Photo by Ron Sinfelt

By Dan Small

Wisconsin's Lake Michigan tributaries have received a lot of attention in recent years, primarily for their steelhead and salmon fishing, which takes place from September through May. What many anglers don't realize, however, is that these same streams offer great smallmouth bass action in the summer, when few salmon or steelhead are in the rivers. Good fishing opportunities elsewhere in the Badger State keep some people from ever exploring the Lake Michigan streams in summer, but for the angler eager to seek new waters, these rivers are a gold mine waiting to be discovered.

Granted, low water levels plague some Lake Michigan tributaries in summer. The Manitowoc, for one, shrinks to a trickle in a boulder field in most years. But even the Manitowoc holds enough water in its lower reaches to harbor bass. Regardless of the river, smallmouths seek cover and food. Find these, and you'll find bass. Then it's just a matter of presenting something that looks enough like food to fool them into striking. That, fortunately, is usually the easy part.

Smallies are opportunists that will eat anything small enough to get in their mouths. In most rivers, their diet consists mainly of crayfish, minnows and insect larvae. They hunt for food around rocks and rubble, and they will simply wait in ambush and let the current bring food to them. They often chase schools of minnows into shallow water or fast riffles and slash at them the way salmon attack schools of alewives. If you see small fish skittering along the surface, odds are a bass is chasing them.

Small, natural-colored baits are the rule. Any diving crankbait that looks like a crayfish, minnow or insect will take smallies. Some work better than others on certain streams, so experiment. Small inline spinners and spinnerbaits also take smallies, as do jigs dressed with hair or marabou, tipped with plastic tails or used plain. Topwater lures work well when bass are actively feeding. Live bait such as crawlers, leeches and minnows can be effective, but smallies usually hit artificials readily, making live bait unnecessary. Plus, they reduce the risk of fish mortality.

For some reason, smallmouths seem to be suckers for big, flashy spinnerbaits, and the bigger and noisier the better. This is the one exception to the small-and-natural-looking rule. Perhaps they see spinnerbaits as intruders instead of food. Either way, they often smack them with abandon.

Cast crankbaits and spinners quartering upstream and work them down through deep, slow runs, behind boulders, along logs and as close to cover as possible. Work jigs slowly through deep holes and runs.

Fly-rodders can have a blast with stream smallies on a 6- or 7-weight rod and floating line. Fish streamers, weighted nymphs and diving flies the way you would a crankbait. Work poppers and divers on top when you find active fish.

These methods, adapted to the river, will take smallies wherever there is flowing water. Here, from north to south, are some of the better Lake Michigan bass streams.

Unimproved landings make access to the upper river difficult for trailered boats, but you can launch a cartopper in many places. The Menominee is full of boulders, so be careful when operating an outboard. The Wisconsin Public Service Corporation maintains several boat landings along the middle of the river from White Rapids downstream to Grand Rapids Flowage. The river's rocky shorelines and instream cover hold bass, and you'll find them in the stumps at the upper end of the flowage, too.

Upper and Lower Scott flowages, located on the river at Marinette, offer good habitat for smallies. There is a state-owned access off Highway 18 above the upper dam. Guide Mike Mladenik says smallmouths are scattered along shoreline cover and around the island near the dam. He likes to prospect with crankbaits, then switch to jigs and plastics when he finds fish.

For maps and information, contact the Marinette Area Chamber of Commerce, (715) 735-6681 or www.marinettechamber.com. For guide service, contact Mike Mladenik at (715) 854-2055 or on the Web at www.mikemladenik.com.

The river is deep in most places. Its water is stained dark, and there are a lot of rocks. Here and there, you will encounter backwater sloughs with weeds and downed timber. These areas hold more largemouths, while smallies hang out near rocks, under logs and on the edges of the river channel.

There are good stretches below Caldron Falls, High Falls, Johnson Falls and Sandstone flowages. The stretch from Johnson Falls downstream to Spring Rapids is managed as trout water, with artificials-only regulations, but there are bass here, too. This portion is able to be waded, but a boat or canoe is required to fish most of the river. Water levels vary depending on releases from the hydro dams along the river. Above Highway C upstream of Caldron Falls, the river is considered trout water, but bass moved up into this stretch during the drought years of the late 1980s and never left. See the trout regulations booklet for any special rules here.

There are few landings between the flowages. One is located between High Falls and Johnson Falls, where the Thunder River joins the Peshtigo.

The lower river, from the Peshtigo to the mouth, has a sand bottom, but it harbors smallmouths in summer, along with seasonal runs of steelhead, pike, walleyes and salmon, so you may catch just about anything. Look for bass where the main current meets the lip of a slough or weedy backwater.

Mike Mladenik also guides on the Peshtigo, and the Marinette Area Chamber of Commerce will have travel and lodging information.

The stretch from Oconto Falls to Stiles was once heavily damaged by industrial pollutants, but fishing in this section has come back since the river and Machickanee Flowage were cleaned up 20 years ago. There are smallmouths here and in the flowage, where they coexist with largemouths, northerns, muskies and panfish.

Below the Stiles dam, you can launch a canoe or flat-bottomed boat and float to the mouth at Oconto, stopping to fish along the way. This is classic smallmouth water, with holes, rocks, logs and riffles. Susie's Rapids, about a mile upstream from Oconto, is the only whitewater you'll encounter. Boaters also launch in town and motor up to this point, then fish their way back downstream. Overhanging trees and deep holes provide cover for bass all summer long, no matter how low the river gets above Susie's Rapids.

For lodging and other facilities, contact Oconto County Economic Development and Tourism, (920) 834-6969 or www.ocontocounty.org.

The only landing here is located at the Wagon Trail Resort, which you can reach by taking Highway 42 up the west side of the Door Peninsula, then Highway ZZ east from Sister Bay to its dead end at Rowley's Bay. It's about a mile from the landing to the mouth of the Mink, and east winds can make this run treacherous. Watch for rocks, especially if the lake is still low this summer. If you're careful, you can motor upriver and cast floating crankbaits along the edges of weedbeds and near woody cover. Bass also hang out in the reeds near the mouth of the river. Shallow-running lures and topwater baits are effective here.

For lodging reservations, call the Wagon Trail at 1-800-99-WAGON or log on to www.wagontrail.com. For information on other area facilities, contact the Door County Chamber of Commerce at 1-800-527-3529 or log on to www.doorcountyvacations.com. Camping is available at Newport State Park. For camping information, log on to www.dnr.state.wi.us/ org/land/parks.

The trick to finding smallmouths is to work close to riprap and instream rocks, because smallmouths here seem to occupy a very narrow niche in order to compete with the abundant walleyes, northerns and muskies, not to mention seasonal steelhead and salmon. If you toss your bait practically onshore, you're fishing just about right. Here, everything eats shad, which congregate near the outflow pipes. We found that crankbaits like a Shad Rap and jigs with plastic shad tails worked best.

Facilities are easy to find in Green Bay. Three public boat landings serve the Lower Fox River. There is plenty of water at the municipal ramp on the east shore at the mouth and at Fox Point Marina, just north of Voyageurs Park, also on the east bank. The ramp on the west bank off Highway H in De Pere at the Brown County Fairgrounds has been shallow due to low water levels. Bob's Bait and Tackle at 1504 Velp Ave. in Green Bay carries all the supplies you'll need to fish the Fox, and also offers guide service. Their number is 1-800-447-2312. You can find them online at www.bobsbaitandtackle.com. For information on lodging, food and other services, contact the Green Bay Area Visitors & Convention Bureau, 1-800-236-3976 or online at www.titletown.org.

The river begins at the outlet of Sheboygan Marsh in northwestern Sheboygan County. From here it loops north into Manitowoc County, then swings back southward to Sheboygan Falls, where it turns east to flow through Kohler and the city of Sheboygan. All the way, it meanders lazily through farms and woodlands. You can wade some stretches, while others require a boat or canoe.

The upstream passage of migrating steelhead and salmon is halted at the Kohler Dam, located on property owned by the Kohler Company, which includes the famed Black Wolf Run golf course. Upstream from here, the river is entirely smallmouth water. Downstream, smallies share the river with the migrants.

Thill Marine at 823 South Commerce right on the river rents kayaks and canoes. They will even ferry you upstream to Sheboygan Falls, where you can launch and then float and fish back down to their dock. For rental information, call (920) 452-1814 or log on to www.thillmarine.com. Sheboygan's riverfront has a variety of restaurants and other facilities, including the brand-new Blue Harbor Resort & Conference Center (www.blueharborresort.com), which just opened this year. For more information, contact the Sheboygan Convention and Visitors Bureau at 1-800-457-9497, extension 700, or online at www.sheboygan.org.

The recent removal of dams in West Bend, Waubeka, Grafton and Milwaukee has flushed silt out of flowages and restored the natural riverbed, creating miles of new smallmouth habitat. The dam removals have also allowed bass to move upstream and downstream as water levels and temperatures vary, giving them access to the conditions they need to flourish as permanent residents.

With over 50 miles of smallmouth water, the Milwaukee morphs from a small, rural stream into a broad, urban waterway. At normal water levels, you can wade most of the river. Below North Avenue, however, the river is deep and a boat is required.

You can canoe or wade stretches between West Bend and Saukville and never see another angler. Even where it flows through Grafton, Cedarburg, Mequon, River Hills and Glendale, the river retains its wild character. Don't be surprised to see more deer, otters or coyotes than anglers, except during the salmon and steelhead runs.

If you have a boat, you can launch on the lakefront at McKinley Marina and fish miles of riprap and breakwalls in and around Milwaukee Harbor. These rocks hold some big smallies, along with a few largemouths, pike, walleyes and of course the seasonal salmonids.

Access is easy at most bridge crossings, and in county and municipal parks all along the river. You can rent canoes or kayaks at Laacke & Joys, 1433 N. Water Street, (414) 271-7878 (www.laackeandjoys.com). For information on the Milwaukee River, call the R&R Sports Fishin' Hole hotline at (414) 481-9090, or the DNR hotline for southern Lake Michigan at (414) 382-7920.

(Editor's note: The author's Web site, www.dansmalloutdoors.com, offers more information on fishing opportunities throughout the Badger State and hot links to all the sites listed in this article.)