Although often thought of as only a springtime bite, the panfish action here in the greater Wausau area has been solid throughout August.  Anglers looking for a mixed bag of bluegills and crappies should begin by probing the numerous sections of submerged timber in the area.  Small jigs tipped with live bait or soft plastic trailers are both continuing to work.  Large numbers of crappies are suspended throughout the river channels and main basins.  Begin by locating numbers of fish using your electronics.  Anchor in likely areas and utilize multiple slip bobbers to cash in on the action.  Bull bluegills are also being caught from deeper weed edges where found, with float and live bait combinations being the most productive.

Walleye fisherman should look to score on the opportunities being presented in both the early morning and evening hours.  Casting crankbaits or jig and twister combinations has been a fine method of covering water and locating numbers of shallow water walleyes.  During the mid-day hours, live bait has been key and should be worked thoroughly through areas containing deeper structure-laden water.  The trolling bite has remained consistent through the hot weather with gold, orange, and metallic color patterns producing fish locally.

While mid-day can be tough in the month of August, the largemouth and smallmouth bass have been readily consuming offerings from local fisherman during this time frame.  Both species inhabit dead falls, docks, and other shady areas and can be readily caught by pitching or flipping bass style jigs or Texas-rigged baits under and around the structure.  Anglers looking to just target largemouth should incorporate this same presentation around the thick mats of vegetation found in some of the reservoirs and backwaters of the river system.

Fisherman looking for northern pike, especially larger specimens should search the deeper water adjacent to structure.  Large jigs tipped with sucker minnows work well for fishing along the drop offs and channel edges while deep diving crankbaits and weighted jerkbaits/pull baits have been working well for suspended fish.  Anglers looking for numbers of fish but not necessarily size should work the edges of emergent weed growth with buzz baits and spinnerbaits for numbers of small to medium sized northerns.