Smallmouth Paradise

For about the last 10 years, I have been obsessed with catching river smallmouth. This has led me to travel across the midwest (and further) in search of waters that produce healthy populations of trophy bronzebacks. While I do the majority of fishing here in central Indiana, I try to venture out for a destination trip as many times as my life allows. The list of places that I have been include the Ozarks, the UP, and The New River to name a few. I definitely have a bucket list of places that I want to give a whirl (I'm looking at you Susquehanna and Upper Mississippi), but the one place I have visited so far that holds the most special place in my heart is the Wisconsin River. While this isn't necessarily on everyone's radar as a prime smallmouth destination, the people who have fished the portions I have frequented know how special it is.

First off these northern smallmouth are just on a different level than their Indiana counterparts. I'm not sure what all contributes to these fish growing the way they do, but they are THICK for river fish. Combine that with the fact that they are fighting current every day, and it equals a fish that pulls like a Mack truck. Seriously, I can't believe the fight in these fish for their size. No exaggeration here, but you can safely tack on an extra 2-inches when comparing fish in my home state. By that I mean that a 16-inch fish in this river fights like an 18-inch fish in Indiana. That's no knock to Indiana smallmouth, because they are scrappy, but these things are freaks.

The second reason this place is special is because of the beauty and solitude. This place is what they call the North Woods. Pine trees, and huge boulders dot the landscape to create a tapestry of wilderness beauty. This place is something else. If that is not enough, you generally have it all to yourself. Since there are so many options in this area for boaters to launch and fish, these harder-to-acess stretches of free flowing river are generally left alone. In the week total I have spent there the last 2 years I may have seen 6 people total on these portions of the river. Pretty unbelieveable.

The last reason I love this place is so awesome is the fishing. This past trip was the least productive of our trips so far, and in 2 days our group boated 119 smallmouth. Multiple fish in the 16"-18" range with 3 being over 19". The last 2 prior trips produced multiple fish over 20-inches with better overall numbers and size.

I was fortunate enough this past time to roll out with my Dad and brother. We had a really great time and experienced some awesome fishing. Water like this has the full capability of producing a 23-inch smallmouth. It didn't happen this time, but I assure you....I will be back to test my theory.