Wednesday, 29 May 2019 / Published in Fishing Reports

Northwoods Bass Fishing Report – May 2019

May was very cold weather and water. Winter never wanted to give up. As of May 29th, many lakes still have mid 50 degree water temperatures, and both bass species are still in pre-spawn. I know we set records in 2019, for the longest and most prolonged pre-spawn bass fishing season in history.

The theme of this spring season is cold water. This seems to be the fear of most early and late season bass anglers. Treat it as an inconvenience, but this time of season big smallmouth are the most catchable and vulnerable than any other time of the year.

Despite the cold weather and water, bass still have to eat in order for survival and to build up their energy reserves for the rigors of spawn – a 2 to 3 week ordeal.

We also had to fish, and I had to be on my A-game every day too. Even though water temps were cold and some folks surprisingly canceled or rescheduled because of it, we caught many nice fish in cold water all month long.

With this being the case, you just have to fish slower and more methodically. Also fish less lakes, and not as quickly. Don’t bank beat either, as 90% of the fish have been utilizing only 10% of the best shallow structure (staging locations) in the lake.

The typical spring bonanzas and numbers days of 50-100 fish daily never happened. But if you put in a full day on the water, a 30 to 40 fish day was considered very good with what we had to work with. In poor weather, cold water, and before any fish began their spring movements, customers and I excelled!

For about two weeks straight I didn’t have a single off day. Guide trips or TV shoots every day.

Thanks to cold water, our fishing itinerary during this time was brown water, drainage lakes, and small to mid size lakes. Almost each day was windy, so big open water weren’t ideal options. By the third week of the month we were finally out on big water.

We didn’t receive any significant rainfall, but river levels are still very high and unsafe for float trips. At this rate I likely won’t get to use my river rig until end of June. Additionally, high water made flowage fishing difficult, and poor(er) options. However, the bass are enjoying that new cover and habitat in flooded shorelines, and are now actually spawning in these waters.

So cold water and cold weather screwed up a lot of fish movements. Every lake is delayed by about 7-10 days. If you thought spring peak was happening second or third week of May, it’s now happening first week of June. Both bass species are now about to begin spawn.

Smallmouth are only now prepping for spawn, with males infiltrating the shallows. Largemouth have nowhere to hide, or cover to hang out in, because there isn’t much good weed growth anywhere. But small fish are all over the shallows right now. Crappies have been staging in deeper water for an eternity, and walleyes vacated the shallows immediately after they spawned in early May. Lack of warm water and good habitat has made fishing for all species a little challenging.

Even though numbers days were nonexistent, the boat’s average fish size for smallmouth remained high. We didn’t hit any monster fish like the previous year, but too many 18 to 20 inchers to count was this month’s norm. Each day produced anywhere from 5 to 10 fish of these sizes, including some personal bests for a few guests.

It was the longest pre-spawn season I’ve ever experienced. Suspending jerkbaits got a little boring at the end LOL

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^ Deckhand and partner on off days was anxious for our day-1 of the 2019 season. On May 10th. Weather delays and auto trouble delayed my opener by a few days.

^ Largest SMB of spring 2019. Just shy of 21 inches. I declined a trip and elected to fish high producing water rather than travel 2hrs roundtrip to fish a lake with 200 bass for 4 hrs. Lesson here is please trust the guide or meet somewhere half way!

^ May 20th I hosted Jason Mitchell. We attempted to film a crankbait show before a family emergency cut it short. He will be back. What a great time we had.

^ Jeff Butler believes to have scored his new PB. Just under 21″ and somewhere in the range of 5.5 lbs. The Accu-cull malfunctioned DOH!

^ Dave CZ smashed his PB SMB with me, hooking into this 20.5″. Just look at that replica-worthy artwork!

^ The office is running great, clean, and in tip top shape. I take meticulous care of my vessel and am in crazy love with it.

Video Report

This week’s report! Cold weather and water has delayed the bass spawn. One of these days we’ll do a live video seminar.

Bass Bling

Suspending Jerkbaits and Minnow Bites

Minnow imitating plastics and an array of suspending jerkbaits lead the way. Experiment with all shapes and sizes, colors, and lip profiles until you find a best match to your lake and its SMB residents. The complimentary minnows and plastics have received a few bites when hard baits aren’t getting lookers. Include them for the next 2 weeks to come. Toss them weightless, on a jig, or on a carolina rig.

Dynamic Lures / Kalin’s Fishing

Kalin’s Plastics and Lunker Grubs

These last two weeks, Kalin’s Lunker Grubs outproduced everything in my boat. It was more effective fishing than working a suspending jerkbait because this allowed us to cover water searching for fish in all depths, yet let us catch them methodically. When fishing cold water (middle to upper 40’s to upper 50’s) slow rolling a heavy swimming grub will produce when not much else will. I fish my 5” Kalin’s Fishing Lunker Grubs rigged with a 1/4 oz. Northland Tackle Slurp Jig. If fishing shallower depths or the upper water column, I will then downsize to 1/8 oz.

Calm sides of the lake with beach shorelines and sand bars are holding fish. So too are windblown bars, shoals, and shorelines. On most spots and staging areas we’re finding wolfpacks of hungry smallmouth smashing suspending jerkbaits and Kalin’s Fishing 5” lunker grubs and minnow heads. Slow retrieves and letting baits graze the bottom resulted in light bites and strong fights. Strikes were very light and subtle.

Bomb cast along the breaks, and run your swimmer thru the lower water column. Turning your reel 1x every second will maintain it at these depths where fish are gingerly migrating up from the deep along these contours.

Buy some – https://www.acmetackle.com/products/lunker-grub

Jigs for Largemouth

Locked and loaded for largemouths. LMB’s are my preferred targets and favorite when conditions go tough in spring and early summer such as right now with sunny dead calm conditions, rainy weather, and days when big smallmouth just aren’t moving, or are more interested in spawning than feeding.

Even though I get new rods and reels yearly, I’m still going strong with some of my previous generation Quantum Fishing PT series. But here we’ve got lots of new and old 😎 Some of my setups are pushing 15 years of age.

Weapons armed and ready. Super K Fishing jigs of all kinds, Freedom Tackle Corp.. Chatterbaits and black buzzbait feat. Trokar. Bizz Baits craw jig trailers.

All setups spooled up with Cortland Line masterbraid and NEW silent flip for jungle and wood extraction, and Quantum Fishing PT’s new and old.

Big largemouth bass are the most overlooked and undesired resources in the Minocqua region. Let’s C&R some monsters in 2019.

Good Bass Bites

May 12th – First smallmouth day of 2019. I dumped the largemouth (good riddance) to begin the main pursuit of smallmouth these next two weeks.

Cold water everywhere, but don’t fret. Consecutive sunny days in the high 60’s and around 70 will jumpstart the spring shallow water migrations and warm some waters quickly. What’s now averaging 45-49 degrees will be in the low to mid 50’s by end of the week.

On my scout mission I combed through 4 different lakes to see what the fish were up to – from 12pm to 8pm. Water temps 46-49 almost everywhere, but did find a few pockets of low 50’s on two of the shallower and darker waters I tried.

A good dozen fish caught, and top fish were a few 18’s and largest a 19.5”. Xrap 08 and Shadow Rap with pauses up to 10 seconds per rip, and Kalin’s 5” lunker grubs on heavy heads slow rolled/swam thru deeper water caught them all.

Average depths fished 6-12ft. Sand, wood, and first breaks with steep ledges. Deeper water just outside of spawning and staging areas. The few fish that are up shallow right now will be biters. Maintain slow retrieves and very long pauses until warming water gets them more active and brings more into the shallows.

May 13th – Awesome fishing (only when the sun was out), and here’s my bass selfies from the day.

I hopped on a few different clear water lakes from 11am-5pm, plus a flowage in evening to see how the shallow water movements were going. I purposely didn’t bother during the morning because I knew it would take a while for water temps to warm slightly.

Water temps 49-52. Shallow mud bays even warmer. Flowage warmest at 56.

28 fish caught, highlighted by 21″ and a pair of 19’s.

When the sun came out, the fish were active and striking. Cloud cover rolled in every 90 minutes and promptly shut them down. Best feeding windows 1-2pm, and again from 3-4pm.

99% of the lakes were dead, unproductive water. I had to seek and search it all. Many of the best areas on my lakes were devoid of fish. All fish were holding tight to the deep breaks and tips of rock/sand bars and shoreline points exposed to sunlight. Some locations held as many as 10 fish, while others held pods of big fish. Typical staging and hangout areas.

Top producers – Xrap 08, Dynamic Lures Jspec. Long pauses again. Fish need to be teased a little bit in order to bite.

We are nowhere near the normal action and high numbers yet, but if you work hard the results will happen.

May 14th – I hosted John Brophy for a full day bass combo. The second annual spring trip with John. We fished LMB’s in the am, followed by SMB’s in the afternoon.

Largemouth fishing in the morning 8-10am was on fire. In their spots we found some pre-spawn fish setting up and getting ready. Water temps in their shallow muddy backwater areas were up to 55-57. Super K Fishing K-plunk jigs with Missile d-bomb trailers scored big. Additionally, a Freedom Tackle Corp. black/blue chatterbait with paddletail trailer hit fish too.

Best LMB’s of the am was a 20.5, and a few 18’s. Awesome fish from the 1st half of the day.

After 1130 we switched over to smallmouth. Was this a mistake to leave a working strategy? yes/no. I do wish we would have continued our winning ways for LMB for the rest of the day….. For remainder of the day we worked 3 SMB lakes. We hit fish immediately on x-raps and Kalin’s Fishing Jerk Minnows that included a nice 18.5″, but after 130pm the bite and most fish activity shut down. Our two final stops for the day were lifeless. Water temps on these waters still cold at 49-52 degs. At 5pm we called it quits.

May 15th – Was a trip cancellation day / impromptu day off. The big girls have begun staging off the first breaks…… but who knows if the incoming cold and lousy weather again sends them back deeper. Slow bites on the waters I chose to fish, and lack of wind and cloud cover made them spooky, but that’s early season trophy hunting. If I had some wind and cloud cover to work with, then many more fish could have been biters. Only fished SMB for a few hours in late afternoon, but 4 quality fish caught. Top weight was a #5.13 recorded on the Accu-Cull. After 5pm things shut off completely.

In skinny calm water like this, I extensively fish an X-Rap 08 and roll with natural colors. More jerks, faster retrieve, and shorter pauses without letting the fish get a good look at it can catch them in these more difficult conditions.

Surface temps 52-54….. a couple feet below, much cooler.

Forecast looks okay and manageable today and again tomorrow. Guests and I will be focusing on numbers and good avg. sizes Thurs and trophy hunts Fri. I’ll be hosting my two favorites, Barry Humiston and Jeff Butler.

May 16th – I’m hosting Barry and Jeff. Day-1 with Barry was a cold water and wind smb beat-down even though we are nowhere near spring peak or best bites.

40+ fish day was had, and when Jeff joined us mid afternoon he added to the boat’s total. We focused on action with good avg. sizes, maintaining a 17-20” size range the entire day. Top fish were a pair near 20”, and a handful of 18-19’s.

Epic day for Barry!

Barry worked the same Xrap 10 all day long. Meanwhile I caught fish tinkering around with an assortment of jerkbaits, Kalin’s Fishing 5” swimming grubs on heavy minnow heads, paddletails, and lipless crankbaits. We definitely needed our Trokar treble hooks to keep light biting fish pinned well.

Best fishing took place during the morning, and then a brief feeding frenzy experienced midday from 1-2pm. By 4pm the bite crashed once winds switched from west to north, and cold dry air blew in. All fish contacted throughout the day grouped up in packs of 5 or more.

Where we fished, many smbs holding in 2-6ft depths. Inactive fish holding and retreating along the deeper first breaks. Near shore sand pockets, rock shoals, and sand bars that absorb and conduct heat are money spots right now. Pods and packs of fish have been moving on and off them. You’ve often heard me referencing “microwaves” this time of season – these small isolated spots are mostly uncharted locations, and will only be found if you’ve mapped or found them on your own. The best are ones receiving wind.

Water temps on cold side of lakes 51-53. On windblown warm side 55-58. Always pay attention to winds and direction and try working windblown areas.

Day 2 with my guys today will be a monster quest. Wish us well. We won’t leave the lakes until both catch their biggest ever smallmouth bass. Jeff and Barry will be working hard.

^ The above concoction is one of the best tackle modifications we’ve come up with for one of our favorite suspending jerkbaits – the Dynamic Lures JSpec. Over the winter Barry worked with a hook tier, and was supplied with size 4 and 5 Trokar TK300 treble hooks. Adding a teaser tail will produce more bites, and make this productive suspendo even more effective.

May 17th -Day-2 hosting Barry and Jeff was a blast. We didn’t hit the quota or fish sizes that I had hoped, but we worked very hard on multiple trophy fish waters to catch a number of 17-20 inch class fish once again.

Top fish of the day was Jeff’s 20.5, that weighed in the neighborhood of 5 lbs. His new PB weight-wise. Barry meanwhile hit a number of up and comer 19 inchers, which in a few years will no doubt be 20’s 😂 20-25 fish caught between two lakes known for trophy reputations. Mostly male smb.

Cold areas of lakes around 52-53. Warm windblown sides as warm as 58. Some of the deepest, coldest lakes in the region are still in the mid 40’s.

I personally thought our results for day 2 trophy hunt would have been better due to steady wind and slight cloud cover, but by midday that had expired and we were dealt with little to no wind once again……. and lots of lookers and few biters.

Near shore points, sand beaches, rock shoals, shallow isolated humps, and warm water sources holding active fish.

An assortment of suspending jerkbaits such as Xrap 10’s, and Dynamic Lures Jspecs, and Shadow Raps scored majority of the fish. All boats equipped with Trokar TK300 treble hooks. Long rips and pauses led to light bites and instantaneous hook sets. By end of day I was getting a few fish to chase crankbaits, and even lost a giant whom I couldn’t set hooks into.

Thank you Barry and Jeff for jumping aboard, catching numbers, outstanding avg sizes, and the company and humor. Let’s do it again some other time.

Lousy weather expected all weekend long, but if we’ve got a few hour window midday, Jeff and I will be embarking on a poor weather half day excursion to someplace. The fish don’t care.

May 21 – Impromptu day off! When the weather is stable, warming, and spring like with sunshine, the fishing has been great. When junk like this past weekend when water temps dropped 8 degrees, and Monday’s post-frontal TV shoot, it’s a struggle and terrible.

Most SMB’s I’ve found so far this week have been hanging out on near-shore rock shoals, sand flats, and sand pockets. They’re staging, and just waiting for the waters to warm (hopefully by weekend) to begin nesting season. Assorted Xraps 08 and 10’s catching them all. Pretty simple fishing. Location is far more important right now, as bites very scattered, but when you find the pods and staging areas then they’re more concentrated.

Water temps still in the range of 51 to 55.

Couple 20’s. Few 19’s. Many 18’s didn’t care to photo. All fish were caught from the calm, wind protected areas of the lake. Great impromptu day off!

May 22nd – Another poor weather day with cold water temps, but Dave CZ and I made something out of nothing.

Full day trip began with 1/2 day for largemouth bass. We boated a dozen from shallow mud bays and wood, and backwater areas on chatterbaits and swim jigs…… but lacking big bites we then made the switch to smallmouth for the remainder of trip.

We fished on 4 lakes. Water temps on LMB water 54-56, on SMB water 51-52, but we didn’t let cold water plus strong 15-20mph winds and overcast skies let us down.

Afternoon action slow, but steady with approx 15 fish boated, including several quality specimens. Suspending like jerks and rip jigging plastics and paddletails.

Dave experienced Xrap and suspending jerkbait bites for the first time. He lost two big ones early in the afternoon, but then redeemed himself late in the day with a 20.5” brute and PB (5lb classer). Awesome fish Dave! During the same flurry also, I was able to catch a slender 21”, 19”, and 18”.

Bank beating still worthless, and 95% of most shallow water locations are devoid of fish. Find near shore points, sand bars, shoals, and extensions. Also, shallow wood and bays / pockets exposed to sunlight are holding fish that are warming up next to this cover.

Friends on the water – courtesy please. If you see my boat parked on a spot with customers, give us space and do not plow directly into the spot with intentions of greeting us. Keep away from my boat. This spooks away the fish we are working hard for.

May 23rd – Hosted Bob and Ron for a full day adventure in clouds, rain, and wind. We got to play on big water for the first time all year too! And fish are just now beginning to wake up from their cold waters.

Lake 1 was 51 degrees. Lake 2 was 48 degrees. Lake 3 was 53 degrees. 830am to 630pm.

Pretty simple fishing right now. All you need to throw is an assortment of suspending jerkbaits and swimming plastics.

Approx 30 fish boated for the day. Bob hit best fish of the day, and fished an Xrap 10 the entire day. 20”, 19.5”, 18.5”. Poor Ron who was under the weather caught a handful. Meanwhile I caught most of mine from the rear of the boat casting swimming grubs and tinkering on other things; majority of them 16-19”.

To catch fish in adverse conditions, come prepared as we will fish smart, and fish our asses off.

Tomorrow will be the first nice day of the month. One last outing for me this spring and then I’ve got to return south……. I’ll be back after second week of June when bass finish spawning.

Bass will be nesting beginning this next week. No bed trips for this boat.

Take care of these fish and minimize handling. Care for the egg bearing females, and always keep fish swimming inside the net and in the water after landing. 💯 💯 👊

May 24th – Hosted Mike Bowar for a full day trip. Due to another lousy weather day our preferences were to fish on local action waters. Our hard work paid off and we completed a 25+ fish day with most bites coming after 1 pm.

Our best bites of the day took place at 48-49 degree waters. 3 lakes fished, but the best took place at coldest water. These readings are hilarious because Memorial Day is Monday and June is next week. When we found fish it was awesome lip smackin and plastics whackin bites with slow rolling 1/4 oz jig and Kalin’s Fishing lunker grubs, and miscellaneous paddletails. Slow retrieves and letting baits graze the bottom resulted in light bites and strong fights. Strikes were very light and subtle.

All fish were hit from near shore staging areas. 10 ft depths with sand and gravel best. Sand bars located offshore. Best feeding window of the day happened from 1-3pm. Fun rod benders and steady action of 14-17”s in cold water and weather.

May 25th – During the holiday weekend I declined a guide trip because the request was commute 2hrs round-trip to fish specific water with barely any bass for 4 hrs…. Rather they didn’t want to come down and listen to bass guide who goes where best bites happen. Thanks but no thanks. I prioritize fish catching.

The other day it felt nice to be on my front deck for the first time in almost 2 weeks. A day off!!!!!!

It was windier than hell, but the fish didn’t seem to mind. Due to cold water temps 48-52, they were tight lipped and lethargic.

The best fishing I had experienced all spring came during a 1-3pm magic hour; right before my outing had to conclude. With winds howling from the west at 15-20mph, and my day winding down, I had nothing left to lose but to fight the wind, get to spots I couldn’t fish comfortably, would get blown off from, and get battered by it. Efforts paid off and magic hour happened.

I was the only idiot fishing out on the lake.

5″ Big Bite Baits Suicide Shad slow rolled on 1/2 oz. Trokar boxing glove jig is all these fish wanted. This paddletail is new to me this season. Head segment is high durability, and tail requires the slightest and minimal retrieve speed for enticing tail action. For about 2 hours, my presence was greeted by mega-pods of 3 to 5 lb. smallies – all utilizing an expansive piece of shallow sand and rock topography. 10 drifts in, and 2 to 3 fish captured per drift, my numbers quickly added up in a 2 hour magic window. It was otherworldly!

Prior to magic hour, I hadn’t caught much prior. Just a half dozen 3 pounders over the course of a 5 hour period from their coldwater staging locations.

In addition to epic fishing, I also boated my personal best walleye, a 29 inch megafish who was swimming along with the heavy feeding smallmouth. I let her go. Despite the lack of post-spawn gut, might get a replica of her later in the season. Fish like these from our inland waters are just rare, and seldom happens. They don’t grow big like they once used to.

On game days, trust the guide. Or meet somewhere half way. Each day’s goal is not only to learn and pass on my knowledge and skills, but to experience the best fishing possible in every which direction I will take us.

Epic. Unreal fishing that afternoon. Anxious to begin summer post-spawn bites next.

What’s Happening Now

Water temps right now in the low 50’s on big water, mid 50’s on mid size lakes, and up to 60 on small waters and flowages. This time last year, temps were already in the upper 60’s (66-70) on the normal waters, to low 60’s on the big water. A warmup for this week and next week will finally bring normalcy to the fishing.

I don’t fish for spawning smallmouths. My philosophy is to take care of the resource so that in return it takes care of me. There are some rare scenarios where you might have to bed fish if there is no other alternative method to catching fish in the particular lake you’re on. If you have the urge to bed fish, please avoid live bait hooks (gut hookings) and minimize handling and playing fish to exhaustion. Don’t even use a net altogether, especially if big mama smallmouth is about to burst out with eggs. By taking care of the vulnerable resource, the fish will take care of you.

Also an important reminder, PLEASE remember northern Wisconsin inland northern zone smallmouth bass are 💯 % immediate catch and release only until June 15th. Zero possession and any captivity in livewell or otherwise can result in overbagging citations from the local wardens. In some instances, it can even be considered as poaching. I ALSO HOPE YOU CATCH AND RELEASE YEAR-ROUND!

I’m off the water now until June 13th or 14th. I have some open dates remaining for June and just before the holiday 4th of July week.

Month of June is nearly entirely booked, but still have two full days, and two half days to spare. Second half of July is now getting filled, and so too are mid September through mid October. I still have the following dates available for full or half day trips during my next block. I am willing to double book myself on dates with half day trips, assuming weather is awesome, and will notify when those times are open.

Saturday June 15th (full day)
Friday June 28th (full day)
Tuesday June 18th (half day PM / evening)
Sunday June 30th (half day PM / evening)
Tuesday July 2nd (full day)
Wednesday July 3rd (full day)

To help with everyone’s scheduling and summer vacations I’ve updated my availability calendar to help with selecting. Give me a call or send an email if interested in a trip. Next block of trips are being scheduled from July 19th thru August 3rd.

Thanks all for reading. I wish I had more time to go into detail more with strategy and specifics, but you can book your trip to learn my bag of tricks plus more!

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

NORTHWOODS BASS FISHING REPORT - MAY 2019

The theme of this spring season is cold water. This is the fear of most early and late season bass anglers. Treat it as an inconvenience, but right now big smallmouth are the most catchable and vulnerable than any other time of the year.

Northwoods Bass Fishing Report – May 2019

Video Report