Just three days following ice-out in Northern Wisconsin, Andrew Ragas hits the backwaters and side channels looking for largemouth bass with Strike King Pure Poison “chatterbaits”.
Lake Profile
Size: Main Lake (300 acres), Adjacent Backwater (10 acres)
Lake Type: Eutrophic
Maximum Depth: 8 feet
Avg. Depth Fished: 1 to 4 feet
Water Clarity: Moderately clear
Primary Fishery: Largemouth bass, northern pike, crappie, bluegill, bowfin.
Areas of Focus: Bog shorelines, flooded bushes, beaver houses and ditches, downed wood, emerging lillies.
Time of Day: 2 pm to 6 pm
Lure Used: Strike King Pure Poison (Texas Craw)
Fishing in the north country of Wisconsin where bass season immediately opens the first Saturday of May following ice-out, the fertile backwater systems and side channels of large lake chains and slow gradient rivers lead hungry largemouths to an awakening oasis of underwater life.
Creeks and rivers, channels and thoroughfares, river oxbows, swamps and marshes, beaver sloughs and ditches lie mostly in obscurity from the mainstream of fishing destinations, and that’s alright with me. While the smaller quieter waters fail to attract large numbers of anglers and their oversize watercraft, its warming fertile waters will attract hungry active bass and hold productive fishing through the spawning period.
Overlooked fishing areas like backwaters exist along the outskirts of several popular lake chains where navigation channels and swamps abound. Finding them requires nothing more than knowing how to access, knowledge of the fishery, and layout of the terrain. Eutrophic lakes and their inter-connected waterways will usually contain these habitat rich bass kingdoms.
I began fishing with chatterbaits in 2005, shortly after their introduction to the bass community. They have taken tournament circles by storm because they produce straight-up G’s. I experienced my first immediate success with them when visiting South Florida in 2007. After catching a few average 5 to 8 lb. largemouths from its overlooked swamps and freshwater canal systems, I immediately applied this technique to the similar fertile largemouth waters of the north. The technique has since become one of my first tools of the trade in early spring.
Fishing with chatterbaits such as Strike King’s Pure Poisons is about power, aggression and attention. It’s one of the most effective offerings for habitat-rich waters with diminished clarity.
Varying in sizes between a 3/8 oz to 1/2 oz. model, the Strike King chatterbait has a unique head design, blade and harness that produces incredible action and vibration. Fishing with Quantum PT’s 7 foot 2 inch G-Rig Tour Tactical series rod (heavy fast action) paired with a Quantum Energy PT SS spooled with 14 lb. Cortland Camo, you’ve got to see the power and action to believe it. This combination works exceptionally well in early season wherever you would fish a spinnerbait or swim a jig. The Perfect Skirt with Magic Tails along with a Stankx Bait Co. SideKick trailer gives enhanced action compared to regular skirts and the colors match the head.
Most chatterbaits come prepackaged with slender trailers, but I encourage you to get creative if you want to generate increased action and several more strikes. For my ideal rigging style, I turn to a slender swimbait such as the Stankx Bait Co. Swimz, and twin tail style SideKick. Trailer decisions obviously depend upon habitat and cover and however it allows the soft plastic additions to perform.
As illustrated in the video presented, burning a chatterbait is an ideal search tool for target-rich environments such as the specific backwater I fished. Without ever getting snagged, it can be launched through stump fields, ripped through emergent and submergent vegetation, and burned past beaver houses and laydowns – all of which shelter largemouth bass in early spring.
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