Guide's Choice Pro Shop

06/05/2026

We went out and interviewed some of the local muskies this week, and the consensus is officially in: they strictly prefer to eat pretty, custom-painted tubes over the boring standards. 💅🐟 (Science doesn't lie!) We've got a fresh restock on all Red October Baits tubes, rigs, Boo Tubes, and customs, including 2 new colors, Toxic Pike and Huey.

Stop by in-store or shop online. https://guideschoiceproshop.com/collections/red-october-baits

06/05/2026

🎣 GUIDE’S CHOICE PRO SHOP: EAGLE RIVER & VILAS COUNTY FISHING REPORT 🎣
📅 Date: June 5, 2026

Shout out to Josh Kreger Eagle River Musky Guide for the excellent field intel.

Water temperatures are playing major mind games with us this week! While surface temps are showing a deceptively warm upper 60s to low 70s, don’t let that fool you. Subsurface water temperatures are still significantly colder, especially on our deep, clear area lakes. Because of this thermal disconnect, fish behavior isn't matching the surface heat. While a significant number of gamefish are relating to fresh green cabbage in 6 to 12 feet of water (and near the 7-foot w**d lines on stained water systems), structural transitions, wood, and shallow nesting zones are playing massive roles across the county.

Here is how the breakdown looks across Vilas County this week:

🐟🏆 MUSKY
The big news: We just heard of a massive 52" mega-giant caught by a walleye angler pulling nightcrawlers! For targeted musky fishing, the smaller males are providing the most consistent action right now. The big girls are still sluggishly recovering from the spawn. Fish are moving, but "lockjaw" is a real factor. Your best bet is hitting the water for an early morning bite. The moon hasn’t done much for the bite window lately, but you still want to time your runs around the daily solunar peaks listed at the bottom of this post.

👉 Shop Tactics: Downsize your presentation to work cleanly through the green w**ds. Small twitch baits, like our in-stock Crane Baits, and smaller profile swimbaits like the Spring Swimmin' Dawg, are heavily outproducing large rubber right now.
🔥 Trigger Trick: If they are tracking but refusing to commit, burn a swimbait or a bucktail right over the top of the w**ds. Forcing a high-speed recovery leaves them with no time to think and triggers that primal reaction strike!

👁️ WALLEYE
Walleyes have officially transitioned into their early summer patterns. While you can still find a few scattered fish during the daytime hours, the evening bite has been the absolute best window to lock into a heavy school.
👉 Shop Tactics: The jerkbait bite should not be ignored right now. Ripping Rapala Mavriks and X-Raps aggressively over the w**d tops is a highly effective way to trigger aggressive strikes. If you are a live bait traditionalist, the leech bite has been phenomenal, but standard crawlers and minnows are also producing great numbers along the cabbage edges in 6–12 feet.

☀️ SMALLMOUTH & LARGEMOUTH BASS
Bass are loving the green cabbage development, but on a lot of our area lakes, fish are still shallow and locked near their beds. Because they are protective and aggressive right now, we are getting incredible reports of an explosive surface game.
👉 Shop Tactics: The topwater bite is officially ON. Stop into the shop and grab a few Whopper Ploppers—buzzing them over shallow flats, hard bottoms, and near bed structures is triggering heavy reaction strikes. If they won't look up, drop weightless Yamamoto Senkos wacky-style right into structural pockets.

📉 CRAPPIE
Spawning progress is completely split depending on where you boat. On the Eagle River Chain, crappies appear to be done spawning and are moving out to w**d edges. However, on the deeper, clearer Vilas County lakes, they are still in mid-spawn mode due to the chillier subsurface layers.
👉 Shop Tactics: For the Chain, target the 6–12' green cabbage, but don't overlook shallow downed timber and brush lines where fish are staging post-spawn. Suspend live Crappie Minnows under Thill Slip Floats. For spawning fish on deeper lakes, look closely for shallow wood, stakes, and warming bays.

📊 PERCH & BLUEGILL
While some schools are shifting to the fresh w**ds, a massive population of panfish remains tightly bound to hard structure. Deep water cribs, sunken logs, and vertical standing timber are holding large numbers of quality fish looking for security from the cold subsurface water columns.
👉 Shop Tactics: You can't beat the basics around heavy structure. We are fully stocked on Redworms, Waxworms, and small panfish jigs. Fish them vertically right along the sides of timber or over the top of deep cribs to avoid hang-ups while targeting the school.

🌕 VILAS COUNTY SOLUNAR PEAKS (JUNE 5 – JUNE 11) 🌕

Fri, June 05 (Fair): Major: 3:54 AM–5:54 AM, 4:16 PM–6:16 PM | Minor: 9:10 AM–10:10 AM, 11:46 PM–12:46 AM

Sat, June 06 (Fair): Major: 4:39 AM–6:39 AM, 5:01 PM–7:01 PM | Minor: 10:19 AM–11:19 AM, 12:08 AM–1:08 AM

Sun, June 07 (Fair): Major: 5:22 AM–7:22 AM, 5:44 PM–7:44 PM | Minor: 11:28 AM–12:28 PM, 12:28 AM–1:28 AM

Mon, June 08 (Fair): Major: 6:06 AM–8:06 AM, 6:27 PM–8:27 PM | Minor: 12:39 PM–1:39 PM, 12:45 AM–1:45 AM

Tue, June 09 (Fair): Major: 6:50 AM–8:50 AM, 7:13 PM–9:13 PM | Minor: 1:02 AM–2:02 AM, 1:51 PM–2:51 PM

Wed, June 10 (Fair): Major: 7:36 AM–9:36 AM, 8:01 PM–10:01 PM | Minor: 1:21 AM–2:21 AM, 3:08 PM–4:08 PM

Thu, June 11 (Good): Major: 8:27 AM–10:27 AM, 8:54 PM–10:54 PM | Minor: 1:42 AM–2:42 AM, 4:29 PM–5:29 PM

Stop by Guide's Choice Pro Shop before you hit the water to stock up on live bait, Whopper Ploppers, Crane Baits, Spring Swimmin' Dawgs, and Mavriks! Good luck out there! 🎣

06/03/2026

🚨 NEW ARRIVAL ALERT at Guide’s Choice Pro Shop! 🚨

We just restocked the shelves with some incredible new gear from Reck-n-Rack , and you're going to want to check these out before your next trip to the water.

Here is what just landed:

All Species Bump Board 📏 – Ultimate versatility! Measures up to 30" when folded, and easily unfolds to handle giants up to 60".

Mini Me Panfish Boards 🐟 – The perfect compact board for your crappie, bluegill, and perch measurements.

Leader Storage Tubes 🎣 – Keep your rigs neat, organized, and completely tangle-free.

Stop by the shop today or visit our online store and upgrade your measuring setup!

05/29/2026

🎣 EAGLE RIVER | VILAS COUNTY FISHING REPORT: Afternoon Temp Spikes Hooking Into Red-Hot Action! ☀️

Vilas County lakes are settled into an awesome late-spring groove! Main area water temps are averaging around 64°F, with afternoon sun driving surface spikes up to 70°F. Keep in mind, our deep clear lakes are still lagging 5-10 degrees behind, meaning you can target multiple patterns right now!

🔥 SPECIES HIGHLIGHTS:
🐊 Muskies: Moving quickly to early summer patterns! They are locked onto green w**ds. It is officially BUCKTAIL and TOPWATER season. We have a string of EXCELLENT solunar ratings from Friday through Monday. Check out a few key peak windows for the weekend:

Friday Major: 10:32 AM - 12:32 PM

Saturday Major: 11:20 AM - 1:20 PM

Sunday Major: 12:10 PM - 2:10 PM

Some additional musky expertise from local musky guide, Clayton Spiess Thistle Dew Outdoor Adventures: musky bite has been tough this week with sudden warmup and high skies. Muskies still actively spawning on deep, clear lakes. Work small swim baits, twitch baits, and glides for your best chance. The shallower lakes and flowages are further along with the spawn. Fish are really starting to spread out, but some are still hanging out shallow, related to the thickest w**d cover. The "spot on the spot will hold multiple fish." Clayton is also seeing some fish out in the basin, cruising around. These are most likely fish recovering from the spawn and have been less active. Trolling small cranks at slower speeds may be the ticket. Start at 3.0 mph. Look for any weather windows that may trigger that bite, or work the evening hours.

🐟 Bass (Large & Smallmouth): Absolute chaos in the shallows! Afternoon temp spikes have them super aggressive and attacking anything. Chuck a swim jig with a plastic minnow trailer and hold on!
🎣 Walleyes: Finding them in new w**d growth on dark lakes, or down deep in 20-27 ft on the clearer, cooler lake systems. Jigs with live minnows or soft plastics are getting it done.
🪱 Crappies & Gills: Mixed conditions! Deep lakes have crappies staging in timber; shallow lakes are mid-spawn or wrapped up. Small gills are shallow, but the big jumbo bulls are waiting in deeper, taller w**ds to make their move.
🐊 Pike: Everywhere and eating everything in 6 feet of water on twitch baits and small bucktails.

We are fully stocked with all the swim jigs, custom bucktails, live minnows, and panfish gear mentioned in this report. Stop into Guide's Choice Pro Shop before hitting the water this weekend!

Shout out to area fishing guide Clint Burns for his excellent field intel.

05/25/2026

We are excited to have new apparel from 5th Season, a Michigan-based company! The clothing features original artwork crafted by the company’s owner, and our GCPS logo is on the sleeve of the sweatshirt!

05/25/2026

05/22/2026

Guide's Choice Pro Shop – Eagle River / Vilas County Fishing Report 🎣
Published: Friday, May 22, 2026

Water temperatures are varying wildly across the Northwoods right now! On our shallower, stained lakes, temperatures spiked to 58–63°F yesterday afternoon. Meanwhile, our deep, clear lakes are sitting at least 4 to 6 degrees behind that, hovering around 52–55°F. Across the board, our seasonal patterns are tracking about 1 to 2 weeks behind where we were last year.

Here is what’s happening across the system this week:

🏆 COMMUNITY NOTES
A huge congratulations to Jared Adamovich and Matt Raley on winning Hunt's Walleye Shootout! Phenomenal job out there, guys!

🐟 MUSKY
The predominant opinion from multiple top area guides points to a good but not great bite this weekend. While fish may still be sorting through their annual spring cycles on some of our deeper systems, many of the shallower lakes are transitioning entirely into post-spawn patterns. Because water temps are on the cooler side across the system, keep in mind that bite windows will be shorter—it won’t be constant action like mid-summer, so don't get discouraged!

Where to Look: Because w**d growth is lagging a bit behind schedule, finding a combination of fresh green w**ds and wind is absolutely crucial—the wind pushes the warmest surface water right into that structure. If the w**d bite isn't firing, your next best bets are current zones (creek inlets/outlets or current on the chains) and shallow wood structure. If you can find wood mixed into those current areas, it's game on. If you aren't seeing fish in the shallow 3–6 foot flats, an easterly wind might be holding them a little deeper; check steep shoreline transitions, deep w**d edges, or adjacent mid-lake structure where recovering fish back off to rest.

Tactics: Working baits slowly is vital right now. Wooden or suspending jerkbaits and small twitch baits are excellent choices, acting as bulked-up versions of the lures currently punishing bass and walleyes. Smaller Suicks worked with a disciplined, slow rise cadence are perfect for these recovery fish. Swimbaits—especially 6" Swimmin' Dawgs—have been absolutely crushing fish lately. Slow-working glide baits and small profile bucktails (like single #5 or #7 blades) also have a major place in your early season line-up.

🎙️ Podcast Recommendation: If you want to dive deeper into these exact patterns, check out the most recent spring episode of the Muskies on Tap Podcast hosted by local guide Gus Mantey, who provided the core musky intel for this week's report! Special thanks also goes out to local heavy-hitter Andy Hendrickson (Hendo’s Angling Expeditions) for his excellent walleye and musky insights.

🐟 WALLEYE
With waters hitting that 55–60°F mark, walleyes are firmly post-spawn and transitioning, and local guide Andy Hendrickson points out that finding the newly emerging green w**ds is absolutely vital right now. These fresh w**d beds produce oxygen and attract early season baitfish, drawing transitioning walleyes right behind them. Look for these patches along first-break drop-offs and shallow flats, especially on wind-blown shorelines. Jigging live bait or pitching light plastics into these green w**d edges during low-light hours is your best bet.

🐟 CRAPPIE
It’s a tale of two patterns! On the colder, clear lakes, crappies are staging just outside their spawning grounds, while on the warmer, stained lakes, a full-action shallow water bite is in progress. Local guide Colin Crawford has been absolutely crushing the crappies shallow lately, putting massive numbers in the boat! Traditional crappie minnows remain the popular choice for this active shallow bite, but one of our local experts has also found massive success by downsizing to smaller soft plastics fished slowly. Special thanks to Colin for the killer crappie intel this week!

🐟 SMALLMOUTH BASS
On the clear lakes, smallies are actively working their way shallow. They are still technically pre-spawn but are rapidly getting closer to bedding up. Look for them on transitions from deep water to shallow flats.

🐟 LARGEMOUTH BASS
As water temperatures push into the upper 50s and low 60s, largemouths are moving aggressively into shallow bays, channels, and backwaters looking for warm water. They are preparing to bed, making them highly protective and aggressive. Work soft plastics or slow-moving spinnerbaits around shallow wood and docks.

🐟 NORTHERN PIKE
They are in full post-spawn mode and eating absolutely everything in the shallows. As per usual, they are heavily relating to the new green w**ds. Fast-moving presentations worked over and around the developing w**dlines will trigger violent strikes right now.

🐟 PERCH & BLUEGILL

Perch: We’ve had reports of some nice-sized jumbo perch being caught in the area! However, be prepared to feed the "ravenous packs" of small perch that are plaguing the shallows right now—they will try to steal anything they can fit in their mouths.

Bluegill: They are starting to move into the shallow, sun-warmed bays ahead of their spawn (which triggers closer to 67–70°F). Look for them grazing near shallow structure. Small jigs tipped with waxies or plastics under a slip bobber are doing the trick.

Stop by Guide's Choice Pro Shop before you hit the water to get the latest updates. Safe lines out there!

🌙 WEEKLY SOLUNAR & MOON PHASE DATA
Predatory fish respond heavily to lunar pull. Plan your weekend and week ahead using these exact calculated windows (Majors = 2 Hours, Minors = 1 Hour) for the Eagle River / Vilas County area:

Friday (Waxing Crescent): Majors: 5:49 AM - 7:49 AM | 5:49 PM - 7:49 PM • Minors: 12:59 AM - 1:59 AM | 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Saturday (First Quarter): Majors: 6:18 AM - 8:18 AM | 6:18 PM - 8:18 PM • Minors: 1:22 AM - 2:22 AM | 12:15 PM - 1:15 PM

Sunday (Waxing Gibbous): Majors: 6:56 AM - 8:56 AM | 6:35 PM - 8:35 PM • Minors: 1:40 AM - 2:40 AM | 1:26 PM - 2:26 PM

Monday (Waxing Gibbous): Majors: 7:39 AM - 9:39 AM | 7:18 PM - 9:18 PM • Minors: 1:57 AM - 2:57 AM | 2:34 PM - 3:34 PM

Tuesday (Waxing Gibbous): Majors: 8:21 AM - 10:21 AM | 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM • Minors: 2:14 AM - 3:14 AM | 3:42 PM - 4:42 PM

Wednesday (Waxing Gibbous): Majors: 9:03 AM - 11:03 AM | 8:42 PM - 10:42 PM • Minors: 2:31 AM - 3:31 AM | 4:50 PM - 5:50 PM

Thursday (Waxing Gibbous): Majors: 9:47 AM - 11:47 AM | 9:25 PM - 11:25 PM • Minors: 2:50 AM - 3:50 AM | 5:58 PM - 6:58 PM

05/21/2026

Fresh bait restock at Guide's Choice Pro Shop, including some chunker musky suckers (limited quantities). Have a wonderful weekend!

05/20/2026

🚨 HELP US CLEAR THE PEGS! 30% OFF EXTENDED! 🚨

Joe Bucher Tackle has exciting new baits on the horizon under their new ownership, and we need room on the shelves here at Guide’s Choice Pro Shop to host it.

The solution? We’re keeping the 30% OFF discount going on all current Joe Bucher Legacy stock, including the iconic Bucher Tails!

We are running this deal strictly until our current inventory is gone. If you’ve been waiting to restock your boat for the season, this is your sign to strike before your favorite colors are cleared out.

In-store or online https://guideschoiceproshop.com/collections/joe-bucher-outdoors

05/16/2026

The locals' best-kept secret is finally in store! 🎣
We are thrilled to welcome T-Tails Bucktails at Guide's Choice Pro Shop. Hand-tied by local Vilas County bait-maker Tom Rahlf, these premium lures have earned a great reputation among local anglers for one simple reason: they catch fish.

Tom custom-blends high-quality deer hair and select feathers to create an exceptional, lifelike action in the water. Every color pattern is chosen specifically for our local lakes.