It’s Okay to Harvest [some] Bass
A significant cold front blew through one morning in late-July, changing the trajectory of our trip with my guide customer Bjorn and his two young boys. Smallmouths were laying low, and disengaged. We had more than 6 hours of fishing time remaining. “Our smallmouths don’t seem willing to bite. I hope tonight’s fish fry won’t be our highlight of the day!” I announced. And then a new idea came about. I asked my three anglers if they’d be willing to bail on smallmouths and go fishing for food instead. It was a Friday after all, and they’d be hosting a fish fry later that night. “This will be so entertaining and worthwhile,” I assured them. Not only would we be catching loads of overabundant largemouths from another nearby lake, but this was a rare instance I’d be allowing everyone in my boat, including myself, to keep a limit of 5 bass. At the next lake, we all caught our limits within the next 90-minutes. Taking 20 largemouths from 9 to 12 inches length. And in the process, we did the lake a favor. Welcome to Fridays in Wisconsin, where walleyes and panfish are no longer necessary for fulfilling fish fry dreams. It would truly help a