Mike Norris Outdoors

Big Green Lake heads the water list here, alongside Fox Lake and other south-central Wisconsin lakes, and the trips are smallmouth-forward without being smallmouth-only. Late summer, as the site’s own dated reports describe it, means bluegills stacking in and above weed beds, outside weed edges and deep cribs, with smallmouth hunting those bluegills along the outside edges and largemouth roaming the weed patches to ambush them. The boat is a deep-hulled 2022 Ranger 1880ms on a 200hp Mercury Pro XS, and part of the day is spent being shown how the fish are found on Humminbird two-dimensional, down-scan and side-imaging sonar. Six hours runs $400 and eight hours $500 for one or two anglers, with $50 for a third and up to four aboard. Bring a hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, seasonal clothing, a Wisconsin licence and a camera.