By Andrew Ragas Imagine the quality of fishing in Northern Wisconsin. Probably the first ideas coming to mind are its legendary world record muskies, and the thoughts of walleyes sizzling on the frying pan. Although muskies and walleyes aren’t my most frequently fished quarries up north, I still spend significant amounts of time each year catching them like the locals do. While these two gamefish species are the most pursued and popular amongst Wisconsin anglers, another prominent fish species is usually overlooked and far too often ignored. Wisconsin is a great state for catching smallmouth bass. In fact, it’s even better for catching giant smallmouth bass during the spring season. Illinoisans are significantly limited to a handful of productive rivers and streams, and only a few select lakes that are sustained through stocking. We are privileged enough to have neighbors to our north that have healthy fisheries that are home to tremendous populations of big fish. Best of all, several of them are within reasonable traveling distances, with enough class to offer worthwhile fishing getaways. There are literally hundreds of lakes and rivers to fish where big smallmout