Jenks Bait & Tackle
Jenk’s Bait & Tackle has been serving the Hayward Area for over 75 years! We are your One Stop Shop in the Chippewa Flowage Area! Located conveniently between the Chippewa Flowage, Round Lake, Callahan Lake, Moose Lake, and the Quiet Lakes, our knowledge of the surrounding waters and woods has been invaluable to our guests and community for many years.
We are a full service One Stop Shop as we offer a variety of products and services from Live Bait, a full line of name brand fishing tackle, ice, cold beer & soda, propane cylinders, firewood, rod & reel repair, line winding services, special order firearms, and firearm transfers!
Jenk’s Bait and Tackle is more than a local tackle shop. It is an experience, and more importantly–a tradition. We are very passionate about the Hayward Lakes Area, and we love bringing you the best quality and up-to-date products while still maintaining that nostalgic and rustic mom & pop bait shop feel like back in the old days. We thank you for choosing Jenk’s Bait and Tackle as your One Stop Shop for all your fishing needs in the Chippewa Flowage Area!
Complete Line of Fishing Tackle and Live Bait
13 Miles East of Hayward on County Hwy “B”
Our rod and reel prices are competitive with, and often priced lower than the discounters and catalogues. Give us a call at 715-462-3055 for more information, or stop by and see for yourself.
Located conveniently between the Chippewa Flowage, Round Lake and Callahan Lake, our knowledge of the surrounding waters have been a help to visitors for many years.
Whether you seek hunting and fishing information, want to hire a guide to fish the Chippewa Flowage or surrounding Hayward Lakes, or if you simply want to chat about the Hayward area, we’re here 7 days a week to help make your stay a pleasant one.
Open Water, and Ice Fishing Guide Services through Hayward Guide Service which is headquartered at Jenk’s
Fishing Report / News
2026-10-10
Walleye
The Walleye bite this week has been particularly good on larger minnows. Bigger Walleye suckers and Medium Walleye Minnows (XL Fats) have been the most successful baits in bringing in the Walleyes. During the day they are still relatively in deeper water and on deeper humps and cover. While during the early morning and evening hours they seem to move a bit shallower and sit right off the edges shallow cover. Targeting that shallow cover during the evening that borders a river channel is a good tactic to use when going for the Walleyes right now.
Musky
Musky fishing has been a bit all over the place lately. The Sucker bite has definitely been solid this week, but the location of the Muskies seems to be a bit all over the map. Smaller Muskies are sitting in shallower water, while the bigger lunkers are sitting in deeper water off the edges. Your best bet to cover both is to sit in deeper water and drop a sucker down while casting baits up into the shallower structure. Out of all the sizes, the Larger Musky Suckers have been the most popular with the majority of anglers coming through the shop this week. For casting, Glide Baits and Suicks have been particularly good. The Tom's Custom Super Glide has been raising a lot of fish the past few days.
Crappie
Crappie are not schooled up yet in the bays as of yet according to all reports coming in. A few anglers have reported marking some Crappies just outside of Moore's and the Blueberries but nothing schooled up yet in those bays. Most of the action is still coming on the deeper cribs and deep timber. Crappie Minnows is your go-to live bait of choice, while Gulp Minnows and Mini-Mites have been leading the pack this week for artificials.
Bass
Largemouth have been very quiet this week, but Smallmouth have been very active. Ned Rigs are a great choice for baits always, but this past week, the action is seeming to come on 3 to 3.5 inch paddletails with a swimjig or swim rig. Submerged rocks and stumps is the structure you are looking for. You may find a few bigger Smallies sitting on some cribs as well.
Weather
It's gonna be a warm but breezy weekend with cooler temperatures on the way. This weekend we are going to see highs in the low 80s and lows in the mid 50s to low 60s. As we get into Monday and the rest of the week, temperatures will cool down with highs next week primarily in the 50s and lows primarily in the high 30s to low 40s. Next Friday we may see lows drop into the 20s at night. Expect some light showers Monday, Thursday, and Friday.
Water Temp at time of this report
63 Degrees
General
Sucker Availability Report: We have a very good amount of suckers in stock this week. Mediums are a bit lacking in numbers this week but we have plenty of Larges. We have more than enough Wild Caught Suckers for everyone. Stop on in at Jenk's Bait to pick them up. We will not run out. We are well stocked.