Thursday, 05 September 2019 / Published in Fishing Reports

Northwoods Bass Fishing Report, End of Summer 2019

Summer season has come and gone. For me personally, it was a blur. From early July through mid August I barely got to enjoy it. Now that wedding season is over with, I’ve finally returned to my normally scheduled programming; fishing! Since the end of August, lots of changes have been taking place in the atmosphere, environment, and below the surface.

Recent foul weather and fronts nearly every-other day have cooled water temps to 62-67 degree range. Since the weekend of August 23rd, they’ve fallen from 71-73 degrees. This is setting us up for the beginning of fall season, and pre-turnover. Signs are visible as some lakes have turned cloudy and discolored from decaying weeds and late summer blooms.

For those of you now wondering about the state and progress of fall turnover, I anticipate this temp range settling in and lasting now for much of September until the next major cooldowns. At that point, get ready for the lakes to flip sometime around early October.

For fishing as of late, my lovely wife Amanda and I have enjoyed pursuing multi-species. I FINALLY GOT TO MULTI-SPECIES FISH THIS YEAR!

Crappies and muskies in the evenings, and mostly largemouth bass and pike during the daytime have kept us entertained. Smallmouth not so much…… and when their bite isn’t going, I’m not stubborn to go elsewhere.

The end of summer bass bite has been okay. If seeking numbers and action, now is definitely not the time for it. But if pursuing big fish and catching and releasing a trophy, you’re in for a treat. The recent cooldown has big fish active and chomping with some of the biggest bass in the lakes returning to the shallows to feed.

A good day of bass fishing right now is an output of 15 to 30 fish.

wisconsin bass fishing

Smallmouth are currently poor to fair. Areas that should have fish present on them are devoid, and unconventional locations and tactics have been working best. Largemouth meanwhile are ok to good. Their fishing is the best right now, as they’ve been most active with the cooling temps. What we all need is good stable weather to return to make their feeding and locations predictable!

Smallmouth are relating to deep rock and structure. The best fish have been present along deep weedlines and near-shore coontail beds. Some schooling and prep for wintering being observed from main lake depths of 25-35ft on lakes that don’t stratify. Otherwise most quality fish will be found from 10-20ft and some even shallower if the food is there, especially perch. Be sure to check shallow on nicer days, as there WILL be shallow water feeding and movements right now.

Largemouth are best in deep weedlines and offshore weed humps. Bluegill patterns are still working well, and heavy feeding observed early and late in the day. Much weedcover is now dying off (pads, milfoil, pondweed), but deep green and brown cabbage, and coontail, in depths of 8-15ft is still healthy strong and many fish have been gravitating towards that.

wisconsin bass fishing

Pictured is my wife Amanda and her largest bass ever; 21 incher that smoked a swimbait.

What to throw? It’s all forage specific per lake. On some lakes smbs are still favoring crayfish (tubes, football jigs, and crankbaits). On waters with good minnow and perch & Cisco availability, minnow imitators such as jerkbaits, swimming grubs, and flukes are producing around shallow to mid-depth areas.

Largemouth are still going good on swim jigs with creature and grub trailers, Kalin’s Fishing wacko worms on jig, Vexan Fishing Ninja Frogs, DT 6 crankbaits, casting jigs, and swimbaits. If frog fishing is of interest, now is the final push of bass in the thick shallows. Cooling waters have fish returning to feed on what’s still available. Fun surface fishing experienced late in day and evenings.

September is setting up to be a great month of pre turnover fishing on many area lakes. On certain types of lakes, that means lots of shallow water fishing, casting, and midday & afternoon feeding windows for both species. Later this month my boat will be seeking smallmouth. We’ll be spending the most time on big water, deep lakes, flowages, and river systems. These won’t turn until mid October, or not at all.

Besides bass fishing, other species have been the hot bite. The cooldown has pike and muskies returning to the shallows, making them predictable and rather vulnerable. Last week, Amanda hit her personal best northern pike. Additionally, we boated 8 muskies on the week too on topwaters, bucktails, and rubbers.

I blew two net jobs for my own wife. How terrible of a fishing guide I am. Both were muskies lost at boatside. Babes if you are reading this, I’m very sorry and will make it up for you next time when you hook into a 40″ or better.

Crappies meanwhile have been on fire at the lakes and flowages, with best fishing taking place during midday and evening hours. Calm weather and wind is best for vertical fishing and targeting deep & open water fish. Crappie queen and I release them all. Nearly all fish caught on Kalin’s Fishing Crappie Scrubs presented in many ways; jigging, casting, and worked beneath a float.

What’s Happening Now

We’ve been focusing on big fish. For the remainder of the year, it’s big fish only in my boat.

Since the most recent cool-down, water temperatures remain stable. Once they adjust to it, fish will focus more on baitfish and start their fall movements by congregating around deep weeds and offshore locations. Right now, largemouth bass are the best of the two bites, and their locations are correlating with YOY bluegills. Offshore, and deep weeds. Catching them on surface frogs, topwaters, swim jigs, deep diving cranks, and swimbaits is a blast. If fishing shallows, you will find steady action from inside and outside weedlines, and wood.

As we progress into August and head towards Labor Day weekend and into September, there will be continued movements of smallmouth into the shallows as long as water temps remain in the mid to upper 60’s. This will relate to presence of forage and cooling water temperatures. Rock bars and offshore points are great areas to start. Then we will have the great perch migrations which nobody still looks for, and a lot of fish will be found utilizing deep weedlines and ganging up on the perch.

Earlier I mentioned we are in pre-turnover. This just means we’re at the beginning stages of the fall season. Continue with all normal fishing activity until water temps fall to 59-58 degrees. At that point lakes will start mixing, making fishing more difficult.

True signs of fall turnover is once lake temps hit 55-57 degrees or so. Lakes with a summer thermocline, that also have clear water, may be browning and becoming green in clarity during this phase. Additionally, the surface will be littered with plant matter and other debris. Later this month if the lake you are about to launch at is showing these symptoms, go fish elsewhere.

Another Megafish Alert !!!!!

Once again, I was at the right place and at the right time. Last Friday (August 30th), we barely fished all day because of a horribly sunny and calm post-frontal day. I convinced Amanda that we should only fish during the evening thru sunset hours before heading out to the local fish fry. We went to a favorite largemouth lake with a personal history of big fish.

The bite that outing was almost non-existent until twilight hour.

While parked in the middle of a weed choked bay, from a distance I saw a big fish leap out of water from the corner of my eye. Casting swim jigs, I wondered whether this big fish could be a target. We sped over towards it with the trolling motor.

My next cast with black/blue swim jig and grub trailer, I got smoked instantaneously! Rod doubled over, a huge fish was hooked. The fight was short and sweet, and as it came close to the boat, I almost passed out.

This was a largemouth bass bigger than any I’ve ever seen or caught.

It measured 23 inches. Had the size to be a 7-8 pounder at full stomach and egg-bearing in spring, but at this time only went 5.6 pounds. Despite the weight shortcoming, a 23 incher bass is still a unicorn fish anywhere in the northwoods. My new personal best.

What convinced the fish wasn’t the generic swim jig itself and that I hauled ass over to where fish jumped…….. But the presence of perch and bluegill milling around in the weed choked bay, along with a new moon day and moonrise during the same minutes this fish was observed feeding and then in my possession.

To catch big fish of any species, be advantageous by utilizing these triggering scenarios of prey, lunar calendar, low-light, etc.

90% of all bass anglers would likely kill and mount a fish like this. She was released to continue on with her old age and old productive life.

If they aren’t 20-25 year old fish, you just don’t grow 20+ inch fish from this neck of the woods.

What’s become hilarious about both my personal best smallmouth and largemouth bass is BOTH specimens were caught on a clear sunny coldfront day on August 31st and 30th days, with same Vexan rod and Quantum PT reel, while wearing the same shirt and shorts outfit LOL!

September Fishing Forecast

Despite this first major cooldown, water temps will remain steady and stable in the mid 60’s for a while. During the daytime, fish are still holding on shallow and mid-depth humps and rock structures. Some are also on wood and cribs too. Where deep weedlines remain healthy and young of year perch are schooling, SMB and LMB have followed to these same locations for feeding. Despite the cold spring and summer we just experienced, weedgrowth has exploded on many lakes, making weed fishing productive for both species.

Fall movements are already taking place for smallmouth. Schooling on deep rock in 20-30ft depths. Largemouth are utilizing the deepest and greenest weeds too at the 10 to 15ft level.

I always look forward to this time of season as more bass will be moving into the shallows and feeding on baitfish until turnover period (55-58 deg range). A pattern I like to capitalize on for this time of season is locating migrating schools of yellow perch along the deep and still green weedlines. Usually I find this dynamic in depths from 5 to 15 feet.

As the waters cool, smallmouth are also setting up in areas with deep structure in preparation for late fall and winter. These fish are being located in small schools along shallow and mid depth humps with access into deep water, main lake points and secondary points, flats, and deep offshore points and rock humps.

I’ve been catching fish from these areas on ned rigs, leech pattern jig worms, deep diving crankbaits, football jigs, hula grubs and tubes, and swimbaits.

To those of you who have been early fall bass fishing this week, if you find the right lake where prey and predator are both active together, you will enjoy extraordinary fishing once dialed in. If one lake is poor and lifeless, jump on to the next.

Whether seeking trophies, or looking for a challenging experience in learning new water, early autumn until fall turnover is my favorite time of year for giant bass. We have a fair number of crappy days to look forward to and deal with. But then I actually catch some of my biggest and best bass of the year during warm’ish sunny indian summer days in late September and early October. We didn’t get to enjoy any warm fall days last year, so hopefully we get blessed by a few of them later this month.

Bass Bling

Smallmouth bass fishing hasn’t been good lately, so I won’t bother posting their bling.

My largemouth bass lure choices haven’t changed since late July. I’d say their fishing is steady and good.

Largemouth bass are present in areas with the highest concentration of BOTH deep green weeds or juvenile bluegills. The best locations are offshore weed beds and humps, and deep weeds. Presently I’m catching many fish on all of the above – surface frogs, topwaters, swim jigs with paddletail trailers, Rapala DT 6’s, casting jigs with Bizz Baits craw trailers and Missile Baits D-bomb creatures.

If fishing shallows, you will find steady action from pads, slop, piers, and wood. Biggest fish are coming early and late in the day, and in the middle of weather events. Go jigs and Vexan Ninja Frogs all the way here. On any hot and humid calm day and quiet evening, my favorite method to fishing is working a surface frog thru pads and slop.

Now is the final push of largemouth bass into the shallows and slop. I expect this bite to be only short. Take advantage of it with surface frogs.

If fish are offshore, then I’m looking for deep grass and any visible signs of offshore schools of juvenile bluegills that packs of largemouth will gang up on. Bluegill swimmers like the 5″ Kalin’s Lunker Grub (bluegill) I have rigged up on a Freedom Hydra head is all it takes sometimes, fished with a slow steady swimming retrieve. Last, a creature rigged on a plain weedless jig and worked slow thru the grass and edges, and DT-6 Parrot for covering water are my best producers.

To really load up on the LMB’s right now in the easiest possible way and when nothing else is working, all you need is a couple of Kalins wacko jigs and a bag of 5″ Wacko worms in baby bass.

END OF YEAR FALL DATES AVAILABLE:

Fall fishing dates for middle September through mid October are now getting reserved. Act now before it’s too late. My guide season this year ends the weekend of October 19-20th depending on where we are at then with the weather and water temps – and also how good the fishing is too. Weekend dates for big bass trips are still available. We will be prioritizing big fish, big water, and midday & afternoon fishing times. Dates not listed I am already booked, or not available.

September: 16, 17, 23 (half day PM), 27, 28, 29, 30

October: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 …… and week of 12th thru 20th.

Contact ASAP to reserve trip. Smallmouth fishing ONLY. 100% catch and release.

During September month, the fishing strategy is about 50/50 between casting and jigging. By October month, majority of our fishing is jigging and position fishing over deep structure. Come prepared for the weather, and Seeya in the northwoods this fall!

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Please practice catch and release on all smallmouth bass and trophy fish. Help educate to others, locals, and other guides the value and excitement of these sportfish. We release every bass we catch, and I reserve the right to void trips if intentions are keeping and depleting the resource.

Andrew Ragas
www.northwoodsbass.com
tel: (708) 256-2201
andrew@northwoodsbass.com

NORTHERN WISCONSIN BASS FISHING GUIDE - MINOCQUA, WI