Published articles by Andrew Ragas. The most comprehensive bass fishing library for Wisconsin bass fishing and across the Midwest.
Mysteries of the Deep: Schooling on Cisco Smallmouth
Friday, 06 July 2018
By Andrew Ragas Lakes are the lifeblood of the northwoods. From the expansive Great Lakes to the inland lakes throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Northwestern Ontario, a large percentage of our lakes surface acreage and water columns from top to bottom have gone unexplored.
- Published in Bass Fishing Articles, Smallmouth Bass
Small Streams, Big Bass
Thursday, 07 June 2018
By Andrew Ragas We fish our flowing waters by wading, kayaking, bank fishing or floating them with small craft. At some point in our angling careers, we likely cut our teeth on fishing small rivers and streams due to their availability, affordability, aesthetics, and convenience to fish.
- Published in Bass Fishing Articles, Smallmouth Bass
Swim Jigs, Northwoods Style
Tuesday, 17 April 2018
By Andrew Ragas Bass fishing can become as technical and complicated as we make it. Often times, anglers become too fixated on unnecessary extras rather than focusing on the presentation and strategy at hand. Like some of our fishing strategies, jig fishing can become a complicated matter due to the wide variety of jig head
- Published in Bass Fishing Articles, Largemouth Bass
My Favorite Early-season Fishing Outings
Monday, 12 March 2018
By Andrew Ragas I am biased but blessed. I get to fish and guide in relative bass fishing obscurity for half the year. Having spent nearly all 31 years of my life up to this point fishing the waters around Minocqua, WI, there is no better bass fishing destination for catch and release only fishing,
- Published in Bass Fishing Articles, Largemouth Bass
Five Bass Fishing Philosophies
Thursday, 01 March 2018
By Andrew Ragas Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters that encompasses knowledge, values, and reason. I don’t believe Pythagoras was a fisherman himself, but his thoughtful teachings are still being applied to scholars of all subjects, including fishing.
- Published in Bass Fishing Articles, Smallmouth Bass
Overlooked Bass Fishing Routines for 2018
Monday, 12 February 2018
By Andrew Ragas Routines are described as detailed courses of action to be followed regularly. In a bass fishing sense, when preparing for your season of fishing, a systemic method of preparation will make you a more efficient fisherman. Over time, it will become second nature to you, and repeated annually.
- Published in Bass Fishing Articles, Smallie Blog
Catch and Release Smallmouth Fishing, with Trokar Live Bait Hooks
Tuesday, 21 November 2017
I don’t promote the use of live bait fishing unless it’s done responsibly and 100% catch & release survival is assured. When nothing else works to catch fish, it’s a last resort tactic for me. But to others it’s understandably a top choice, and unbeatable in cold water periods.
- Published in Bass Fishing Articles, Gear Reviews, Smallie Blog, Smallmouth Bass
Fall Smallmouth Bass Strategies: No Shame with the Live Bait Game
Thursday, 21 September 2017
By Andrew Ragas Bass fishing purists and elitists revile it. The professionals consider it cheating. Tournament organizers and circuits ban it, and its competitor jersey-clad fishermen laugh at it in haste. At the turn of the coldwater period, what’s an angler to do when nothing else in the tackle box works and the day is
- Published in Bass Fishing Articles, Smallmouth Bass
Bass in the Grass
Thursday, 06 July 2017
By Andrew Ragas Clustered throughout northern Wisconsin’s wilderness landscape is the upper Midwest’s most extensive collection of inland freshwater lakes. From infertile rocky oligotrophic cold water lakes, to fertile habitat mesotrophic lakes, and heavily vegetated and nutrient-rich eutrophic waters, the northwoods has a lake type for all bass fishermen and their preferred styles of angling.
- Published in Bass Fishing Articles, Smallmouth Bass