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.

Yeah, I looked at those too. My main focus will be on SoDak. I've been wanting to get out there for 5 or 6 years, since I first saw Al & company out there. The problem has been the window falls right around our annual trout trip and getting a few buddies to do both has been tough. I might have a couple committed this year though. I've done a fair amount of research on lakes and would probably base out of Roy. I would want to fish Clear for sure and maybe Enemy Swim, and a couple other unnamed lakes in as well. Looking at going the middle to the end of April. I know you have been out there, and if you plan on going this year, maybe we can go at the same time and share info. Shout out to Sully420 and Jmhalvo as well. I think they both have interest in S. Dakota as well. This could be a good year ice-out wise, for making it happen.

Not exactly, though I do have an open invite from a guy I worked with who just moved down there. I was just doing some poking around and saw an impoundment called Mozingo Lake just across the Iowa border. Looks like it has some potential, around 1000 acres, small enough to breakdown in a few days, with weeds and timber.

Nice! Will this be part of another show? Self guided? Thinking about a pre Minnesota opener trip myself, but half as far. Missouri in March maybe? And I plan on making South Dakota happen this year for sure.

Any Thursday would work for me. Wednesday I usually fish, but then again, I would only be missing some ice fishing. North metro tavern, as long as I'm throwing in my 2 cents...

Fry, When is that get together? Like to try to make it, though weekends are tough. BTW, those were some real pretty fish in the pic. Outstanding colors.

Nice! I thought I recognized the face from somewhere. Very nice class of fish. I always like going to google earth and try to figure out where Steve is fishing. Looks like not too far from where we were last fall. I would've thought it to tight of water for a big boat, but apparently not. How much of the river were you able to cover, if you don't mind me asking? BTW, I was rooting for you. That one would have counted in my boat.

Wow. I'm impressed with how everybody is doing. Wish I could join the party. I haven't done as well, with the exception of today. Got on the river and did real good numbers wise, but nothing over 18". Lakes have been tough for me, but seeing how you all are doing, I plan on at least a couple more trips to the lakes. Far now, I'll hit the river a few more times and keep burning vacation time.

This!! For Sure!!

Got out on Tuesday on a local lake. Tough, TOUGH bite. Would have been a little better if I had converted on 4 or 5 dumped fish. As it was, I boated 1 14incher and 1/2 dozen under 12. My buddy got a couple 14"+. We fished 1ft-10ft. Weeds, reeds, docks, pads and flooded brush. Docks and the brush gave up the fish, with my buddy getting a decent one from a real shallow clear spot inside a reed patch. We threw ALL the usual "kitchen sink" utensils at them. T-rig pitched to the brush and lightly weighted wacky dinger got the fish. Water temp was 57. Based on how it's been for everybody else the past week -- it's got to get better from here.

Not by a long shot! Was up around Grand Rapids Mon.-Wed. Monday on Pokegama. Launched on Jay Gould and fished pads and got a few on froggy and a weightless dinger, then motored into Pokegama to try some points and reed edges hoping to get some smallie action. No go, so we went back to Jay Gould, picked up another buddy, and got back to pads. A buddy got a few nice fish on a jig/plastic, and I missed several real big fish on the frog - never really got any hooks into them. The rain started in the afternoon and that seemed to really shut things down. Tuesday we went to Turtle by Marcell. Got some nice smallies off reed edges scattered around the lake. The south end of the lake gave up some LM but most weren't very big. The fish all came on Ned and a weightless dinger. The biggest smallie came on a pink x-rap. Wednesday we hit a tiny little lake east of GR that's had a real reliable bite without having to figure anything out. Perfect for a windy post front day. We got a dozen or so fatty's up about 4 lbs on t-rigged plastic in 8-10 fow, around a big milfoil hump. Water temp was 61 -58 on all the lakes. A tad warmer on the big water on Mon., Tues. Staying local next week, then hopefully up to Eveleth area the week after. I will start spending a lot of time on the upper Croix now as well. Tight lines all, and dress warm!