Northwoods Crossovers

A surprise catch is one of fishing’s greatest thrills. Bewildering and unsuspecting to anglers, every body of water is filled with them. These wonderment’s are what attract us to specific destinations.

The bass-rich waters of the inland Northern Wisconsin lakes I guide on are full of such surprises. Launch a paddletail parallel along a weedline, and you’ll never know which fish species you’ll catch. Waters that are primarily managed for walleye and muskie also have outstanding largemouth and smallmouth fisheries, and offer a pot-luck of other species too.

Whether it’s seeking multitudes of fish throughout the day, trophy hunting, guiding, or tournament fishing, we can conclude that it’s a wise strategy to pursue largemouth and smallmouth with a single lure that is applicable to both.

Largemouth and smallmouth are programmed to strike what triggers them. Across the Midwest many fisheries have populations of them both, and exciting mixed bag fishing opportunities take place. On my northern lakes, both species of bass, and multi-species often co-mingle in the same locations. Allow me to introduce to you some ideal crossover lures to catch them effectively.

Suspending Jerkbaits

Rapala X-Rap 08 and 10, Rapala Shadow Rap 11 shallow & deep

Suspending jerkbaits are dynamic multi-species tools that trigger bites. We rely on them in spring for pre-spawn, and later in the season during the cooldowns of early fall.  

X-Raps work in most situations, allow for long casts and maximum water coverage, trigger active and inactive fish, and suspend the best of any bait in its class. Meanwhile, Shadow Raps shine even further in the cold water situations, with more subtle pulls and longer pauses being the trigger mechanisms in 40-degree water temperatures.

Largemouth and smallmouth respond to the pause about 99% of the time. They suspend perfectly, and work best when worked progressively faster as the water warms and when retrieve is catered to the activity level and feeding moods of fish. Jerkbait presentation and manipulation of the bait is everything. The manner in which you approach the fish and adapt to their behaviors, activity levels, and interests truly makes a difference between success and failure.

Paddletail Swimbaits

Strike King Rage Swimmer 3.8

A jig and paddletail is a simple and irresistible fish-finder. Whether targeting bass near-shore and around cover, or off-shore and open water, they work on every lake. My paddletail of choice is a 3.8” Strike King Rage Swimmer, rigged with a ¼ oz. swimbait jig with hook exposed. In weedier and near-shore scenarios, I’ll fish them weedless with a ¼ oz. Freedom Tackle Corp. Hydra head with 3/0 EWG hook.

Whether the lake is home to muskies, pike, walleye and both bass species, you never know what you’ll catch on a paddletail. This lure catches surprises on most guide trips.

From late spring post-spawn, through early fall prior to turnover, paddletails account for several big bass in my boat each season. They produced my largest fish of the 2021 season.

Bomb cast and let the wagging tail and vibration of the swimming head do the work for you. A medium, steady retrieve is best. The key is to keep the bait swimming along and in disguise as a fleeing minnow, assuring that fish never get a good look at it. My paddletail method is presented best with a 7ft. med. heavy action spinning setup such as a St. Croix Avid (AVS70MHF), or 7ft 3” medium action Victory casting (VTC73MHF).

3” Storm WildEye Shiner

The WildEye Shiner is my all-time top producer for spring largemouth, catching numbers as well as some of the largest fish available. It’s also appealing to smallmouth too, when they invade weedlines. On my natural lakes of the north, they catch more trophy bass for me than any other lure option.

With a steady medium-fast retrieve through the shallows, count on big bass finding it and striking mid retrieve. Where big largemouths and active smallmouths roam, you can usually get them to commit on these internally weighted, molded, soft compact plastics.

This fish catcher is simple, affordable, and very well detailed to represent baitfish and other prey fish. I recommend checking out the Storm WidEye series of swimbaits before committing to anything less durable and more expensive. To date, I have caught hundreds of largemouths and smallmouths on the LIVE shiner and yellow perch patterns.

Swimming Grubs

5” Kalin’s Lunker Grub

The swimming grub is what started the smallmouth obsession for me back in the mid- 2000’s. It is a tactic I still heavily rely on for year-round success. Largemouths dwelling in clear lakes fall for it just as frequently.

Work a Kalin’s 5” Lunker Grub with your jig head of choice. Mine is a 1/8 oz. Owner Ultrahead, ¼ oz. Northland Slurp! And 1/8 oz. Freedom Tackle Hydra Ultra Light. Making the longest casts possible, work them with slow/steady swimming retrieves throughout the upper water column where fish feed up at the surface, or suspend.

Bomb-casting and swimming the grub as a search lure is deadly. As you cover water, it is possible to cover the same amount of water that you would if you were fishing a spinnerbait. But instead, you are using a more subtle presentation.

With the swimming grub, matching the hatch is critical for success. Avocado, Pumpkin, and Bluegill are my colors of choice. Make sure the grub is compatible with the water clarity being fished too. The simplicity of the swimming grub is what makes it work so well. The supple tail action of a 5” Lunker Grub is all that’s needed to entice a strike whether you are fishing lakes, rivers, creeks, or any waters inhabited by bass. It catches all other gamefish species too.

White or Chartreuse Spinnerbaits

Freedom Tackle Live Action Spinnerbait

Spinnerbaits work everywhere but fish best when covering water, powering through wind, and searching for big bites. Spinnerbaits are my enablers for searching and locating active fish.

The fish finder I employ most frequently is the Freedom Tackle Live Action Spinnerbait. Available in ½ oz. and ¾ oz. models, it utilizes a hybrid head design along with a free swinging hook release system. The Freedom spinnerbait and its double willow blades allows me to quickly burn through the water column, giving smallmouths the speed and flash they’re often looking for, and big largemouths the thump and profile they’re able to track.

Color matters. Anglers can’t go wrong with white and chartreuse primary colors to accommodate most water clarities. On most lakes, fish prefer one or the other, or both.

Inline Spinners

#5 Mepps Aglia (white) and #5 Black Fury

Inline spinners have successfully lured fish of all species into biting for over 100 years. They are a lure category that is underrated, often forgotten about, and left ignored in the tackle box. Today’s generation of bass is unconditioned to the tantalizing rotation of an inline spinner and its blade.

An inline spinner merely represents a suggestion of something for fish to eat rather than an imitation of it. Through flashy appearance and rapid movement, it triggers fish to feed through retrieve speed, pulsating blade rotation, and lateral movement. It commonly emits a reactionary strike from fish. It may not be the best lure to use in most circumstances, but when fished in the appropriate place along with the proper size, it is a lure that will catch most species of fish.

Whether casting through the river’s current with a #5 Mepps Black Fury, or covering water the weed beds of lakes and flowages with my trustworthy #5 Aglia white, this fish finder continues to yield high catch rates of bass, and a smorgasbord of other predatory species on Northwoods lakes.

The versatility of inline spinners is amazing. Its neglect from anglers is staggering. This is a lure category that appeals to so many different species of fish and has withstood the test of time; an experiment that many other lures have failed in. For decades, the concept of the inline spinner has remained unchanged and it still catches fish with the same frequency as it did decades ago.

Swim Jigs

Freedom Tackle FT Series

Swim jigs are designed to be cast and retrieved high in the water column. When paired with the right trailer, they get the attention of largemouth and smallmouth. The swim jig’s combination of density, compact size, and high hooking percentage caters best to being a swimming presentation. They catch bass from lakes, rivers, and flowages year-round.

Swim jigs score huge numbers of fish because when perfectly rigged, with correct color combination paired with trailer, it can be utilized as a power and finesse presentation. Cone shaped heads will empower you to rip and power the jig through dense cover, with thin brush guard maintaining a weedless package. Trailers are the business end of a swim jig, and play a more important role than the jig itself. They enhance the versatility of swim jigs, as they can be used to bulk a presentation to resemble larger prey, improve its streamlined swimming, or to slow the fall rate. Trailers are what ultimately trigger strikes.

Often, the biggest largemouths will be triggered by a larger bulkier trailer. I am particular of overpowering them in spring and summer with big, bulky 5” paddletails. My assortment of tails consists of Bass Assassin Boss Shad, GrandeBass Kickback Shad, Gambler EZ Swimmer, and my custom-order air-brushed paddletails from Big Beast Baits. Smallmouths on the other hand favor much smaller, subtle, lifelike trailers imitating minnows and crayfish.

New from 2021, Freedom Tackle manufactures a killer swim jig in its FT jig series, available in ¼, 3/8, and ½ oz. sizes.

Tubes

Wildly considered to be the most popular smallmouth bass lure of all time, the tube is universally accepted by all fish species, and versatile to be fished as a representation of the bottom dwelling crawfish and goby or suspending pelagic baitfish. My favorite way to fish the tube is by jig, preferably with an exposed football head, or with a 1/16 oz to 3/8 oz jig insert. In some scenarios such as snags and heavy cover, I elect to fish the tube Texas rigged.

The size of a tube will be determined by the size of the forage available. 3 and 4 inch sizes are used nearly all the time.

The aisles of tackle shops and storefronts of online stores are inundated with tubes in all shapes, sizes, colors and scent types, and are produced by most major soft plastics brands. I’ve learned that tube selection is dictated by color matching the prey as well as blending in with the environment (ie. dark bottoms suggest dark colored tubes, vice-versa). My current favorites are Strike King’s Pro Model and Coffee Tubes, YUM megatube, and Get Bit Baits 3.5’s. Take the time to observe crayfish behavior and baitfish mannerisms, and it will open up your fishing possibilities with the tube.

Wacky Worms

5” Kalin’s Wac-O-Worm – Baby Bass

Whenever a slow presentation is warranted, a Kalin’s Wac-O-worm wacky worm gets the job done. Whether rigged weightless to pick apart the shallows, or on a weedless jig to get down into structure and the edges of deep grass, it is the ultimate fish catcher during the summer months. 

Fish it patiently, and be alert with the line and rod tip aimed high. Allow the “wacko” to slowly plummet downward, where it will then flutter. Throughout the retrieve, twitch lightly and slowly swim. Repeat the process until it gets bit. On numbers lakes, it catches them like none other.

Western Style Finesse Worms

Kalin’s 5” Weenie Worm

Kalin’s was one of the first companies to introduce Western-style finesse fishing to the rest of the world with the creation of its Kalin’s Wac-O-worm.

Featuring a tapered body and a subtle egg sack, along with a unique spade tail that acts like a rudder, it has what it takes to help anglers put more fish in the boat when the bite gets tough. The smallmouth and largemouth of my northern lakes devour the bluegill and magic colorways on the drop shot, and split shot rig. Walleyes in weeds love them too.

Built from soft yet durable plastics, the Weenie Worm doesn’t sacrifice any action and still provides angler’s with a bait that can stand up to multiple aggressive fish strikes. Available in a wide range of custom-blended colors, the Weenie Worm needs to be added to every finesse angler’s arsenal. 

I don’t fish my finesse worms with your traditional dinky set-ups. The all new St. Croix Rods Victory (VTS71MF) can drop shot, and power shot with strength and precision. The bite detection is incredible, as is its extraction power if working parallel or outside of deep weedlines.

Across Wisconsin, many lakes and river systems have excellent populations of largemouth and smallmouth bass. What you catch may be a simple matter of fate, or simply making lure selections that both species share common interests with, and eat with frequency. Additionally, other species will strike these too.

The task of understanding bass behavior allows us to identify presentations and refine them with proper techniques and specific lures like these recommendations. For serious bass anglers looking to downscale & simplify their approach and tackle selection, consider these Northwoods Crossovers on a largemouth/smallmouth bass fishery near you.  

Andrew Ragas splits time between the Chicago area and Wisconsin’s Northwoods. Based in Minocqua, WI, he specializes in trophy bass fishing and offers guided trips from May thru October. While big bass is the passion, he dabbles in multi-species as well. He may be visited online at www.northwoodsbass.com