Danarchy

The Chippewa, Mississippi, and St. Croix rivers are all still high. As soon as they started to recede we got a few more inches of rain so they all swole right up again.

Definitely try the Mississippi river between Wabasha MN and La Crosse WI. There's bass everywhere!

Plumworm - I read it in a report somewhere, can't recall. I remember for a fact that this time last year (or a few weeks back) there was 60 degrees in some of the backwaters of the Miss, pool 4 area. The fish were stacked in these shallow areas where the water was 10-15 degrees warmer than the main channel.

No I put in on the east side, then came into the bay at Guy Sandy - tried to go back across the lake but the waves were too high - I got a ride to my truck and took out at Guy Sandy. I was in a Tracker V-hull, trolled around in the bay there until about 4pm.

Well I got out on Arbuckle today - there was a tourney and a lot of other boats. I got skunked, I imagine all the spots I tried already got pounded this morning, then the wind blew us off the lake. Did meet a guy from Texas at the ramp who said someone he knew got an 11 and a 9 off of beds today. I'll hit it again during the week when there's not so many others on the lake.

X-Raps or Husky Jerks - you can catch them on other stuff but they really key on bait fish this time of year. Look for sand or gravel flats with a drop off or deep hole near by in slack water, behind a current break, or an area with backwards slower current. Rip the bait a few times then just kill it for up to 10-15 seconds. Then rip again. I love this time of year, once you find the bass hold on tight!

Great smallie!

Get yourself some waders and leave the shore behind. There's gotta be some nice little rivers up there you can stomp around in!

Woops - Mark - I was looking for your name after reading your post and saw Fishin FIB.

I wish Wisconsin would do this. There are a lot of anglers around here that hate bass (walleye guys) so a lot of folks would be in favor of it. Anti-bass guys would want them caught and eaten, bass guys would be in favor because bass.

FIB (Mark) is spot on - usually mid to end of May. Mid June they are usually starting to get into their summer patterns and the fishing is great. On local rivers here like the Miss, some of the backwaters are already getting close to 60 degrees or more, so the spawn can be a few weeks ahead.

Thanks guys. Y'all are making me even more excited.

Hello everyone! Just wanted to probe for some info on the current state of bass activity in the state. I'm heading down Friday and plan to fish Arbuckle as much as I can, and maybe spend some time at the Duncan area lakes. From my research I've found some lakes are already tipping the 60-65 degree temp marks - I am hoping to get in on some prespawn fishing, don't really want to fuss with pulling them off beds. So can anyone provide some info or reports on what the bass are doing? Any info would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Dan

I never find much Bass info on Lake Link. Mostly walleye and panfish stuff.

I'd prefer big bass because those are the bites that tell you that you're doing something right. Those small, younger bass sometimes seem to be over aggressive and will hit just about anything. Sometimes you can even catch tons of small bass in the usual areas when the big ones are sitting on beds. In my opinion, the small bass don't really tell me what the quality fish are doing.