Wednesday, 04 May 2022 / Published in Fishing Reports

Northwoods Bass Fishing Report – Early May, 2022

Up until the evening hours of May 2nd, I hadn’t made a single cast all year long. Such a lousy introduction to spring season it has been. The fishing however could get better very quickly now.

Spring in the north doesn’t exist as you know. Judging by next week’s forecast, summer is now here.

You can cancel the pre-spawn season.

But I do expect a cold front to follow, and it will offset the heatwave, and balance it all out.

In recent days, I spent all of my time firing up the boats. Ranger is currently in the shop getting work done on it. What else is new?

The only fishing time I got was for a few hours Monday evening, all day Tuesday, and all day Wednesday.

Fishing this week is slow overall, but that’s been a result of the very cold water temperatures. Earlier this week, I began fishing within 12 to 24 hours following ice-out.

On one of the lakes I fished, a homeowner walked out to his pier and asked me whether I was jumping the gun.

I know for certain on Monday early morning I was the first boat out on Minocqua in 2022. The night prior, much of the lake was still frozen. Then on Tuesday, I jumped 4 different lakes in search for largemouths. 24 hours earlier, each of them were still mostly ice covered.

The only fishing I attempted was for largemouths, smallmouths, and crappies. Remember walleye season doesn’t open until May 7th, and muskies not until end of May.

Until things warm further, the best largemouth bass options right now are limited. You’ve got to seek out the warm water sources, and warmest waters available. The incoming warmth next week will expedite it, opening many additional lake options.

This week, I went to find warm water. Shallow bays, backwaters, drainages. Warmest I’ve found is 46-49. Elsewhere 42 to 45, dead with no activity. All fish being caught in depths of 3ft and shallower.

On Monday evening, I fished for the first time all year. I gave it a quick 2 hour session, scoring 10 bass. Majority of them were between 16 to 21″. I found all of my fish from two areas. One pod huddled up around a dead cabbage patch. The other pod, and largest of the fish, some on successive casts, came from a ledge with stumps and lily pad roots. I couldn’t buy another fish outside from these two spots.

The Z-Man Chatterbait Elite (black/blue 1/2 oz.) paired with a Razor Shad is this week’s money lure.

I haven’t found any feeding windows yet. Just hit all of the lake’s early season spots that’s historic to the lake and its fishery, and hope for some fish to be moving in.

Smallmouths haven’t turned on yet either, but the incoming heat wave should help trigger them….. and also confuse them.

I spent all day Wednesday after them. I floated a stretch of river in the morning, only to find they hadn’t begun the migration upstream.

In the evening, we visited a lake for a few hours during the late afternoon. Casting and slow-rolling paddletails along primary breaks and the edges of points produced for me. The Z-Man 4″ Diezel Minnow accounted for all bites. Strikes were quite hard considering the cold water and ice still along some shores.

More lakes should be good to go for smallmouths in the coming 24 to 48 hours.

So, with walleye opener and warm front incoming, further lake options will open. Be mindful that we are still in the cold water period of spring, and below the surface water is still very cold. Be fearful as well that heat waves and major warm fronts will drastically raise the water temps by as much as 10-15 degrees in a week. Events like these often confuse fish, especially smallmouths.

If I was fishing the gamefish opener this weekend, this would be my strategy or timeline of events.

Early Mornings – Walleyes.

Afternoons – Smallmouths, Largemouths, Crappies

Evenings – Walleyes before and after dark.

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Bass Bling

Prioritize location over BLING, because where you fish and the warmest water temperatures you find will be the difference between good fishing versus bad.

Lure selection this week is quite simple. Results on everything else was non-existent up to this point.

Ripping and cranking 3/8 oz. and ½ oz. Z-Man Freedom Chatterbaits and Jack Hammers through the shallows triggers exhilarating strikes from early season largemouths. Bang ‘em over wood and rip through weeds. It’s very weed and snag resistant. The Razor Shad as my trailer has been outstanding.

For chatterbaits, I recommend the St. Croix Mojo Bass Glass Rip-N-Chatter (MGC72HM). The rod handles and loads gently thanks to the S-Glass, which is critical to the lethargic, cold water bites. Some of my largemouths had no business staying pinned, but the Mojo Glass kept them on.

BUY – https://stcroixrods.com/products/mojo-bass-glass-casting

I’m not entirely sold on the 15 lb. fluorocarbon line I’m running on the set-up. I kept it spooled from last fall for lipless cranks. If you could do differently than me, run 20 lb. Cortland Masterbraid for main line instead.

Below, the greatest cheap bait ever invented keeps scoring largemouths season after season.

The Z-Man Diezel Minnow is quickly becoming a favorite paddletail. So far, I like bomb-casting and slow-rolling it with spinning gear.

The few smallmouths caught this week each came on the motor oil diezel.

I should have ordered more.

I strongly recommend fishing them with any swimbait head that offers a wire keeper. Northland Slurp, and Z-Man Finesse EyeZ are the best two that I’ve found.

My preferred rod for this is a 7ft MHF St. Croix Avid, the swiss army knife of rods. I have it paired with a size-30 Quantum Catalyst spooled with 15 lb. Cortland Line Masterbraid. Bomb cast and hang on!

BUY – https://stcroixrods.com/products/avid-series-spinning

What’s Happening Now

In a week, all of this information will quickly become irrelevant, but whatever.

Just a few days following ice-out, water temps right now in the low to middle 40’s. In windless, calm sun-baked areas of the lake, we’re seeing surface readings of 48 to 50. Remember, down below things are still very chilly.

My recommendation is to fish small to medium lakes for the next week. By end of next week, the large lakes should be ready to go.

For largemouths, I love hitting the backwater systems, drainages, and shallow eutrophic waters. These waterways warm rapidly, and are scattered throughout the landscape of Wisconsin’s Vilas and Oneida counties.

Learn how to catch fish from northwoods backwaters:

Northwoods Backwaters

All it takes is warming weather and sunlight to get them going. This time of year I rarely fish depths greater than 8 feet. Largemouths will be feeding heavily these next few weeks. It’s the best time of season to catch your heaviest largemouth bass of the year. Once water temperatures approach 60 degrees, I turn to a lure selection heavy on soft plastics such as stickbaits, creatures and craws. I slow my approach. Flipping and pitching jigs with craw trailers is a second favorite of mine.

This year, I do not expect a sooner, or later than usual spawning season for either bass species. I think end of May through first week of June.

For smallmouth, flowages are always a favorite early season pick, and a May tradition of mine. If thinking about rivers and creeks, water levels are very high, and could be challenging for boat fishing. Keep a close watch on the USGS website to follow the gauge height and stream flow rates of your favorite rivers. In my case, the rivers are very high right now and some of my favorite flows might not be fishable until later in the month.

By the time water temperatures get to 48 degrees, smallmouths will be activated for feeding, though a slow approach will be needed. Begin your preliminary search along known staging locations around depths of 8 to 15 feet. Fish will be setting up adjacent to their spawning sites, but holding and schooling in deeper water waiting for temperatures to warm. In very cold water, I like to slow-roll through these areas with 3.8″ paddletails.

As they progress shallower, prioritize suspending jerkbaits. Keep the plastics handy for backup, and hair jigs too.

As weather warms and water temperatures climb into the low 50’s, smallmouths will be fired up and heavily feeding. By the time water temperatures reach 56 to 58 degrees, spawn time is upon us. Put the jerkbaits and hardbaits away in favor of soft plastics, finesse worms, jigworms, drop shotting, hair jigs, and topwaters.

Bozo buckets time (spawning period) is nowhere near, but will be coming quickly in a few weeks. And I want no part of it.

This month will be a very condensed and compressed spring. Whatever happens next week will dictate the remainder of May month and the pre-spawn period.

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

NORTHERN WISCONSIN BASS FISHING GUIDE - MINOCQUA, WI