Interview with Badger Sportsman Magazine

Andrew Ragas, with Bill Schultz

In February 2019 I was interviewed by writer, Bill Schultz, for a piece highlighting Wisconsin’s smallmouth fisheries and a showcase of fishing guides who are specializing on them. Bill was kind to profile me, and here is our full length interview. Parts of the original interview will be published in the May/June 2019 issue of Badger Sportsman Magazine.

How long have you had your guide service?  What got you started?

I grew up in the 1990’s as a walleye and multi-species fisherman. Not too many bass fisheries were around then. I have been a hardcore bass and smallmouth angler since the mid 2000’s. At that point, smallmouth weren’t as popular as they are now today, and the inland bass resources and fisheries in northern Wisconsin were drastically expanding and improving thanks to C&R and conservation-minded regulations.

My interests and passion in bass fishing, and the hundreds of fishing days I spent in Wisconsin’s northwoods each season, gradually led me into the guiding and fish touring profession.

Becoming a guide wasn’t a goal of mine. It was unplanned and I got into it by accident and from other events leading me there. Being a lifelong scholar of fishing, and committed and dedicated to it made the entry easy.

I just always wanted to have a career in something that would enable me to fish wherever and whenever I wanted. I found my role, and it worked out perfectly through both of my jobs!

During my pre-guiding days, I frequently hosted several successful annual buddy and leisure trips from our family’s summer home in Minocqua. If I was going to spend at least 100 days on the water leisure fishing and hosting someone, my angling needed more purpose and for it to become a paying job. After graduating from college in 2010 with a few degrees I’d end up utilizing, fishing then turned into my official secondary education while everyone else was going to grad school. Getting there required lots of self-training and education. Along the way, I gained knowledge of my lakes and their fisheries, learned how and when to fish everywhere, and developed an intellectual capacity that few other anglers have. I also befriended many successful, and some famous, fishing guides who became my best friends – encouraging, mentoring, and reciprocating with me.

Buying my Ranger 681VS boat in 2015 set me up for guiding possibilities. I then got registered, licensed, and commercially/liability insured. I officially started my guide service and business in winter 2017, Northwoods Bass Fishing Adventures, LLC (www.northwoodsbass.com). I wanted to offer a specialty fishing guide service nobody else in the state was doing or could provide. I wanted to own the bass fishing demographic and market on the northern Wisconsin inland fisheries.

Guiding is what I do part-time and seasonally from May through October in between my daily desk job of managing my website design & marketing business. I host guide trips about 2 weeks per month. I won’t ever be able to go full-time with it due to my work and family, but it is a secondary job I will continue to have for as long as I’ll be in demand and our inland fisheries remain world class.

What area of Wisconsin do you guide?

I am based in Minocqua, Wisconsin. But typically fish all the lakes, rivers and flowages located in the entire 50 mile radius surrounding town in Vilas, Oneida, Iron, and Forest Counties.

What type of lakes are you fishing?  Acres? Depth?  Launches?  I don’t need specific names of lakes.  As we’ve discussed, this sometimes can be a problem with the lurkers.

As a bass guide, I have to fish everywhere I can in order to maximize productivity and experience the best bites that happen monthly and seasonally. We frequently lake hop and fish between 2 to 5 different lakes on a typical full day. I have no limits; if there’s a road to get there and a boat access, I’ll fish it.

My region of northern Wisconsin has the most diverse lake types and fisheries anywhere in the country. Some of our lakes are managed for numbers and high catch rates, while others are purposely low density bass populations that are managed for big fish only and virtual catch and release. We have shallow and fertile dark brown water lakes, and deep clear lakes that are home to colder water fisheries. I have about 4,000 lakes in the region, and fish about 100 of them annually for smallmouth.

I fish small sub-100 acre accessible backwoods and undeveloped lakes, to the largest waters of Vilas County that are 4,000 acres. These undeveloped lakes have unimproved access, some of which are capable of granting my Ranger (guide boat) access. The larger and more popular lakes meanwhile, located nearby towns and off the main roads and highways, have improved launches and are accessible easily. I tend to fish the bigger water for their convenience of travel, their trophy C&R regulations, and big fish potential.

Beyond natural lakes, I fish all of the flowages, which are good seasonal bites. I also fish the two major river systems of the region and their tributaries – the Wisconsin and Flambeau.

Do you chase smallies on Rivers?  What type of rivers?  As big as the Wisconsin River is, OK, to mention.

I fish the rivers often, and the quality and success of fishing depends on season. Most stretches of river are only 10 to 20 miles in length between dams. Spring and fall are my favorite seasons to float on the Wisconsin River system, Flambeau River system, and their flowages. Majority of our northwoods river smallmouth aren’t year-round residents like they could be elsewhere; they’ll migrate upstream from flowages into rivers for spawning and early season feeding. Then by late summer and fall they’re migrating back downstream into the flowages and their deep river channel holes for overwintering.

I like to wade the small and mid-size flows where boat navigation is hazardous and terrain is entirely boulder fields. This limits fishing pressure. Only issue there is I cannot efficiently cover the river miles and distances I want.

Meanwhile, our mid to large size rivers in the region are deeper and more navigable for small boat, and have unimproved boat landings. For these fisheries I have two smaller boats with short shaft outboards (16’ Lund tri-hull and 14’ Jon) that serve as my river rigs, and allow me to go on long distance float trips without many navigational issues or hazards.

What are your 3 or 4 top smallie lures?

I don’t get fixated on particular baits and favorite lures, as the tackle box frequently changes weekly and monthly. But I’ll tell you what my top producers are by season:

Spring – 5” Fluke minnows; Suspended jerkbaits like X-Rap 08 and 10; Pointer minnows.

Summer – 4” Swimbaits and paddletails on 3/8 oz. swimming head; Squarebill crankbaits; X-Rap Pop topwaters; Tube jigs

Fall – 3/8 oz Hula Grubs and ½ oz. Football head jigs; Deep diving crankbaits; Blade Baits.

And, how do you use and present each of these?  Also, and, I may not mention brands of rods and reels, what rod reel set-up do you use for each presentation.

Everything my boat gets thrown with a variety of Quantum PT casting and spinning set-ups.

For all jigging tactics 6ft 10” to 7 and a half ft. medium hvy and fast action, baitcasters and spinning reels spooled with 10, 15, and 20 lb. braided main line and a 4 ft section of fluorocarbon leader are the norm. Always fish the braid/fluoro combo on spinning set-ups for jigging and finesse rigging.

With these set-ups we’re jigging tubes, and crawling a hula grub or football jig. Also drop-shotting, throwing hair jigs, and the occasional casting. I will also fish the same braid, but use a more flexible rod, when ripping and vertically jigging a blade bait in fall.

Meanwhile for most casting applications, we fish 7ft to 7 and a half ft. medium to med. Hvy set-ups. I still prefer operating with monofilament and co-polymer lines as it helps get the best hook-sets on baits with treble hooks. 10 and 12 lb. co-polymer is my all-purpose line for casting crankbaits, topwaters, larger suspending jerkbaits, swim jigs, spinnerbaits.

For smaller suspending jerkbaits like the X-Rap 08, and fluke minnows, I fish them with 7ft med. Hvy fast action spinning rod, size 30 reel, spooled with 8 lb. copolymer.

Also, type of line?  Do you use fluoro leaders?  Why?

I am diverse and vary my line choices according to the lure types being fished and their applications.

For all jigging, and for casting paddletails and swim baits we run braid and fluoro line combos on spinning and baitcasting set-ups. Then for casting hard baits, majority is done with mono and copolymer.

Most of our inland smallmouth fisheries are very deep and clear water. in that high transparency water, smallmouth are efficient but elusive visual feeders. Fluorocarbon leaders are a necessity when fishing braided main lines. A 3 to 6 ft. section of 8 to 10 lb. fluoro leader will deliver highest catch rate and offer stealth. Fish will not reject your baits like they might otherwise without it.

I’d love a picture of “you” with a nice smallie, BUT, not one that makes a 4 pounder look like an 8.  LOL

I’ll send you a couple pictures of an inland 7.5# that looks like a big ocean grouper.