Wisconsin DNR fisheries technician Dick Brandt examines a largemouth during a spring survey. One goal of the DNR’s new Bass Management Plan is to provide a variety of quality fishing opportunities within a flexible management system. Photo courtesy of the DNR.

A few years back, Wisconsin’s Bass Management Team consisting of Department of Natural Resources fisheries staff and representatives from the state’s angling community developed a management plan for Badger State bass waters. This first comprehensive look at this valuable resource came up with several goals and objectives designed to protect and enhance largemouth and smallmouth bass populations, improve their habitat and offer better fishing opportunities.

Anyone interested in our state’s bass fishery would find this 22-page plan, labeled “Administrative Report No. 54,” well worth reading. You can download a copy from the DNR’s Web site. Here’s an overview.

One of the plan’s goals is to provide a variety of quality bass fishing opportunities within a flexible management system. Translate that to “create more opportunities to catch big bass.” One of the management tools used to accomplish this objective is the implementation of special regulations on a limited number of waters that differ from the statewide 14-inch size limit and five-fish-per-day bag limit.

On a handful of southern Wisconsin lakes, these “special regs” now offer anglers a better chance of catching big bass. On most of these waters, the daily bag limit is one bass over 18 inches, also known as the 18/1 regulation. Some waters have a slot-size limit that protects bass of a certain length, yet allows for the harvest of larger or smaller fish. One lake -- Browns in Racine County -- has a 16-inch minimum-size limit. Two lakes -- Forest in Fond du Lac County and Twin Valley in Iowa County -- allow only catch-and-release fishing for bass.

These regulations can vary from year to year, so check the booklet before you fish. The regs booklet also designates some of these waters as offering “quality fishing opportunity,” where you will have a better chance of catching a trophy bass.

Here is a look at quality fishing opportunities in the more popular special-regulations bass lakes in southern Wisconsin, and how to fish them when you get there.

LAKE MENDOTA
The largest of southern Wisconsin’s special-regulations bass lakes, Mendota is also the most studied because it lies within a short cast of both DNR headquarters and the University of Wisconsin.

On Mendota, the 18/1 rule applies. For “special-regs” purposes, Mendota includes Sixmile Creek and the Yahara River downstream from State Highway 19, Pheasant Branch downstream from County Highway M, Cherokee Lake and the Warner Park Lagoons. Nearby Mud and Fish lakes also have the 18/1 rule.

Mendota and its associated waters are considered a “quality fishery” in the regulations booklet. Kurt Welke, DNR fisheries manager for the Madison Chain, said he is currently evaluating the 18/1 rule on Mendota, but it appears to be working.

“We routinely see largemouths in excess of 20 inches and smallmouths pushing 6 pounds,” Welke said. “When you have regulations that protect those fish and a public that buys into the concept that this is a renewable resource, you’ll see a lot of 20-inch fish. These lakes have the potential to grow large fish. They persist in the environment a long time and longer under ethical treatment by fishermen, since they can be recycled over and over again. With less-restrictive regulations, once a fish hits the legal minimum, he’s gone.”

At over 9,800 acres, Mendota is the fourth-largest natural lake in our state. The Yahara River enters Mendota through a marsh at the north end and exits at Tenney Park on the east shore on its way to lakes Monona, Waubesa and Kegonsa. Sand and gravel dominate the bottom, and extensive rock reefs and humps break up the contour to provide excellent structure. Most of the lake is over 20 feet deep, but there are plenty of weedy shallows, and that’s where you’ll find largemouths.