Smallies in the Northwoods of WI.

I spent 3 days in Vilas County, WI for one of my annual marathon fishing trips. Lucky for me, I was joined by my daughter, Olivia and good family friend Hunter for an awesome time chasing fish on various lakes for multi-species each day. Mother Nature was kind enough to bless us with her bounty, and allowed us enjoy unbelievable smallmouth action everywhere we went.
From the words of Joel Nelson, “Spoil those kids proper!” was my motto for this week. Not to take away from the opportunities of Door County or Chequamegon Bay, but many lakes in northern WI. offer superb bass action along with the many other attributes that enhance the experience. It is so difficult to pull in all the descriptive comments to paint a proper picture of kids sight fishing bass while loons are sounding off, deer are wading along a shore, eagles are soaring, and we had an abundance of shorelines all to ourselves.

The recent cold spell had a minimal effect on bass in the spawn/post spawn mood. Water temps ranged from upper 50’s to mid 60’s pending which lake we were on. Structure was key to finding most of the bass, and was very typical for smallies. Any rocky point or portion of shoreline with smaller “rubble rock” with a pea-gravel and isolated boulders had fish. Preferably western and northern shorelines we found were more productive with higher concentrations of bass when the habitat was correct.
Our method of attack was very simple. I opted to have the kids alternate for fishing to bedded fish and kept a minimal amount of rods on the deck. Two rod were rigged, each with a mirrored back-up. 1/8 oz jig and the 2.45 sized Pulse-R Paddle Tail and a lipless Live Target crank in Bluegill, Crappie, or the Gizzard Shad. This one-two punch was an unstoppable pattern for every fish we saw.

Fan casting the lipless baits on the shallow rocky flats would pick up post spawn cruising fish, as well as aggressive bedded fish. We noticed the cruising fish were spooked very easy and those fish were caught on LONG casts to the outer edges of the drop off.
After passing a crank over a bed a few times without success, we pitched a Pulse-R and would slowly hop it through the bed. Watching the fish’s body language was key. If it spooked or slowly slid off of its bed, it was time to change color. It was easy to identify fish that were previously caught. Similar colors would make them shy. However, changing to a color the most likely hadn’t seen before was the ticket to a fast reaction.

For myself personally, I only caught a couple bass for the week. It was so much more fun to watch the kids (young adults as I’ve been reminded) and control the boat. In hind-sight, it was a great way to minimize the time a fish was off the bed. Upon landing, one was getting the hooks out while I grabbed the camera and about that fast, we returned Mother Nature’s gift back to do her business. Olivia took our money in the big fish wager with a beautiful 5#15oz toad. Hunter was a respectable second with a couple just over the 5# mark.
Equipment:
• Quantum EXO 7’ medium/fast W/ EXO 25 spinning reel – braid
• Kopper Live Target (Crappie – CPV65-100, Blugill GBV55SK-100, & Gizzard Shad GZV62SK-600)
• BFT – Pulse-R (size 2.45) Various brighter colors!
• 1/8oz or lighter jigs