What Is A "big" Bass In Northern Wisconsin 2024
Topwater98 reply :
I was wondering what a you would consider a big bass for northern Wisconsin. My personal best for a largemouth is 2.31 for a smallmouth 4.8.
Scott F reply :
I fish for bass Northern Wisconsin several times a year but I've never weighed a bass. The fishermen in my group don't fish tournaments and we're all catch and release so we only put a ruler on them and almost never a scale. We consider an 18 inch smallmouth a photo worthy fish and a 20 incher to be the definition of a trophy. While I'm sure there are guys who target largemouth a lot more than I do and catch bigger fish than me, and 18 to 20 inch largemouth up there is a pretty good fish. Weight wise, I'd guess that these are 4 pounds plus.
Lewi reply :
I would say that "big" bass in sconny ville would be in the 4lb range and would be very satisfied with that. I'm not too far off from you in MN but would love to hook onto a 5 pounder!
-Lewi
5dollarsplash reply :
You can win largest fish with a 4lb fish in quite a few tournaments up here. Big fish are tough up here, your hooking into a fish thats been around awhile and seen a lot. The good news is most nw Wisco folk are after walleye or pike/muskie, so more bass catching for us!
Topwater98 reply :
In length the largest bass I caught was 20.5 inches for smallmouth and 17 inches for largemouth.
5dollarsplash reply :
Your Smallmouth is pretty darn nice. If you keep at it, my big largemouth was 22" but skinny, so you can probably beat his weight at 5.3lbs.
Topwater98 reply :
Thanks for the replies. Hopefully I can at least get over 3 lbs next year.
Felix77 reply :
My biggest largemouth I caught this year was about 5.5 lbs. Last year I caught a Smallmouth which was 5.89.
MarkH024 reply :
My PB was in central Wisconsin. 23.75" and 7lb I've caught plenty of 20-22" largemouth since, but Wisconsin LMB just don't get the girth like they do in other places. MY biggest smallie was around 4lbs but that was in Canada. Biggest Wisconsin smallie was 3 to 3.5.
mnbassman23 reply :
Mark- that thing is a friggen TOAD! True giant for up in our neck of the woods. Scum frog?
MarkH024 reply :
Yea it was a tank. Scumfrog on a crap spinning rod and original 8lb fireline back in 2007. I could stick my fist in its mouth with room to spare. That fish was old, you could just tell by the looks of it.On 11/23/2013 at 2:02 PM, mnbassman23 said:Mark- that thing is a friggen TOAD! True giant for up in our neck of the woods. Scum frog?
tipptruck1 reply :
lg mouth bass are not that big here in WI. That is why I chase muskie, pike, and small mouths. If I do catch a large mouth. Which is pretty rare. None of them have been over 3lbs. Small mouths on the other had. They range any thing from a few pounds. To over 5lbs. Yes I have caught two 5lb plus small mouth. Many over 4lbs. That is with out going to green bay. Green bay/ sturgeon bay on the other hand. Is a small mouth paradise. I have seen more then a few 5+ lbers fished out of them waters.
29JMP29 reply :
18+ in smallmouth is worth a picture. bass that are over 4 lbs are usually big for me in northern wi. just gotta find the right lakes
mjseverson24 reply :
here is kind of my general rule of thumb for northern states
nice fish: 3-4 lbs
big fish: 4-5 lbs
pig: 5-6 lbs
donkey: 6-7 lbs
giant: 7+ lbs
trophy smallmouth 21"+
trophy largemouth 23"+
Mitch
Mainebass1984 reply :
On 11/30/2013 at 2:18 AM, mjseverson24 said:here is kind of my general rule of thumb for northern states
nice fish: 3-4 lbs
big fish: 4-5 lbs
pig: 5-6 lbs
donkey: 6-7 lbs
giant: 7+ lbs
trophy smallmouth 21"+
trophy largemouth 23"+
Mitch
That is a pretty good rule of thumb for New England as well. What about 8 and 9 lbers though ?
mjseverson24 reply :
On 11/30/2013 at 8:34 AM, Mainebass1984 said:That is a pretty good rule of thumb for New England as well. What about 8 and 9 lbers though ?
those were covered in the 7+ lb catagory, they are pretty rare here in MN and WI i would expect them to be a little more common in the New England states.
Mitch
Mainebass1984 reply :
Anything in New England over 7 lbs is rare. I only know a couple guys that have caught legitimately weighed 8 lbers and only 1 9lber.
shimmy reply :
On 11/30/2013 at 9:57 PM, Mainebass1984 said:Anything in New England over 7 lbs is rare. I only know a couple guys that have caught legitimately weighed 8 lbers and only 1 9lber.
Obviously not as rare as Minnesota, since the 9 would break the state record. I don't know anyone who has come close to the 8 pound mark and have only read articles of a few doing so in Minnesota. I would say though that catching a 6 pounder out of MN is easier than catching one over 6 in northern Virginia. Pretty weird.
CDobber reply :
Biggest smallie I've landed myself around Madison was 14" (unweighed)....would guess in the 2 lb range. Biggest largie was 21" and estimated around 5 lb, in my avatar. My Dad has a 4 lb smallie mounted from the Green Lake area from roughly 30 yrs ago.
Bankbeater reply :
Around here bass in the four pound range are in about every small lake and pond. Five pounders and up are more of a rarity.
jiggz125 reply :
On 11/30/2013 at 2:18 AM, mjseverson24 said:here is kind of my general rule of thumb for northern states
nice fish: 3-4 lbs
big fish: 4-5 lbs
pig: 5-6 lbs
donkey: 6-7 lbs
giant: 7+ lbs
trophy smallmouth 21"+
trophy largemouth 23"+
Mitch
This is a good scale. I just started bass fishing last summer and caught plently of 1-3lbs some 3-4lbs and my PB on a smaller lake in Baron County weighing over 5lbs, we didnt have a scale/tape at the time. There are big LMB in northern WI just have to find them, and as most of said most anglers target Muskie, Northern, and Walleye which gives bass fisherman more oppurtunity to land a big one.
Crookedneck reply :
6 to 7 lbs fish are big here in Wisconsin. Your best bet for those are going to be on the Great Lakes or thier Tributaries.
wisconsin heat reply :
On 1/3/2014 at 11:35 PM, jiggz125 said:This is a good scale. I just started bass fishing last summer and caught plently of 1-3lbs some 3-4lbs and my PB on a smaller lake in Baron County weighing over 5lbs, we didnt have a scale/tape at the time. There are big LMB in northern WI just have to find them, and as most of said most anglers target Muskie, Northern, and Walleye which gives bass fisherman more oppurtunity to land a big one.
Yeah, a lot of anglers do not target bass here, but I also find that a lot of anglers want to keep everything they catch. I swear some people don't even know what catch and release is.
jiggz125 reply :
On 1/17/2014 at 1:49 AM, wisconsin heat said:Yeah, a lot of anglers do not target bass here, but I also find that a lot of anglers want to keep everything they catch. I swear some people don't even know what catch and release is.
I agree 100%. I am originally from Madison, WI area. So I grew up fishing Wisconsin River near the Sauk Prairie Dam and then more west towards Arena/Spring Green. I have personally seen people keep every fish caught (some probably not legal) at the dam, I didnt do anything as I feel they will get caught eventually.
5dollarsplash reply :
I've mentioned it to people when I've personally seen people harvesting illegaly. One lake died out a few years ago locally and one guy and his wife tried to repopulate it by harvesting fish from other lakes and moving them in their livewell. Guy got a pretty good fine for his efforts.
People fishing for walleye fillets are the worst, every darn fish they find no matter the size.
The lake I've had the most success with big bass on had been stocked with trout about a decade ago. I think its a big contributing factor to the size and quality of fish there, even without stocking for awhile, it probably gave the bass a nice base to grow from. Plentiful forage can be tough when freezing out is a yearly battle.
MarkH024 reply :
On 1/17/2014 at 3:08 AM, 5dollarsplash said:I've mentioned it to people when I've personally seen people harvesting illegaly. One lake died out a few years ago locally and one guy and his wife tried to repopulate it by harvesting fish from other lakes and moving them in their livewell. Guy got a pretty good fine for his efforts.
People fishing for walleye fillets are the worst, every darn fish they find no matter the size.
The lake I've had the most success with big bass on had been stocked with trout about a decade ago. I think its a big contributing factor to the size and quality of fish there, even without stocking for awhile, it probably gave the bass a nice base to grow from. Plentiful forage can be tough when freezing out is a yearly battle.
How about the spearing the natives do? 
5dollarsplash reply :
On 1/18/2014 at 3:47 AM, MarkH024 said:How about the spearing the natives do?
Biting my tongue on this, but I'm thinking you can guess which way I feel strongly about it.
MarkH024 reply :
I'm right there with you.On 1/18/2014 at 4:08 AM, 5dollarsplash said:Biting my tongue on this, but I'm thinking you can guess which way I feel strongly about it.
basseditor reply :
I have a copy of an old black and white photo from when I was young. Several nice bass in the 4-5 lb range we caught in a northern WI lake. I can't find the photo of some 5+ we caught. We were muskie guys so they were "trash" fish. LOL. We caught a lot of them using Suicks while muskie fishing. My dad got a 48" muskie in the same area.
The photos are from the 60s. I moved out of WI for college in '71 and haven't lived there since, but my dad and brothers claim to have caught a couple pushing 7-8 lbs from that lake. I don't have proof of those.
I wonder if that lake will ever be that good again. Maybe when I retire I'll make the 1500 mile trip to check it out.
But I live where it takes one in the 9+ range to win big bass honors at many of our club tournaments. Besides, WI is too cold for me.
WIGuide reply :
On 11/22/2013 at 6:10 AM, Topwater98 said:I was wondering what a you would consider a big bass for northern Wisconsin. My personal best for a largemouth is 2.31 for a smallmouth 4.8.
I'd classify Northern WI as anything north of Eau Claire so anything north of there and minus either of the Great Lakes this breakdown would be pretty accurate.
Largemouth
17" = 2.5-3 lbs nice fish
18" = 3-4 lbs very nice
19" = 4-5.25lbs big bass for this area
20" = 5.25-5.5lbs very big bass for here
21+ = 5.5-6.75? trophy class fish I haven't heard of many stories of a legit 7 up here although I'm not doubting there could be a few out there.
fish in this class would be in the trophy class for up here
Smallies
17" = 2.25-3lbs nice
18" = 3-3.5lbs very nice
19" = 3.75-4.25lbs big smallie
20" = 4.5-5.25lbs very big
21"+ = 5-5.75lbs trophy class for here. I'm sure that there's a 6 swimming around here somewhere but pretty much unheard of unless you're on the great lakes. Those are a whole different beast though. Last year there was an 8 something caught in the big tourney out of Sturgeon Bay, but like I said in the inland WI waters that's pretty much unheard of.
You have to remember that those weights are averages for around here and will be different from fish to fish and dependent on the season as well. However, they should be pretty acurate
Topwater98 reply :
The 4.8 lb smallmouth I caught was in the Lake Superior.
TJ127 reply :
I mostly fish in the Florence Co area. My PB is an 18in LMB and for some of you that may seem average or small but trust me, up there that is a pretty big bass. I think that every county/lake can hold different size LMBs so in some areas you may have a better chance to catch bigger fish. All in all, northern Wisconsin is certainly not known for having HUGE LMBs so if you want to target 5lb+ LMBs, you will most likely will have to travel south.
r83srock reply :
I'm pretty happy with a largemouth or smallmouth between 3-4lbs. My personal best smallie is just under 5lbs and biggest largemouth is around 6. It can take 15 years for a bass to his 5 lbs here. I've seen largemouth weighed in as big as 7 lbs.
sully420 reply :
A big fish up here is a 6 pound fish 21 in and over I'm talking about Largemouth. People think a six pound fish is a trophy fish up here but honestly if you use the right techniques they're not that hard to find. this is not the South these fish are not pressure the same. Find the best cover you can 5 foot of water Plus and fish that jig like crazy around it do not finesse fish if you want an actual big in especially in the fall big Jiggs produce the best fish and numbers up here
Most people think I'm crazy especially the people from this area on the site but I've been out five times in the last 2 weeks and I've caught at least a five pound or every day
Jmhalvo reply :
Yes but don't you need to know which lakes contain 5 pounders?
Further North reply :
On 1/3/2014 at 11:35 PM, jiggz125 said:This is a good scale. I just started bass fishing last summer and caught plently of 1-3lbs some 3-4lbs and my PB on a smaller lake in Baron County weighing over 5lbs, we didnt have a scale/tape at the time. There are big LMB in northern WI just have to find them, and as most of said most anglers target Muskie, Northern, and Walleye which gives bass fisherman more oppurtunity to land a big one.
You're not far from me...I have three smallies over 6 lbs. in the area, best largemouth is about 4 1/2.
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