FISHING TIPS

  Drought and drawdown-plagued waterways present obstacles to finding and catching fish. Welcome to 2023 on the Wisconsin River system. Whether due to drought or it’s the annual fall drawdown, many anglers fishing rivers and reservoirs for smallmouth are challenged by these situations.

  Beginning in early September, we drift shallow flats and beach shorelines. While most boats are still positioned around deep weedlines and offshore structure, we concentrate on the sand flats and inside weedlines of shorelines. The fishing improves with each passing day, and gets really good by late month. We zig and zag with the

  September is a month of transition and changing of seasons. With shortening daylight and colder nights, the entire food chain reacts and acclimates to these changes. On many clear water fisheries with sand bottom composition, trophy smallmouth return the shallows where they are most comfortable in cooling waters, and roam sand beaches.

  During the past decade, I’ve prioritized learning and focusing my time on open water fishing tactics for smallmouth bass. Prior to then, this was something I hadn’t done much of. What spurred me to this was the realization of how lakes and smallmouth fisheries are cyclical and slowly evolving. Lakes that might have been

  Topwaters and surface baits, longtime bass fishing staples, are popular for smallmouths. They are hard to beat when surface activity is prevalent, the lakes are heating up from the sunlight above, and insect hatches take place.

  When seeking quality post-spawn fish in June, I turn to the largest and deepest lakes in the region where we target their expansive flats and look for very good near-shore habitat.