We hit Chequemagon Bay last Friday for smallies. We were facing some tough conditions with the heavy rains we endured the day before and then we had to deal with a very blustery post frontal/ high pressure day… Well, the only thing that ended up being tough was boat control and navigation. The water was so stained due to in-flow, that I consider myself pretty lucky to have not hit something with my boat. The wind was tricky, but the best fishing seemed to out of the real choppy stuff.
We ran into a mixed bag of smallies. For the most part the big females are done spawning but they haven’t left the sloughs yet. We weren’t able to fish beds due to wind, but we did find fish near their spawning areas holding on wood. Spinnerbaits seemed to be the best presentation. With low/no vis in the water you really needed flash and vibration. We caught a ton of fish with the 15″ to 18″ range being the most well represented and probably a dozen in that were 19″ – 20″. Here is Smallmouth Slim with a nice 20″. Lot’s of fun!… but that will probably be the last smallie report of the year…So look for me in the musky section from here on out.
