rascalP

I made it to ML as well - on Wednesday. Very calm, fog in the morning, then sunny. Maybe a dozen smallies between me and my buddy. Fishing smallies on ML was new for him, so I showed him some spots around Doe island. Biggest was a 20"+ tank fatty I got on the smallest bait of the day - 1/8oz black maribou. They work, but tough to throw. Most of the rest came on weightless dinger. Nothing on swimbaits, and we tried several kinds throughout the day. Nothing deeper than 5 fow. And one 25" walleye on a square bill.

Fry, I've been on Pool 2 for bass. Know a few things. Let me know when it gets close. I'll share what I know.

I love hunting for water. What's the search for? Or, is it a secret? ?

Nice. I agree about post-tourny season. I've only gotten out twice in the last couple weeks and both days, wind was howlin'. Time to catch up on "homework". One day we got them super tight to brush cover, and a few offshore, but the wind made that bite tough. I was on Big Marine on Thursday and that south wind made all my offshore spots tougher than heck to fish. Kept telling myself we gotta deal with these conditions in a tournament, so better learn to deal with them now. Got a few fish on t-rigs. Surprisingly, nothing on a deep crank. Wind died after I was beaten down and got into a bunch of small fish on a ned. Too late to go looking for bigger fish. BTW, Big kid, Nice job on 3rd place. You guys have really been fishing well the past few years and have been giving those advanced teams something to look at. Also, shout out to Brian and Josh for doing a great job as TD's.

Wapogasset would top the list in your area I think. Find some weeds and fish the edges, for starters. There are some good smaller lakes as you move north towards SCF.

BCrum, check out the "other" fishing site that has fishing and minnesota in its name. Go to the Vermillion, Pelican Lake, Chisholm, Cook, Ely, etc.. section, and look at the "Vermillion Q&A". Very extensive thread started by a local guide named Terry. Also goes by "Ace". Hours of good reading on the big V. I would second what Fry said, if you really want to nail down a solid smallie bite. We were there 5 or 6 years ago and honestly, we struggled with a smallie bite. HOWEVER, the largemouth bite was really good. Look for backends and side coves of any bay on the lake. Norwegian looks like it has some potential, though we did not fish it. Black bay would be worth checking out for LM as would Muskego. If you make it over to Niles bay, there's a couple fingers on the north side, before you get into Wolf bay, straight north of Oak island that were really good, and parts of Wolf bay were good. Not that you would ever make it that far, but the far eastern end of Vermillion has a lot of good LM water as well. The added bonus of fishing these spots is it gets you out of the wind if it blows. Enjoy the lake. It's a beautiful piece of water. And let us know how you do.

Well done, guys. Looks like the the former Greenhorn teams are representing themselves very well at the advanced level. Hope to see you on the water one of these nights.

Sluggo. aka - fluke, jerk shad, soft stickbait - fished weightless. That said, it didn't even get a sniff last week in wisconsin, but I know a couple lakes it will work on next week. Always on a rod in May.

Went to Loveless by Centuria. Foggy start. My buddy got one right away on a crank, then I went through about 6 rods before getting a couple on a lipless crank. By 1:00 we had it kind of dialed in to slowly working, sometimes jigging, a lipless crank and twitching a Pink x-rap (a personal fav). By 4:30 we had 15 - 20 fish, including 1/2 dozen very respectable northerns. We decided to fish one last section we hadn't hit yet, and my buddy went on a tear with the lipless crank. For the next 45 minutes, he boated maybe 15 fish, all 15-17" with another going 18". I got a few and got cut off twice, but I just enjoyed watching him go to town. We finally moved on, and got a few more on the jerkbait, but that 50 yard stretch was a mother lode. Even though we didn't get any donkey's, the size range was real nice, almost all 14 - 17". Water temp started at 50 and made it up to 57 by late afternoon. I thought the fish would be shallow, but all were deeper than 6 or 7 fow and except for the last flurry they were 8 - 12 fow. Color didn't seem to matter at first. I was using red/black. Max was using silver/black. For his run, I think he had the right bait AND the groove going. Fun day no doubt.

My Pleasure. I'll miss you guys as well. I was hoping to fish 1 or 2 advanced wednesday derby's, but they were on the same night as the greenhorn. Threw a jerkbait quite a bit this past week. Trout fishing Whitewater area. Been doing that trip for 35 some years. No biggies but a couple buddies had best ever for numbers and got to show one buddy how deep in we go. Great water. Now it's boat time. Wisconsin opener May 4th. Nice to see you got out there, Fry. I need a year with early ice out so I can get out there before our trout trip. Horseshoe is one of the lakes on my list, as well as Reetz and Clear. Maybe next year.

I'll be there in spirit. It's just a little to far from Lindstrom. Tough to miss an opportunity to talk fishing with fellow bassheads. Maybe a meet-up on the water on some north metro lake could be in the future. A mini weeknight BR derby perhaps. Enjoy the evening, all.

I used to fish Wisconsin lakes a lot years ago, but kinda gave up on them cause the size structure seemed to head south. I lived north of Milltown for a few years quite a while ago, so I've spent some time on most lakes from Hudson to Grantsburg. I've heard rumors that some of these lakes are getting a little better. Round, by Luck would be worth a shot, as well as Turtle, Trade, and Long Trade. Clam used to kick out some real big bass every year and Wapo can be fun to fish. Shell will give you the smallie option. I will probably check out Butternut, Cedar and maybe a couple others this year The last few years, with MN opening up to bass for C&R on the walleye opener, I've skipped WI and just waited a week, but this year I'll be back.

It's looking like S.Dakota won't happen for me this year. Just not enough weeks in April. The later the ice out, the more the window gets squeezed. Trout fishing trip is always around the 3rd week of April, and after that, Wisconsin bass opener is just around the corner, so... maybe next year??

Look for fertile lakes (murky, green). These same types of lakes with a low population of bass may up your odds a bit.

Yeah I was figuring on playing the weather a bit. May just have to open up some time and if the wind blows, we go trout fishing. That's too bad about the resort. Don't like hearing that kind of stuff. Either of you have experience with other options, motels around Webster and such? I was actually looking at the camper cabins at the state park. The nice thing about midweek fishing trips is you can kind of fly by the seat of your pants, lodging wise. Don't have to worry so much about reservations. Thanks for your input and insight.