I’ve found schools of them there in September chasing baitfish…most of the cover around there is weeds and wood. You might find a few in July, but wind blown main lake structure would be more productive in my experience. You can run your boat up to where the chippewa and flambeau join, above the D bridge. Once it get’s shallow above MD’s bar and resort about 1/4 mile, trim up and idle up to the point where the rivers join – watch the river surface for big ripples from rocks. There’s a couple shallow spots that get down to maybe 18″. Lot’s of bass boats run up there. Up around the point and surrounding rocks can be some really good smallie fishing that time of year. Tube jigs. Good luck.

Largemouth are spotty throughout the lake. Look for typical cover in bays, creek mouths and some of the small side lakes. Entrance of Jump River, past Big Swede’s resort and bar has a lot of good cover. There are some quality fish, but can be tough to find. More of a Smallmouth fishery. Follow the wind. Look for wind blown rocky points and weedlines. Mixed bag of fish on those. crappies, wallys, smallies, pike and the occasional ski. The island before you get to the bridge where Big Swedes is, is a decent spot, lots of rock cover dropping off into deeper water. If you really want to catch bass, rent a river boat from Flater’s and try the rivers that flow into Holcombe. Ask em’ where they’re biting.

Thanks for the advice Mr. Bowman, Mr. Winther and Mr. Holst! I will pick up a glove as a confidence booster/hand protector. Seeing the illustration with the central piece of cartilage really connected the dots for me. I’ve been doing it all wrong. Placing my thumb on the outside of the gill plate and sliding my fingers along the inside of the plate – as opposed to the center cartilage. A couple times I’ve had to duct tape my fingers up to keep fishing afterwards. I mainly target them on NE medium sized Wisconsin rivers, on float trips. So special to encounter such an apex predator in that setting. Thanks for the help on proper handling, as it’s an honor to catch one, and seeing it swim away unscathed is a huge part of that.

Good information. I watched the video as well. I always leave them in the net while unhooking, and carry jaw spreaders, hook cutter and a long handled tool for pushing backwards on deeper hook ups that aren’t close to the gills. My problem is I’m a little gun shy on the gill plate holds because a couple times in the past I’ve had big fish rip up the inside of my finger tips with their teeth, when going for the hold and lifting them out of the net. I’m not sure if it’s because of the head shakes or maybe I’m not positioning my grip right…i.e. getting my fingers too far into the fishes mouth. Any tips for this?