Smallmouth Bass

[Rick]

Lets talk about smallies here.

[guideman]

Thats one of my favorit subjects, I had the
oppotunity to guide one of the pro's who are
on Vermilion this week for the Minnesota pro
am state championship. What a treat, I think
I had more fun watching this guy than I did
fishing. It was a real learning experence for me as well as entertaining, man could this guy fish! We boated a 5+ and four fish over 4lbs, we fished for smallies and largemouth, it was really a great day!

Guideman.

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[This message has been edited by guideman (edited 08-15-2000).]

[Jim W]

I would love to get into some Lake smally fishing! All I do is the river/stream search and destroy( a violent way of describing it isn't it?) Not to say that I don't get into nice bronzies, river bass put up a hugh(woops) huge fight!! I might have to come up to VERMY to try for smallies. I've caught them there when fishing for walldads and they were nice. I would like to see if my river gear would work on the lake. Whatchya think Guideman?

[guideman]

Hey Jim, the top producer on Vermilion would
have to be a jig, with a tube or a craw, a
grub works well also. I think anything that
you get them on in rivers, will work in a lake just as well.

Guideman.

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www.aceguideservice.com

[Jim W]

Hellooo Guideman! I'm going to Green Lake for the first time this weekend. I'm going to shoot for some dads in the morning and late evenings, but I'm definitely going for some smallies during the day/early evening. We'll see if river tactics hold up in the lake. Keep the rods a bend'in!!

[Jim W]

Guideman. Due to high winds on Green lake, couldn't effectively try small mouth tactics. However, we did manage 10-12 smallmouth(largest being just under 2 lbs.) drifting and trolling spinner rigs for walldads. Largest dad of the day was a 21 incher my wife caught in 15-20 ft. of water on a crawler. An even larger fish was lost due to over excitement on my part, oh well!

[Rick]

I know these bruisers don't open until late spring...but...open water fever has me in it's grips. Nothing like battling smallies.

Who has a smallie story to help me pass the time away?

[Early Riser]

Rick, My favorite image of smally fishing is me and a fishing partner trading the bow position in a canoe casting prime spots before sun up and into the long shadows in the BWCA or Quetico. I don't think there is better spot to fish this species for numbers, size and intangibles. I will fish anywhere my time dictates however!

[Guest]

I was up on Lake Vermilion doing the houseboat thing with 9 other guys (that's a story all by itself) and my canoe partner caught a beautiful 4 lb smallie pretty much by accident. We were fishing up behind Pine Island casting towards one of the bouys indicating shallow water. This particular bouy was surrounded by weeds and our casting was becoming more of a hassle from snags so we decided to move on. As it had been my idea to head over there and I was in the stern anyway, I volunteered to paddle us away while my partner pretty much trolled his dead minnow. Sure enough, about 15 or 20 yards from the bouy my partner yells he's got a fish. The next couple of minutes were rather exciting. My friends gear was rather old and who knows when he put on that line. I was certain that his rod would break or his line would snap. He definately had all he could handle on the end of the line. I manned the net. Everytime the not-so-smallie caught sight of the net she would head back for deep water. It wasn't until the 4th pass at the net that we finally pulled her in, took her picture and sent her back home to her family. You can see that photo at http://members.tripod.com/~Roger_Thiemann/brewhaha3.html. I hope to get back to Vermilion so that I can try my luck at topping that story.

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Fish On!
Big Lew

[This message has been edited by Big_Lew (edited 03-03-2001).]

[Guest]

Is rainy lake still a good smallmouth fishery? The lake is so big I'm curious if the fish are difficult to find. I hope to be doing muskies and walleyes at least once up there this year, maybe I'll concentrate an afternoon on smallies. Somebody point me in the right direction up there, baits, etc.?

[Guest]

CanopySam, Never been there, but I did just happen to run into this web site which leads me to believe smallies are still alive and well on Rainy. http://www.rainyriverresort.com/

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Fish On!
Big Lew

[Rick]

You might also want to check the Rainy Lake Forum on this site.

[uffdapete]

CANOPYSAM - I fish Rainy a few times each year and it is my favorite smallmouth water.
I have a brother that lives in the Falls and I've fished it for almost 20 years.
Al Lindner has rated it very high.
If you've never been on Rainy, I'd suggest a guide due to it's size and rocks. Rainy is loaded with reefs.
I'd suggest contacting the Outdoorsman's Headquarters in I. Falls to get you started.
There are other bait & tackle shops too - that's just the one I'm familiar with.

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[Maryjl]

They were bitting pretty good last summer on Titonka Lake. Last year my husband caught a real nice one. The day before bass season opened we were fishing for crappie when all of a sudden something big grabed his line we thought at first it proble was a northren. Then it got off his line and he casted right back and got it again this time he caught it we weighed it before he released it and it was 3lbs. Then a Lady Angler friend of mine caught one at the end of August and brought it up to shore in her live well for me to take a picture of it and her before she released it. It was also a big one but I don't remember the weight but I do remember it was a beatiful fish. That picture hangs in Best Point Resort. Threw the year we caught quite a few smaller ones.
Mary

[Jim W]

maryjl,

That's awesome! I didn't realize there were Smallmouth in lake Tetonka. How big was that bronzy? Jim W

[Maryjl]

Jim W, Like I said I don't remember what it weighed but it was 3lbs at the least. That fish was the prettest fish I ever saw. And yes there are small mouths in Titonka. Do you live in that area or fish Titonka much? The reason I ask is because that is my favorite Lake. I spend alot of time there in the summer.
Mary

[Jim W]

Hello,
Well, I have only been to Tetonka a couple of times. Once Ice fishing and once in the fall. I was trying specifically for walleye and found a few cigars. Now that I know there are bronzebacks in there, I'll have to give then a shot. Good luck out there!
Jim W

[Maryjl]

Just wondering why does Small Mouth Bass fishing end so early in Sept?

[Early Riser]

Maryljl, I believe they closed the season in fall because smallmouth form large schools over deep rock humps and reefs in late September and October. If these schools are found they can be easily over-harvested.

[Jim W]

maryjl,
Great question!!! I have spent a lot of time fishing for smallmouth and when they changed the rule I questioned it as well. However it doesn't end. it is catch and release after the Sept. Deadline. You can fish for them until Febuary if you want. For me not too much of an option since I generally fish for them in Streams/rivers-brrrrrrr! Plus, they usually shut down once the water temp get's to far below 70 degrees.
I asked the DNR about that and haven't received a response yet. I guess it is for conservation purposes, similar to a slot, just catch and release instead. That's what I know. Jim W

[Maryjl]

OK well then it doesn't really matter because we only C&R them any way. I thought that you could'nt fish for them when the season closed, But I read it again and it says 9/10/2001 through the end of the season they must be return to the water.

[Guest]

Another good lake for smallies is Namakan.A few years ago My father and I went to Kabetogama to do some walleye fishing.At that time the fishing was pretty slow,so we went for a boat ride and ended up on Namakan, around Namakan and Kubel island.We figured we would just cast for some pike.I'm not kidding when I say we were getting smallies in the 2 to 4 lb range.They were hitting big spinner baits.On one stretch of shore you would pick up some nice pike and as soon as the shore would turn rocky you would start picking up smallies.In about two hours we must have boated half a dozen pike and a dozen smallies a piece.

Minnetonka has some decent smallie action also.Try around Horseshoe island and out in front of Carsons Bay.In the spring you can see them nesting on the gravel bars.

[Maryjl]

bassin,

I just have to ask this. How in the world would this have been learned? I think you almost have to beable to get in the mind of a Small Mouth to learn this. I just don't see how researching them you could tell this is what they do unless they told you. Maybe this is just one of those things I don't need to understand. I know we have come along way in being able to find things out, but this just seems impossile to me.

Mary <><

[bassin]

According to an article I read in In-fisherman I believe. Smallmouths determine a year in advance which fish will spawn the following spring. So In the fall when you get large concentrations of smallies and that are eager to hit baits it can really do damage to the population because if some of the pre-determend spawners are caught, they are not replaced within the school with another fish to spawn. It was an article that came out last fall around Sept-oct. It was a very intersting article. In there they talked about closing the season in the fall for that very same reason.

[Jim W]

Maryjl,
Keep in mind, not even the Infisherman boys know everything! However, they might want us to think so!