Wednesday, 18 May 2022 / Published in Fishing Reports

Northwoods Bass Fishing Report – Mid May 2022

May 2022 has been good up to this point! For a while, a week before opener, I had thought we’d still be stuck in winter coming and going every few days. But then an uncomfortable heat wave came, lasting into this week. Following ice-out, walleyes and pike each spawned in the blink of an eye. Bass on the other hand have been a little slower to wake up, but are quietly making their presence known in the shallows.

First, there’s been lots of adversity on the plate for me this month, and it seems to be something new happening each week. I’ve had to re-shuffle my May schedule a handful of times already, but the good news is we’ve been fishing but with many interruptions.

Prior to opener, I rescheduled trips out of fear that Ranger would be in the shop for extended time – rigging work and new unaddressed problems stemming from my lower unit accident a year and a half ago. I wasn’t supposed to get the boat back until May 15-2oth. I’ve got a new shop working with me and they fixed me up quicker than expected. All healthy now, but it’s time for a ProXS.

Then last week, my great aunt passed away. This week (right now) has been canceled.

Then also have some other family matters to tend to thru the weekend.

So, I should be back on the water sometime around May 23.

In between it all, I’ve been fishing and squeezing in a few trips in.

Last week, I was able to work the waters from Wednesday thru Saturday. I originally wasn’t scheduled to fish, but what else am I supposed to do with some downtime? The plan was to go incognito in my other boats and not share anything. But then on the road north Tuesday, I got a phone call my Ranger was ready for pick-up. Nice, one obstacle cleared.

I was able to squeeze in a few trips and make a shortened week happen.

All things considered, fishing was good. Heat wave did nothing but only raise the surface water temperatures and bring in lots of shallow water activity, whereas 5 feet down below it is very cold.

What I’m telling everyone right now is in order to stay abreast of bites and good fish, you’ve gotta work hard. Prioritize late mornings through the afternoon hours. Hit all of the A-list spots and waters. Don’t be shocked if your standby presentations and strategies fail to produce – be adaptive and willing to try new or different things that may seem out of the ordinary.

Take what every lake gives you. If smallmouths or largemouths suck, other species could be good. Walleyes were amazing on Saturday’s trip with Ken and Paul, while smallmouths sucked. We caught 12 large walleyes in comparison to only 10 bass during that trip.

What I favor during the early season is to play the wind. Wind is your friend. No wind, and you’re not going to catch much of anything. In heat waves like we had, wind can be a savior.

Next, everything right now is also water temp driven. Seek the best structures and areas located within the warmest, windblown sides of the lake. These locations are where you will find the most bass, and presence of forage. Water temp wise, we’re finding a huge range from 49-52 at coldest, to 56-60 warmest.

Dark brown waters, rivers and flowages, and largemouth waters are substantially warmer. Speaking of rivers and flowages, they are all very high. Most of the river pools I fish for spring smallmouths are unfishable right now by boat.

Last, technology can help shape the success of every trip. Some days working through the shallows, it’s not the case. But on others, absolutely. I rely on my side imaging, and it can find and reveal fish for me like this.

This was a very large school of walleyes we found in the shallows. They were mingling in the area we were catching a few smallmouths from.

We didn’t spend much time for largemouths last week, but found a brief window in between a series of thunderstorms. Lots of great catches and reports of fish up to 6 lbs. were received. Below is a thicccc tub I captured the other evening.

There was lots of smallmouths for 3 days. Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday were each pretty good. Shallow bays, staging sites, sand flats, wood, and any pocket collecting warm-windblown water was a fish magnet.

Smaller fish are in the shallows, larger fish are still holding a little deeper and staging.

A combination of paddletails, suspending jerkbaits, fluke minnows, and hair jigs collected every fish.

Invest a full day on 1 or 2 good waters, maximizing the various windows throughout the day, and you’ll be in line for a 20+ fish day with quality there.

With this week’s cold fronts and junk weather, expect the pre-spawn period and all spring patterns to persist through Memorial Day weekend. This will help stabilize the temperature of the entire water column, also lowering those abnormally high surface degree readings.

Expect tougher fishing, especially on the doom and gloom days. You will have to identify waters that fish best to the conditions, and also slow down your approach.

Continue exploring and working through all traditional spring and early season lake locations. Every lake has them. Prioritize middays and afternoons. Fish slow and methodically in cold fronts. Rely on your electronics to help find fish and with your break-down of spots. For both species of bass, locate staging sites in proximity to spawning sites. Adult fish will revisit these areas annually, every year. Many times, it’s the same individual fish returning to them annually.

If smallmouths suck, always remember that each lake has another 12 + additional species that you could target instead.

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Bass Bling

Horizontal presentations are kicking ass. 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.

I have not caught a single fish yet on a lipless crank or crankbait of any kind, though this might change for next week with the crap junk weather.

Since opener, we’ve been catching a smallmouths everywhere on the following:

Kalin’s Jerk Minnows (and juniors) or custom pours
Z-Man StreakZ
X-Raps (sizes 08 and 10)
Dynamic Lures J-specs
Kalin’s 4.8″ tickle tails and 5″ lunker grubs
Z-Man Fishing Diezel MinnowZ and Minnowz
Strike King Rage Swimmer 3.8
Hair jigs

^ Match the hatch – in this case, I knew fish would be all over the smelt, as some are still around the shallows.

^ The Z-Man Diezel Minnow 4″ is becoming a new favorite. I keep this tied on at all times!

^ The St. Croix Mojo Bass (MJC68MHF) is an incredible jerkbait stick. If you seek more power than the jerkbait rods being marketed, this is the one to get.

On some days, the suspending jerkbait isn’t happening. In this case, have a few plan-B and plan-C options readily available. On these days, the fluke minnow and a downsizer paddletail are getting the job done.

I expect for all of these patterns and strategies to continue thru the end of the month. Prespawn will be here for a while.

What’s Happening Now

Right now, you can fish any lake and catch smallmouths. Some fisheries are deeper into the pre-spawn phase than others – such as rivers, flowages, and smaller shallow lakes.

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 still very high, and not recommended 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 swimmers and 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.

During spawn, I do my best to avoid this period by fishing colder, deeper lakes that typically don’t see spawning until June. So, when the little lakes are nesting, go fish the biggest waters that are colder and still in a pre-spawn phase. By the time water temps are in the low 60’s and the big waters are in midst of spawn, revert back to fishing the smaller lakes where post-spawn feeding and movements have begun. I will even turn to largemouth bass fishing as they tend to spawn much earlier on some waters. In regards to fishing for spawners, I have no fun and personal glory in sight fishing bedding bass. I won’t tell folks how they should fish at this time. Just please minimize overhandling, overplaying, and return fish to their nests immediately. I want no part of this and won’t host smallmouth trips until they’re finished.

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.

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.

Spring will be here with us for another few weeks, and that is great news.

Upcoming Open Dates

Right now next soonest availability is May 29 thru June 5th. Everyone who’s gotten rescheduled to this point has my first priority.

Each of the May days will be Smallmouths only, unless weather tells us otherwise. First week June expect a 50/50 between SMB and LMB. Zero bed fishing in this boat.

Call asap.

• Memorial Day Weekend (May 29 and 30)

• May 31

• June 1-2-3-4-5

• June 7-8

• June 12

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