Hi all, even though winter is just getting started, it’s never too early to consider a fully guided bass fishing trip on the inland waters of Northern Wisconsin. Join me on another new season in pursuit of trophy Wisconsin bass 2021, beginning as soon as the Monday after Mother’s Day (May 10th).

Northwoods Bass Fishing Adventures, LLC hosts a variety of bass specialty trips that includes trophy hunts; numbers days; lake-learn sessions; technique-specific instructional days; pick a town and we’ll fish its whole area; and exclusive wilderness adventures and float trips to name a few. I will then do my best to put us on the right water for the day’s trip taking into consideration the season, weather, and type of bites being sought after. Adding to the engaging lake types and diversity of fisheries in our region, we approach every water with the mindset of taking what its bass fishery will give us.

Thank you customers for entrusting me for your bass fishing and northwoods fishing success! I appreciate your business and friendships. I also enjoy staying in touch with you all during the season and winter off-season, whether chatting by phone, texting, or replying to emails and questions. It never gets old as we get deeper into another boring winter off-season.

2020 in review. Tough. And we all had fun.

Each day of fishing in my boat brings high expectations and very high standards. My objectives are for you to catch, and for me to navigate the boat, put YOU on spots, instruct and educate. Whether or not you caught a giant bass with me that day, I’m sure you returned home with a new outlook on bass fishing, information you can apply on your own, and acquired more knowledge and intellect that will make you a better angler for years to come. After every day fishing, I know I do.

2020 wasn’t a year for big fish. They behaved like they were under stay at home orders too. Weather, wind, bad timing all factored into it. No heavyweights or giants boated, but the usual and many 19-20-21” class fish caught and released. The heaviest went 6 pounds.

Spring and prespawn, with no sun or windows to aid us, was brutal. We had 10 straight days of fishing without any sunlight. Summer was swing and miss, with a new thunderstorm or coldfront every 3 days. Fall on the other hand made up for all the futility we had as almost every day in September/October was awesome.

I take photos of almost every 4 pounder or larger bass we catch. It was a downer year compared to the prior season when 95 fish surpassed the 4lb or 20” benchmark. We hit only 60 in 2020 over the course of 49 bass trip days. Was 2020 fishing results a product of the poor weather? You bet!

Average sizes were great. Mega fishes null. 2020 was weird.

The Awards

Biggest Smallmouth – Barry Humiston 21.5” May 2020….. Then several 21 inchers:

• Calvin Johns (May 2020)
• Tyler Reid (September 2020)
• Courtney Warren (September 2020)
• Mark Haney (June 2020)
• Kevin Bohney (September 2020)
• Jim Prosser & Partner (October 2020)

(Not counting my own, I captured a pair of 21’s and a 22” too)

Biggest Largemouth – 22” Eric Ellsworth, August 2020

Heaviest Bass – Tyler Reid – 6 lbs smallmouth bass, September 2020. Title winner second year in a row.

New Customer PB’s – 9

Nice going, you all!

In the event any of you are seeking replicas, my recommendations are

• Fittante Taxidermy & Fish Replicas
• Lawrence Taxidermy Studio

Let’s get ready to do it all over again in 2021.

Check out some of the big bass and groupers we caught in 2020. This could be you in 2021.

2020 Highlights and Best Catches

May – For the second straight spring, we endured another cold and crappy spring season, but that didn’t deter any anglers who signed up to fish with me. Neither did virus life. Remember when we all freaked oWith virus life, I also guided illegally and in secret during the second week of May. What kind of a world is this we are living in? Despite a low output of fish and many 20 or fewer fish days, we bagged some quality specimens during the third week of May. Chilly water temps persisted through Memorial Day weekend, but we were catching them on jerkbaits, crankbaits, swimbaits and swimming plastics. Cold water and a delayed season isn’t much of an inconvenience when you know several staging sites throughout each lake. Knowing this, feeding windows can happen at any time.

Note – A good spring trip with sunny, warming weather and water temps can produce 50-100 fish days on our numbers fisheries when we are really dialed in and we spend the day wrecking the fishery of 1-2-3 different lakes. This is not a typo or a marketing scheme like some from the peanut gallery have called me out for recently. Been there, done that.

Despite cold water, cold weather, and another extended pre-spawn season, the fishing got better the deeper into May we went. Sunlight really makes the smallmouth go in spring. Without it, fishing is slow.

We caught a handful of 20-21 inchers.

Best trip I had was a day off, solo river float trip. I caught all 25 of my smallmouth that day from two major staging locations while 99% of the river was empty. Each specimen 18-21″ and all caught on a simple Rapala DT-3 crank.

Best guide trips was with Camilo and daughter Isabel. They came for 2 days and we caught a boatload. Another top trip date was Memorial Day Saturday, my last spring trip of the season, hosting fly angler Calvin Johns. A novice to our style of fishing, he caught four 20 inch class fish that included a 5 and a half pound heavyweight 5 minutes into the morning. Amazing.

June – Weather sucked and was a continuation from May. Lots of rain and cold fronts every few days screwed up the rare good bites that were established during that 1 stable day in between. We experienced a delayed spawn season, but another strong year class of fish will be enjoyed for the next several years to come thanks to high water and lots of flooded shoreline habitat & protection.

Last season, we fished from June 15th through July 3rd. This scheduling assures us of a completed bass spawn. Summer arrives, both species are heavily feeding, numbers trips are most common, and the tackle box opens up – leading to several successfully working fishing strategies.

Mid to late June is a fun time of year if numbers and big fish action is the goal. It was difficult to establish good bites once again. Topwaters, finesse plastics, and hair jigs are the most successful tactics in my boat for June, but was not the case in 2020.

We had a couple of good trips in June. Jim Prosser came for two days and we connected with some quality fish.

Then right after, Mark Haney with partner Bryan came up from Arkansas and we had a blast and entertaining 4 days fishing and traveling all over the region. It was good to explore some new fisheries and try waters off the beaten path with them and we had some great numbers days. They were the most engaging anglers I have ever hosted or fished with.

As June came to a close, one of the worst heat waves that could ever happen shut down the fishing and forced us off the water early most days – flat calm, sun, and heat. It wasn’t even July 1st and we already had 80 degree water temps. Heat wave persisted through the first week and a half of July. Glad I was off the water and didn’t have to fish any further by July 3rd for my annual holiday break.

July & August – From mid July through the first week of August we completed all the summer trips I had scheduled for. This was 2.5 weeks worth of fishing. I had yet another wait list and barrage of requests for more trips in mid August, but as we know all last minute plans never work out.

Weather stunk. This summer the largemouth bite sucked. Usually by late July through August I like to balance out SMB and LMB trips to 50/50 if possible. The dog days offers the best trophy opportunity. Unfortunately it wasn’t happening this year.

Trophy largemouth run rampant and plentiful on the Minocqua area lakes, and these two summer months are THE BEST for targeting them. The northwoods largemouth bass fisheries are underutilized and underappreciated, as many lakes encompass numbers fisheries, and some exclusively trophies.

Best fish were caught by Eric Ellsworth, who hit a 20.5, and then recaptured my megafish from 2019.

Then for about 5 days, the smallmouth fishing was good. I hosted buddy and longtime acquaintance Jason Norris, formerly the owner of windycityfishing.com. This was a bucket list trip for him, and we enjoyed a 45 fish day making his 1 day round-tripper very worthwhile.

Then during the same few day window, we caught some other nice chunks up to 20.5″.

That was all she wrote for summer 2020 trips.

I was off then for the next 4 weeks, not resuming any fishing again until Labor Day weekend. September and October months were awesome.

September – This was the best month of the year. Water temps, weather, and patterns were finally stable and very consistent. All the weather and conditions we had in prior weeks & months were identical to the typical September. Every day was steady, beautiful weather, and fishing predictable.

Our end of year bass trips took place from September 14th through the first week of October. My fall trips are full day trophy hunts only. Many big fish came to the boat, and we got at least one of them every day.

We caught several 20 inchers this month, but a few stood out. Tyler Reid caught a near 6 pounder, and his girlfriend caught a 5.5 pounder during the first 5 minutes of their trip. Ron Bacza enjoyed himself an epic day, with a 28 lb. sack of smallmouth and multiple 20 inchers in a day; feats he had never achieved before.

Ron achieved legend status.

The Bohnney brothers from northern Indiana had a good trip in late September too. Our indian summer outing produced a pair of 20.5 and 21 inchers.

Tyler and Courtney both bring the heat from Nashville Tennessee, and keep catching big ones.

Beyond the trophies, we experienced some truly epic numbers trips where large average sizes were the common catch. This time of season is not for numbers, rather big fish, but the prevalence of perch schools and good conditions almost every day led to outstanding trips.

In September, I purposely took two days off to musky fish, and this was during full moon week of Sept 28th-29th. September 29th is the 10 year anniversary of when I caught my first 50 incher – a 51.5″ from a local Minocqua area lake. Having the same conditions and simply wanting to go fish some memories on my day off, I set out to that same lake. At approximately the same time when I caught my megafish on this date 10 years ago, I caught a new megafish at around 1:35 pm. A 49.5 (stretched out maybe 49.75-50″ but who cares). A 35-40 lb. class fish I could barely lift and handle all by myself. She swam off to grow larger, and everything about this feat will be remembered for the rest of my life.

I need Joe Fittante to build me two mounts, 51″ and 49.5″ two fishes on the same exact date, from the same lake. Unbelievable.

Fish Gods rewarded me on September 29th.

October – This is a great trophy month if you can brave the weather and have the correct daily expectations. We tried stretching out the guiding season until as long as we could possibly go, but it ended on October 5th and 6th with Jim Prosser and partner Chris. By now, smallmouth were already wintering, so our fishing strategies were changing on the fly.

Also, my vessel was limping around with an injury, succumbing to a rock bar that destroyed the skeg. The lower unit and other mechanical components within the boat needed repairs too. After their trip it remained in the shop for the rest of October, shutting down my bass year. Our fate was a $1,500 repair bill later. At least now ready and better than ever for 2021 to begin in May.

With boat in shop, I’m not sure bass trips would have been too pleasant or productive in October. We had NO FALL SEASON. By second week of the month, lakes had quickly turned over, and by end of month water temps were 40 degrees with some ice formation already starting.

Whatever fishing I did in late October, I putzed around with my retro Lund and river jon. Catching muskies including another 49″.

This was the last dance.

2020 you were such a pain in the ass for us all. Good riddance to you.

Now Booking 2021 Dates

Here’s the deal – it is still early booking period for all repeat anglers. You’ve got until January 1st to sign up early. This will help you in the following ways:

• Assuring you the best dates, times, and seasonal windows for the upcoming year
• You got first dibs on weekends – but if I were you, take the midweek dates because there won’t be as much competition on the water that day
• You can book according to my calendar of availability
• Avoid all last minute trip planning that never works out
• This will get you into the books immediately

As of December 9th, May month is now about 75% filled. I still have May 11-12, May 15-16, May 22, and May 25th thru 29th to still work with. Prime weekend dates, and May full moon period are available. May trips are primarily all smallmouth trips, but on some days trophy largemouth can be the best bite and my preferred tour for you.

I can guarantee you May month is sold out by early January.

June is wide open. We will be doing trips from June 15th thru July 3rd.

July-August pick and choose. Please refer to my online calendar to see availability.

September-October is the next most popular time following early spring and summer. If you want to hawg hunt exclusively, these are the two months for us to do it. I will be scheduling extensively for these two months again.

All dates I will be fishing, or plan to, are visibly shown on my online calendar.

Please do not bank on cancellations and claiming those dates if you are on wait list. I had none in 2020.

All deposits due immediately after January 1st, 2020. I will be emailing you all mailing instruction and deposit info. I will be personally getting in touch with everyone who’s scheduled with me. It will be done by phone and e-mail. Deposit sent by mail (check) or quick money transfer thru Venmo.

For 2021, the only weekends off limits at this time will be Mother’s Day weekend (May 8th-9th), 4th of July weekend, and Labor Day weekend. I WILL NOT FISH WHATSOEVER AFTER JULY 3RD and during the first two weeks of July due to heavy holiday traffic and congestion. The only dates I will be able to host trips and guide are listed in GREEN on my online calendar. If it’s not in green, I will not be available.

Still mulling over dates for 2021 fishing? I have updated my availability calendar to help with selecting fishing dates and then confirming bookings. Scroll forward to May and you will see which dates I have available. Please contact me directly to make your reservations by e-mail, or telephone. This will help give you an idea for scheduling your 2021 fishing trips and vacations to the northwoods.

All who are booking fishing dates with me in May, June, and July, your $100 check deposit (per day) sent immediately after January 1st, is required to hold and reserve your dates.

Thank you to my loyal customers for a great year! I cannot wait to host you again next season!

Andrew Ragas
Northwoods Bass Fishing Adventures, LLC
Licensed and Insured
Specializing in Northern Wisconsin inland bass fishing

tel: 708-256-2201
email: andrew@northwoodsbass.com
web: www.northwoodsbass.com