Icewater Bronze – Great Lakes Smallmouth
Great Lakes bite off to chilly start
By Dan Johnson
from The Fishing Wire
STURGEON BAY, WI–Lake Michigan’s Sturgeon Bay offers bass fans some of the finest smallmouth fishing on the planet. Routinely producing behemoths topping 6 pounds, the bay’s storied waters rank high-even atop-more than a few top fisheries lists.
Ice floes still dot sections of Sturgeon Bay.
The Great Lakes are still col
But even paradise has a downside. And on Sturgeon Bay, that just might be the first few days of the open-water season. Anglers prepping to compete in a pair of high-profile early season tournaments are finding slow going, as a late spring and frigid water temps have the fish in a funk.
As of Wednesday, May 7, the main bay was a chilly 38 to 40 degrees, with surface temps in the backs of coves barely pushing into the upper 40s. Overcast skies and 45-degree air temps were doing little to warm the water.
“Everything is a little behind schedule this season,” said Scott Bonnema, a veteran competitor from Zimmerman, Minnesota, who is signed up to fish the Cabela’s North American Bass Circuit’s qualifier May 10, and the Sturgeon Bay Open May 16-18.
Dodging the occasional ice floe with his Ranger, Bonnema was on the hunt for the warmest water he could find. “The fishing is really slow,” he said. “The main thing is not to get frustrated and panic, but to keep your head down and focus on finding areas that have fish now, as well as spots that will hold fish once the water warms up.”
For Bonnema, that means scouting hard-bottom shallows featuring rocks averaging a foot in diameter. The backs of coves are prime targets, but he’s also checking the outer edges of points leading into such hot zones, knowing that inbound smallies will funnel along this structure first.
Once waters warm, smallies in Sturgeon Bay and elsewhere will hit a variety of presentations.
Big Smallmouth from Cold Water
A few bass have already moved shallow, but they’re sluggish and playing hard to catch. “I’ve seen a few fish in three feet of water, but they’re really lethargic,” he noted. “I’m fishing a downsized 2½-inch tube on an 1/8-ounce jighead, dragging it s-l-o-w-l-y across the bottom. Bites are mushy, so I’m using low-stretch Sufix 832 superbraid for sensitivity.”
Given the bay’s gin-clear waters, which enable anglers to see the bottom in 25 feet of water, Bonnema said a 7-pound Sufix Invisiline fluorocarbon leader is critical to keep the fish from seeing the line.
Looking ahead, Bonnema predicted that Sturgeon Bay’s smallies wouldn’t stay dormant for long. “We’re supposed to get warmer weather this week, so more fish should move in and the bite should pick up,” he said. “Before you know it, everyone will be catching them.”
As the bite picks up, he expects reaction lures like Rapala X-Rap jerkbaits and Alabama rigs to come into play. “Even then, the fish will be pressured and spooky in the clear, shallow water,” he said, noting that he uses a Humminbird 1199ci HD SI sonar-chartplotter combo unit to locate and return to prime structure. “The 1-foot contours on its LakeMaster mapping program also make it easier to dial in specific depths everywhere in the system,” he added. “It also helps me keep the boat far enough from the fish so I don’t spook them.”
Once Bonnema finds a key area, he says a great strategy is locking the boat in place with a shallow-water anchor like the Minn Kota Talon and waiting for other boats to push fish to you. “It’s almost like deer hunting,” he laughed.
When the bay’s bass fishing does catch fire, it’s not unheard of for tournament anglers to weigh in 30 pounds with five bass. But such epic catches are still a few days or more away. For now, Bonnema’s biding his time, playing the finesse card as he patiently prepares for the upcoming NABC and Sturgeon Bay Open events.