Super User MarkH024 Posted January 17, 2014 Super User Posted January 17, 2014 I've mentioned it to people when I've personally seen people harvesting illegaly. One lake died out a few years ago locally and one guy and his wife tried to repopulate it by harvesting fish from other lakes and moving them in their livewell. Guy got a pretty good fine for his efforts. People fishing for walleye fillets are the worst, every darn fish they find no matter the size. The lake I've had the most success with big bass on had been stocked with trout about a decade ago. I think its a big contributing factor to the size and quality of fish there, even without stocking for awhile, it probably gave the bass a nice base to grow from. Plentiful forage can be tough when freezing out is a yearly battle. How about the spearing the natives do? Quote
5dollarsplash Posted January 17, 2014 Posted January 17, 2014 How about the spearing the natives do? Biting my tongue on this, but I'm thinking you can guess which way I feel strongly about it. 1 Quote
Super User MarkH024 Posted January 18, 2014 Super User Posted January 18, 2014 Biting my tongue on this, but I'm thinking you can guess which way I feel strongly about it.I'm right there with you. Quote
Basseditor Posted January 18, 2014 Posted January 18, 2014 I have a copy of an old black and white photo from when I was young. Several nice bass in the 4-5 lb range we caught in a northern WI lake. I can't find the photo of some 5+ we caught. We were muskie guys so they were "trash" fish. LOL. We caught a lot of them using Suicks while muskie fishing. My dad got a 48" muskie in the same area. The photos are from the 60s. I moved out of WI for college in '71 and haven't lived there since, but my dad and brothers claim to have caught a couple pushing 7-8 lbs from that lake. I don't have proof of those. I wonder if that lake will ever be that good again. Maybe when I retire I'll make the 1500 mile trip to check it out. But I live where it takes one in the 9+ range to win big bass honors at many of our club tournaments. Besides, WI is too cold for me. Quote
Super User WIGuide Posted January 22, 2014 Super User Posted January 22, 2014 I was wondering what a you would consider a big bass for northern Wisconsin. My personal best for a largemouth is 2.31 for a smallmouth 4.8. I'd classify Northern WI as anything north of Eau Claire so anything north of there and minus either of the Great Lakes this breakdown would be pretty accurate. Largemouth 17" = 2.5-3 lbs nice fish 18" = 3-4 lbs very nice 19" = 4-5.25lbs big bass for this area 20" = 5.25-5.5lbs very big bass for here 21+ = 5.5-6.75? trophy class fish I haven't heard of many stories of a legit 7 up here although I'm not doubting there could be a few out there. fish in this class would be in the trophy class for up here Smallies 17" = 2.25-3lbs nice 18" = 3-3.5lbs very nice 19" = 3.75-4.25lbs big smallie 20" = 4.5-5.25lbs very big 21"+ = 5-5.75lbs trophy class for here. I'm sure that there's a 6 swimming around here somewhere but pretty much unheard of unless you're on the great lakes. Those are a whole different beast though. Last year there was an 8 something caught in the big tourney out of Sturgeon Bay, but like I said in the inland WI waters that's pretty much unheard of. You have to remember that those weights are averages for around here and will be different from fish to fish and dependent on the season as well. However, they should be pretty acurate Quote
Topwater98 Posted January 22, 2014 Author Posted January 22, 2014 The 4.8 lb smallmouth I caught was in the Lake Superior. Quote
TJ127 Posted August 20, 2017 Posted August 20, 2017 I mostly fish in the Florence Co area. My PB is an 18in LMB and for some of you that may seem average or small but trust me, up there that is a pretty big bass. I think that every county/lake can hold different size LMBs so in some areas you may have a better chance to catch bigger fish. All in all, northern Wisconsin is certainly not known for having HUGE LMBs so if you want to target 5lb+ LMBs, you will most likely will have to travel south. Quote
r83srock Posted September 5, 2017 Posted September 5, 2017 I'm pretty happy with a largemouth or smallmouth between 3-4lbs. My personal best smallie is just under 5lbs and biggest largemouth is around 6. It can take 15 years for a bass to his 5 lbs here. I've seen largemouth weighed in as big as 7 lbs. Quote
sully420 Posted September 23, 2017 Posted September 23, 2017 A big fish up here is a 6 pound fish 21 in and over I'm talking about Largemouth. People think a six pound fish is a trophy fish up here but honestly if you use the right techniques they're not that hard to find. this is not the South these fish are not pressure the same. Find the best cover you can 5 foot of water Plus and fish that jig like crazy around it do not finesse fish if you want an actual big in especially in the fall big Jiggs produce the best fish and numbers up here Most people think I'm crazy especially the people from this area on the site but I've been out five times in the last 2 weeks and I've caught at least a five pound or every day Quote
Jmhalvo Posted September 24, 2017 Posted September 24, 2017 Yes but don't you need to know which lakes contain 5 pounders? Quote
Super User Further North Posted September 29, 2017 Super User Posted September 29, 2017 On 1/3/2014 at 9:35 AM, jiggz125 said: This is a good scale. I just started bass fishing last summer and caught plently of 1-3lbs some 3-4lbs and my PB on a smaller lake in Baron County weighing over 5lbs, we didnt have a scale/tape at the time. There are big LMB in northern WI just have to find them, and as most of said most anglers target Muskie, Northern, and Walleye which gives bass fisherman more oppurtunity to land a big one. You're not far from me...I have three smallies over 6 lbs. in the area, best largemouth is about 4 1/2. Quote
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