When it comes to bass, Wisconsin anglers would rather catch than keep. Anglers there are only keeping about 5 percent of the bass they catch.
They kept only 550,000 of the 10 million smallmouth and largemouth bass they caught in 2006, according to a mail survey of anglers. In contrast, Wisconsin anglers that year kept about 30 percent of the walleye they caught, or 2.2 million of 7 million caught.
Wisconsin DNR fisheries managers said bass are very abundant in some northern Wisconsin waters, and they are encouraging harvest to keep the numbers in balance and to improve bass growth rates. As always, larger bass are less common and anglers should consider releasing them.
"No one should feel bad about harvesting largemouth bass in northwest Wisconsin," says DNR fisheries biologist Larry Damman, who is stationed in Spooner. "They are our most abundant and under-utilized, naturally reproducing game fish. High minimum size limits coupled with angler catch and release ethic have resulted in many lakes with over abundant, stunted populations where few largemouth ever reach legal size. The biological need is to harvest fish less than the present minimum size limit."
The DNR offers these 10 waters to try in northwestern Wisconsin, where harvest is encouraged and there are no minimum length limits:
Polk County: Balsam, Butternut Lake; Big Round Lake; Half Moon Lake; Pipe Lake and Ward Lake.
Washburn County: Big McKenzie Lake and Middle McKenzie Lake, both of which are actually in the southern bass zone, and Long Lake and Nancy Lake.
