My Favorite Early-season Fishing Outings

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, early season experience, and year-round adventure. The landscape of Vilas and Oneida county region is in abundance of thousands of lakes. Its diverse lake types and their fisheries teem with under fished, world class smallmouth and largemouth bass fishing. Some lakes have numbers while others some trophies. When “up north”, it’s impossible for me to ever get bored. I have enough bass fishing opportunity to last me an entire lifetime of fishing.

While my specialty is bass and will be the primary focus of this tour guide, we have other well known, more popular fish species too. If you are into other species such as walleye, northern pike, and panfish, whose seasons also open in early May, they are available in most bass lakes, also. Everyone fishes for them, and continue to neglect bass.

With Wisconsin’s inland gamefish season opener the first Saturday of May, anglers are now chomping at the bit in anticipation of fishing open water once again. Fishermen from near and far will travel to favorite fishing locations for the weekend. If you’re planning a trip right now, plan in advance. More cabins and resorts are booked for Wisconsin’s opening fishing weekend than any other time of the tourist season besides the major summer holiday weekends.

Growing up, my fondest fishing memories with my dad and grandpa was the late night caravan and travel to our family’s 3-season cabin that sits atop our small backyard lake in Minocqua. If you travel long distance to favorite fishing destinations, I’m sure you can relate to this same excitement and anticipation upon arrival that I had years ago as a kid, and still do today.

For as long as I could remember, dad and grandpa would annually schedule this work and play weekend for just the boys of the family. We would open the house for the season, and then fish hard core. Today, the tradition remains. The three Ragas boys still plan their annual season opening weekend. While my two elders and original angling teachers were fixated on season opening walleye and panfish, mostly all to be released, another fish species eventually came calling and became what is now my passion and partial livelihood.

My favorite early season fishing outing is leisurely fishing the backyard lake. It’s produced more bass and personal bests for me than anywhere else I’ve fished. It taught me everything I know about bass fishing, and continues to reveal more for me to learn. While the popular lake chains and big water are obvious on an area map (and lets be honest most days I prefer fishing them as well from my Ranger), more difficult to access small water gems litter the landscape than any other lake types and waters throughout northern Wisconsin. For its obscurity, location off the beaten path, and quality warm water species it harbors, my little lake remains a favorite personal destination for season opening weekend largemouth bass, northern pike, and crappies. Conveniently aboard my tin with electric MinnKota, I can catch fish of all kinds without having to travel anywhere. It’s a relaxing change of pace from my daily guide routine, which starts a few days after, that offers independence, solitude, and me-time.

My favorite early season fishing outing is leisurely fishing the backyard lake. For its obscurity, location off the beaten path, and quality warm water species it harbors, my little lake remains a favorite personal destination for season opening weekend largemouth bass, northern pike, and crappies. Conveniently aboard my tin with electric MinnKota, I can catch fish of all kinds without having to travel anywhere. It’s a relaxing change of pace from my daily guide routine, which starts a few days after, that offers independence, solitude, and me-time.

The Rites of Spring

Nowadays I spend as much time as possible fishing during the month of May. I wake up on the right side of the bed early every morning, happy, knowing that I’ll be fishing someplace different each day. To me there is no better feeling of satisfaction and life’s purpose than waking up for the sole reason to go fishing.

Smallmouth bass are the best and most engaging bass fishing game in town. Largemouth bass are a good secondary option because they’re everywhere, bite more readily, and lakes are loaded with them. The first three weeks following opening weekend, proceeding to the spawning period offers anglers some of the best and most explosive fishing of the year.

At this time, smallmouths are usually schooled and stacked in large groups along the edges of structural elements where they stage in anticipation for spawn. In contrast to largemouths which will move into shallow mud bays with warmer water, smallmouths move to warm water lake locations that are best influenced by wind direction, sunlight penetration, and proximity to annual spawning location. Find these smallmouth mother lodes, and you can literally catch 100 fish or more in a single day.

As springtime brings warming weather and water temperatures, abundant schools of pre-spawn bass invade the shallows to stage for spawn. Specific lake locations that conduct heat are instrumental in scoring early season bass fishing success. The areas that warm quickest are determined by underwater structure and the lake’s geography. Typically, shallow bays with exposure to the southern skies will warm the fastest. My specific lake choices and fishing destinations in May will be solely based on these factors.

Here in the northwoods, where early season bass fishing is allowed with mandatory catch and release, many anglers find themselves at a standstill on where to fish and the techniques to fish with. With too many lakes around, one will never put a dent into the fishery within a weekend. Just remember, bass reuse and revisit the same spots every season for spawning and homing. As such, you should revisit your best spots on those same lakes every year in order to catch them.

Spring bass fishing has always been personally challenging, engaging, and exciting. More heavyweight largemouth and smallmouth bass tipping the scales between 4 and 8 lbs. are caught and released in May and early June than most months combined. Catching them consistently however, isn’t easy. While their movements from ice out to pre-spawn are generally predictable, it’s usually the unpredictable weather and water temperatures that’s throwing curveballs our way. Some years early spring is cold with snow showers, while other years it is uncomfortably warm like a mid July summer weekend.

An array of tactics and strategies catches fish in early season. Wherever I fish, crankbaits, swimbaits, swim jigs, and suspending jerkbaits are universally applied to all smallmouth and largemouth waters. Keep tactics simple, and you will surely catch. As water temperatures gradually climb, your tackle box will eventually open up to more tricks and presentations that will include soft plastics, jigs, and even topwater.

Today, my suspending jerkbait fishing program that I have written so often about for smallmouth is my favorite spring fishing activity. An unforgettable number of stellar outings have taken place these last several years. Pre-spawn jerkbaiting has become a favorite and highly anticipated early season smallmouth outing that repeats itself for me every spring.

Longtime partner, Jacob Saylor, was a frequent partner on annual spring trips while I was still in school. In my earlier days of trophy smallmouth hunting, our efforts produced fish like Jake’s personal best fish.

Fishing in Minocqua

The Minocqua region lakes are loaded with bass fishing opportunity. My region is now becoming known as a world class bass fishing destination due to the increase in tournaments, lake management plans that cater to bass species, and number of out of state license plates I’m now observing at the boat landings. Because each lake fishes differently, and contains different population densities and size structures, I love having the option to fish multiple lakes per day, and cater my daily outings to my personal needs as well as specific angling styles & techniques. Few destinations in the world outside of southern Ontario and Minnesota have this much bass fishing diversity within such a high concentration of nearby located waters.

Good bass can be caught within the town of Minocqua city limits. If looking to explore beyond these fertile, abundant waters, similar and better quality largemouth fishing can be experienced at other lakes located in all directions.

In the renowned and oft-visited Minocqua Chain, which is one of my top spring bass fisheries, its waters are populated by more largemouth bass than anywhere else in Wisconsin. Whether you are an expert or tournament angler seeking a giant, or first timer wanting several rod benders, you won’t be treated to better largemouth fishing than the Minocqua, Kawaguesaga, and Tomahawk Lakes.

Good bass can be caught within the town of Minocqua city limits. If looking to explore beyond these fertile, abundant waters, similar and better quality fishing can be experienced at other lakes located in all directions.

If seeking quality smallmouth bass, you won’t have to travel far to visit other inland lakes. To date, I’ve caught and handled hundreds of trophy smallmouth bass exceeding lengths of 20 inches and weights surpassing 5 pounds. With my largest smallmouth to date caught last summer at 22 inches length, weighing in at around 7 lbs., I am convinced that my inland waters, rich in crayfish and pelagic baitfish, are capable of rearing the next Wisconsin state record. In my geographic region of Vilas, Oneida, Iron, and Forest Counties, I have the privilege of having hundreds of quality trophy inland bass lakes within 50 miles of Minocqua.

In the last decade, the region has seen an explosion in its largemouth bass fisheries. This has been accelerated by warming climates, aging and weedier lakes, and the overfishing and overharvest of walleyes and other gamefish species. With the fisheries changing and other species vacating, largemouth bass have filled in the biomass and it’s benefited an entirely different angling demographic.

Due to the new abundance of largemouth, Wisconsin has adjusted its largemouth bass regulations to allow a year-round harvest of 5 fish per day at 14”. State biologists are encouraging anglers to harvest and keep more eater size bass. On the Minocqua Chain, anglers may harvest 5 largemouth of any size. This regulation promotes a more balanced future bass fishery and helps restore walleye populations. In my opinion, and if bled out immediately and prepared properly, 12 inch largemouth bass are the tastiest Friday fish fry, or broiled fish dinner one could ever enjoy. Despite the liberal regulations, harvest your catch responsibly; keeping the abundant eater size 10 to 14” fish while releasing everything larger. Those bigger bass are the up and comers, and future of our bass fishing.

Due to the new abundance of largemouth, Wisconsin has adjusted its largemouth bass regulations to allow a year-round harvest of 5 fish per day at 14”. These are the perfect eater size.

While musky and walleye reign supreme for most visiting anglers, it’s the bass fishing opportunities that make Minocqua stand out from other Wisconsin destinations.

Whether interested in a lake or river in a specific region or a nearby town you’ll be visiting, Minocqua, WI as your centralized fishing destination and lodging location offers a variety of bass fishing opportunities for traveling anglers and visitors alike. Lodging options, lakes to fish, and things to do are available, plentiful, and desirable. It’s never too late to start your own spring fishing traditions. Bass anglers who visit Minocqua every spring will never experience a shortage of bass fishing water and boredom. Already repeating my early season fishing tradition for 31 years, and I sure haven’t!

Giant smallmouth like this fish are my year-round specialty. Catching them every spring is magical and outweighs most of my other fishing memories. This specimen was caught in 2010, back when I made annual week-length fishing trips while still in college.