As water temperatures gradually cool, the lakes eventually turn over, and smallmouths slide deeper to the point of wintering, the tackle box closes. As these events simultaneously occur, my boat’s tackle selection lessens each week – and the majority of gear and tackle I’ve carried up to this point will no longer be needed.
Whether guiding or leisure fishing, we’re always looking for the best available and most unique weed habitat and shallow cover differing from the rest of the fishery. Across many Wisconsin lake systems, some of our best summer season fishing locations are around impenetrable, heavily vegetated areas.
It’s mid-July. The daytime surface temperatures typically reach 75 to 80 degrees, often exceeding that. Summer peak is on. Consequently, the daytime fishing efforts aren’t paying off, as the biggest largemouths congregate along the deepest edges, lay low, and are lounging around comfortably in the better oxygenated deeper waters.
The first assignment for this challenge is identifying the true trophy bass lakes that have viable populations of smallmouths weighing 5 lbs. or more. Many inland northern waters throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan that are managed for trophy fisheries, and have special management regulations, qualify in this respect.
