter baits. A good day but we worked hard.
This week I fished with Tom Edinger, Fred Rodey, and Don Guba Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Tuesday we got a late start, getting on the water at noon. We were fishing the same lake with a 50/50 split between Minnows and chatter baits. We had a good trip coming off the lake with 7 Pike and 4 Largemouth. Wednesday we headed down to the Willow. The water level is 2.4 feet below full which is decent. Fishing started out slowly with poor to ok conditions forcing us to cover a lot of spots with long periods of no action. I finally managed to find some Walleyes but they were under the 15" minimum size limit. We also caught and released some nice Smallmouth. That season won't open until next month . We did catch some decent Pike. It was a good day with the guys catching 7 Smallmouth, 6 Walleyes, and 7 Pike. Thursday we headed back west of Minocqua. The weeds were getting greener which is always good. We started with a mix of minnows and chatter baits but by half way through the morning it was 3 chatter baits to one jig and minnow. A cold front came through the night before and slowed the action down. We covered a lot of water with our first fish being a nice 14" Crappie. We managed 7 decent Pike and we lost a couple of Pike due to bite offs . Tom caught our fish of the day halfway through the morning... a beautiful Walleye just short of 23" that weighed 2.99 lbs. Don added to the excitement when he got a hit that nearly took the rod out of his hands and then went slack. When he got his line in his chatter bait was gone. It had to have been a Musky to hit that hard and to swallow a bait that big. The guys had a good 3 days and plans were made to do it again next year.
I have been off the water for a few days because of a death in the group I was suppose to fish with this weekend. I don't have an up to date report but I can only guess that it has been really tough because our weather took a nose dive with temperatures dropping over twenty degrees. Nothing good ever happens under those conditions. That's it for now folks good luck fishin' and remember
KEEP YOUR LINE TIGHT AND A BEND IN YOUR ROD. DAVE LANG
5/4/25. Hi from the shores of "Kennedy Bay" on Lake Minocqua. As I always say it's all about the weather. This opening weekend was the first two good weather days in a row since we got back from Fl. the last week in March. Saturday morning dawned cloudy with temps in the low 30s,and a slight breeze. Undaunted by this our group of 11 anglers in 4 boats headed out just before. 6:00 AM. With the annual Biggest Walleye, Biggest Leagel Fish, and Heaviest Total Bag tournament and bragging rights at stake we fished 3 different lakes. At the end of the day it was interesting how the catches were different according to the lakes fished. My son Jeff and a tag boat went in search of big Walleyes and were the runaway leaders catching and releasing a total Walleye count over a dozen Walleyes with 5 between 25 and 27 inches. My boat finished second after I picked one of my favorite lakes west of town known for producing good numbers of eater size Walleyes and Pike. We never boated a Walleye but we did have 6 Pike in the high 20 inch range largest being 27" and 2 Perch, giving us Largest Legal Fish and Heaviest Total Bag @ 20.7 pounds, the fourth boat boat loves to fish Pan fish and their lake choice produce a dandy bag of 10 dandy Crappies, largest being14", and 1 Perch. It was the best opener we've had.
Sunday was a totally different story, starting out 10 degrees warmer, clear mile high blue skies and no bleeze. Our 3 lakes that produced dandy catches Saturday sent all 4 boats back to the house at noon with our tails between our legs. The highlight of the day goes to my grandson Lawson, he caught a beautiful 30 inch Musky. Quoting my old friend and famous Musky Guide Tony Rizzo "WEATHER TRUMPS EVERYTHING".
That's it for now folks good luck fishin' and remember "KEEP YOUR LINE TIGHT AND A BEND IN YOUR ROD
DAVE LANG
4-30-25 Hi from the shores of "Kennedy Bay" on Lake Minocqua. Only three days from the opener, our lakes are open the water temperature on Lake Minocqua this morning was 45 degrees, and water levels at The Willow are at 3.6 feet from full, this is well within normal levels.
As always Dianna has headed to Chicago for the weekend turning the Lang house into "A FISHING CAMP". The group will beginning arriving Thursday evening with the entire group getting here in time for dinner Friday evening. At last count it looks like the group will be between 12 & 15 fisherman With a group boat count of 5 or 7 we will split up Saturday morning hitting 4 or 5 different lakes. Most of the boats will return to the house for lunch . then head back out for the afternoon with at least a couple of boats planning to fish the Minocqua Chain for the rest of the day. History dictates that we have a fish fry Saturday evening and awards for Biggest Walleye, Biggest Legal Fish, and Heaviest Bag . That means there is pressure on the group to have enough fish to feed 15 hungry fisherman and for bragging rights. It's always a good time and we have never had to buy chicken to feed everybody, but there could always be a first time.
That's it for now folks, good luck fishin and remember
KEEP YOUR LINE TIGHT AND A BEND IN YOUR ROD. DAVE LANG
11-13-24 Hi from the shores of "Kennedy Bay" 0n Lake Minocqua. I made it official bringing the 2024 season to an end. I took the boat into the shop to have some needed maintenance done to get ready for the 2025 season.
My season was suppose to end with Bob, Steve, and Jose, the Northwoods Ford guys from northeast IL. This was to be a 3 day weekend centering on fall Walleyes. We did get our first day in catching a half dozen Walleyes. But once again the weather took charge and brought an end to their weekend with heavy rain for the next two days. It was a strange fall when it came to Walleye fishing with spoty action from day to day. Even though I didn't have any clients booked for the rest of the year I continued to check out some of my usual fall Walleye spots with a couple of average days and one morning where the action was so hot that I had my 3 Walleye limit and one 17 1/2" Walleye that had to be released because it was too big, I also missed a few bites in less than an hour This was on a lake where I had been struggling to catch any Walleyes. I did catch fish after that day but the bite was more normal like you would expect. That is how my season ended. With that in mind until next year. Thank all of you for fishing with me this year .
KEEP YOUR LINE TIGHT AND A BEND IN YOUR ROD.
DAVE LANG
10/30/24 Hi from the shores of "Kennedy Bay" on Lake Minocqua. My year is quickly nearing it's close, As always, it is all about the weather, and we have been having an extremely warm season with temperatures 10 degrees above normal. Meaning that my usual deep water Walleye bite has been nonexistent.
Last week I had the pleasure of fishing with Ralph Mork and his wife Stephanie. We headed out to one of my favorite fall Walleye lakes. These are eater size Walleyes not wall hangers. As fall comes to the Lakeland area the Walleyes in this lake relate to rock humps coming out of 30 feet raising up to 15 feet. Ralph and Stephanie had a good morning and at the end of our trip they had 7 nice Walleyes in the box and had released a couple of smaller fish. A good morning by anybodies standards.
This Monday I fished with Michael Anderson and his girlfriend Wendy. This was an unusual frip in that they were not interested in going after Walleyes but Michael wanted to learn how and where to fish Lake Minocqua in the spring. Michael will be coming back to Minocqua next May to spend 4 days fishing on the Minocqua chain. That being said, the goal was not so much how many fish we could catch that morning but where I thought the best spots would be in May and what presentation I would use. I was fortunate and we caught fish on the first 3 spots we fished then spot number 4 failed to produce, however we were rewarded with a fish on the next spot. When the goal is to show you as many spots as possible, when they would catch a fish, instead of fishing in that area, we would move. Because of time limit I left Lake Minocqua and went under the trestle into Lake Kawaguesaga to show Michael a half dozen of my favorite spots over there. As happens, some days even though the fish were active in Minocqua the fish in Kawaga were dead quiet. We never had a bite over there. I hope he has faith in the areas we fished because there could well be days when he is fishing here in May that the fish in Kawga will be most active and the Minocqua fish will be dead. At the end of the morning we had a mixed bag of Pike and Bass and everybody caught fish. Most importantly, Micheal came away with a good basic knowledge of the lakes and my favorite presentation ominnows on weedless jigs in weeds 6 ft to 14 ft deep. Another good morning.
Tuesday Mike Heroux came back up here for his last trip of the year. Mike is skilled and an avid Pike fisherman so we headed out to the reservation to one of our favorite lakes. Mike loves jig fishing, weedless jig and minnow combinations, and I fished spinner baits. Our first surprise was that even though we were fishing our favorite Pike water our first 5 fish were Bass. We moved to a different area in the lake and Mike caught our first Pike. Our day continued with a mixed bag of Pike, Largemouth Bass, and Smallmouth Bass. The fish of the day was a beautiful 32 inch Pike that Mike caught, he also caught a nice 17 1/2 inch Smallmouth. A good day.
Today it was back to Walleye fishing. with Tim Grittinger A cold front was scheduled to come in midmorning so I was hoping for good action early in the morning. My wishes were granted with Tim catching our first Walleye in 5 minutes. Tim continued to be the hot hand catching one Walleye after the other. Then came what every fisherman fears. When I finished netting a fish for Tim and I realized my rod and reel were gone, it happens. I am a fanatic about not just leaving your rod out with the line still laying on the bottom unattended. As I said Tim had the hot hand that morning catching all of our Walleyes and he continued hot when he hooked my rod and reel and bringing it up to where I could grab it. NOW THAT"S "LUCK".. We had been fishing for two hours and Tim had put our two man 6 Walleye lake limit in the box and had released a couple smaller fish. We had a couple of hours left so we decided to switch lakes. The cold front was coming in by the time we got to lake number two. We fished 1 and 1/2 hours without a bite and called the day a success. Not sure if the lack of action was due to the lake or because the front came in dropping the temperature 10 degrees in the time we were out there.
I look forward to 3 days fishing with a group of guys from the Chicago area next weekend and then possibly one more trip with my friend Bob Stanko before my season comes to an end. That's it for now folks good luck fishin' and remember
KEEP YOUR LINE TIGHT AND A BEND IN YOUR ROD. DAVE LANG
10/13/24 Hi from the shores of "Kennedy Bay" on Lake Minocqua. Last week was my annual Canada trip with my sons Jeff, David, grandson Lawson and the rest of the guys bringing our group to 8. All of the group were there to fish Muskies except David and I.
A hint of what kind of trip it was going to be came when I was one car from the border and David asked me about "what kind of passport do you have and I realized I had my expired passport from 3 years ago when I had to renew my passport. Getting ready for this trip I grabbed it by accident out of the filing cabinet. With no option but to drive to the window and hand them the passports I had. After a little discussion, they let me in. It lead to 5 days of more than a little worrying on my part about what would happen when I was at the US. border trying to return. Once again the person checking was very understanding and let me through.
The next challenge was the weather, We were able to fish Saturday afternoon only catching 2 Smallmouths and 1 26" Walleye. The wind had been building all afternoon. By 6:30, with the wind building to 35+ miles per hour, the decision was made to take the boats from being tied up to the dock and load them onto the trailers and get them off the water. We listened to the wind howling all night. In the morning w