Hello All, I’m new to the forum but I’ve been going to the Quetico for the last 12 Years since I was 10. The past few trips we’ve been going into the park in late May. This year we’ll be putting in at Atikokan on May 18th. We recently got a call from the park telling us to be aware that there still could be ice on the lakes when we go in. I’m not sure how overly concerned I am about ice postponing our put in, but I am more concerned about how a late iceout will affect water temps and in turn fishing conditions for smallmouth and the other species. I am assuming lake trout will be near the surface, and walleye and northern will be still be caught doing what I’ve always done. However, in most of my past trips, smallmouth have always been in relatively shallow water and easy to catch on jerk shad or whatever you throw at them. I am wondering how the late ice out could affect these bronzebacks in terms of depth and activity! If anyone has any experience fishing after ice out and could tell me what to expect for any of these species feel free to share. Or if anyone has more information about the current ice in the northern quetico that’d be great to hear as well. The quetico parks website hasn’t updated on ice since April 30th.

Ice out until pre-spawn
Trophy smallmouth tend to be smart and lazy, that is how they become trophies. These fish are smart enough to know where to look for easy meals without exuding much energy in the process. They find moving water and let the current push the prey to them. One of the best moving water locations is the waterway that connects a small shallow lake with a large deep lake. It might be a river, creek, or small waterfall that connects the two lakes. Look for any type of moving water from one location to another, no matter how small; even if it is only a trickle. One of the main reasons fish gather in these areas is due to the warmer water coming in from the smaller lake. Fishing later in the day after the water warms up is also another factor to keep in mind. Fish the north side of lakes that heat up quicker than the rest of the lake this time of the year.
Another active early season location can be found at the mouths of saddles or tunnels between two pieces of land. It might be located between two islands or the mainland and an island. These areas also have moving water or current when the wind blows and funnels the baitfish to attack areas at the ends of the tunnels or saddles. Concentrate on points if they can be found around the mouth areas. Fish will stack up in these areas similar to the moving water coming in from another lake.
For most of the year the ZMAN StreakZ, a five inch soft plastic jerk shad, is my main lure for trophy smallmouth in the Boundary Waters or the Quetico. They also come with a split tail known as the ZMAN ShadZ which are just as effective. These lures are constructed out of a very durable soft plastic called elaztech. I have caught upwards of 50 smallmouth with one lure. There are other soft plastic jerk shads on the market but the durability of this lure is hard to beat. The best colors to use are ones with some type of pearl color. I tend to favor the grey glimmer pearl, but others such as redbone, shiner, blue glimmer pearl, plain pearl, and baby bass (green\pearl) can be just as productive at times.
The best time to institute the use of this lure is when the water warms enough to initiate the movement of smallmouth up from their winter depths and into the pre-spawn stage. Once smallmouth mount an assault on this lure they will continue to do so until they move back into their deeper haunts later in the year.
This lure has produced more quality and quantity bronzebacks than any other lure I have ever used. This is no exaggeration. It is fished with a sub-surface presentation between the surface to two feet of water. The lure is presented to the fish using a “walk the dog” method. Slow methodical twitches and pauses will cause smallmouth to strike this soft plastic jerk bait with reckless regard. Basically the lure appears to be a dying, fluttering bait fish. By rigging this lure weed-less you will never have to worry about being snagged. Since there is only a single hook with this rig, you don’t have to be nervous about “lipping” these fish out of the water when landing them.
Rigging the lure is simple. Use a quality, sharp, 1/0 worm hook. Take the point of the hook and come down on top of the nose and run the lure to the top elbow part of the hook. Twist the lure around so the hook is now under the belly of the lure and press the hook point through the body until it lies flat on the back of the lure. The lure is now snag-less. Then create a line leader of eight to twelve inches and tie a size 3, two-way ball bearing swivel to it. Tie the free line end to the ZMAN ShadZ. The other side of the swivel is tied to the line off of the end of your rod. The swivel will help you avoid all of those nasty line twists that a ShadZ creates. Also the swivel will take the lure just below the surface. I have found that I have a better hook up ratio when the lure is just below the surface rather than on the surface. I think the main reason is that smallmouth tend to blow up on a surface lure trying to kill it and sometimes miss it. Under the surface the smallmouth is merely inhaling the lure which creates a better hook up ratio. More detailed information on ShadZ (aka Zulu) fishing can be found in my article Zulu Magic (BWJ – Spring 2008).
It is a good idea to always have a back up rod rigged with a follow up lure. If the smallmouth are a little tentative and short striking the bait or just completely missing it, it is best to throw a slower presentation out to attract the same fish once more. The follow up lure of choice is the 3.5 to 4 inch tube bait.
The Berkley PowerBait, pumpkin green, 3.5 to 4 inch hollow body tube bait is the lure to use before the pre-spawn phase or whenever the smallmouth seem to want a slower approach. This lure is best used with a non-lead 1/8 oz. or 1/4 oz. tube bait jighead.
The hop and reel technique is the most common and standard way of retrieving this lure. Cast the tube out to your specific coverage area. Let the tube fall completely to the bottom on slack line. Once it makes contact with the structure, reel up the slack in your line until it becomes tight. Now by lifting the rod or snapping the line at the tip, the tube will respond by moving inches or feet depending on the amount of lift or snap. Let it drop back down to the bottom and continue this method all the way back to the canoe. Smallmouth will either strike the tube bait on the fall or pick it up off the bottom while it is paused motionless. You will feel a little tick on the line, pause for a second, reel up any slack and then set the hook.
Another method of fishing this lure is called dragging. This technique is just how it sounds; you drag the tube very slowly along the bottom of the lake imitating a crawfish, pausing every now and then. Smallmouth could hit aggressively at anytime so always be prepared to set the hook.
Fish the areas just outside of the normal spawning areas if surface water temps are still on the cold side. Check water in the 10 to 20 foot range where the smallmouth are still transition towards the spawning areas.

Queticomike thanks for all that info! The past few years I’ve been using a kalins jerk Shad rigged weightless and have had plenty of success, but the bass were all in shallow. I’ll definitely take a look at the Shad and the tubes you suggested. I’ve never had much success fishing deep water bass but with your information I hope I can do well for myself and show up the rest of my group!

I’ll also definitely try the swivel out, I’ve had wayyy too many loops in my line in the past. Also to be clear, do you still throw the zman in the 10-20 ft water with success? As for the tubes, I will definitely have to buy some. I’ve lately been fishing exclusively Senkos on the Mississippi near La Crosse for largemouth so I have a lot of those. Do you think those are worth bringing and would work comparable to the tubes?

TheTugistheDrug: "I’ll also definitely try the swivel out, I’ve had wayyy too many loops in my line in the past. Also to be clear, do you still throw the zman in the 10-20 ft water with success? As for the tubes, I will definitely have to buy some. I’ve lately been fishing exclusively Senkos on the Mississippi near La Crosse for largemouth so I have a lot of those. Do you think those are worth bringing and would work comparable to the tubes?"

If you want to read my article on Zulu ( aka ZMAN ShadZ ) fishing send me an email - queticomike@yahoo.com

Yes, I will throw the ShadZ over deep water. They slowly sink, but it is a good idea to use a bigger BALL BEARING swivel like a size 4 or 5. Tube baits and the Senkos would also be good options for these areas. I would bring both if you fish Senkos a lot. Lip-less cranks and chartreuse double willow spinner baits are good search baits for these areas.

ZMAN ShadZ and Strike King Z-Too are the same exact lures manufactured by ZMAN. They both have split tails and slowly sink. ZMAN StreakZ and Zulu are the single tail, floating version. I purchase all of my ZMAN products at tacklewarehouse.com.

Have a handful articles that you might find interesting on smallmouth fishing and another one called Grand Slam Lures which covers all species if you want to read any or all of them.

I’m checking them out now. Thanks again!