Good morning brothers.
We’re at it again! It’s early and I’m sitting in the main room of the boathouse that rests on the shore of the Manitowish Chain O Lakes to begin this article, coffee in hand, thinking about all the different ways to approach the fishing these next two weeks. We had big storms last night, and there’s something amazing about the way thunder cracks and echoes up and down the chain. It’s extra sharp. Crisp. A snap, a pause, a boom and that long, long rumble before it disappears completely back into the ether…
Snap… … … … BOOM!
Last night my family enjoyed the pitter-patter of rain hitting the windows and splattering across the deck in between thunder so loud it shook our souls. A solemn reminder that within the magnificent order of our world, there are powers far greater than man.
An excellent way to drift off after a long day of travel.
So sleep, yes… but then, over the next two weeks… we’ll fish hard.
A Plan for Fishing the Manitowish Chain
There are several techniques that have worked for us over the last 30 years fishing the different lakes of this northern chain. Standouts. The cream always rises to the top. I’ll briefly cover our favorites before explaining a newcomer this year… The Snakebite Rig. Every technique listed here was utilized over the course of this trip.
Top Fishing Techniques for Lakes near Minocqua, Wisconsin
- MEAT: a simple jig and leech or a weedless jig with a crawler will get the job done when everything else seems to get ignored. The Slo-Poke Walleye Kit is a great place to start, and if the panfish start attacking your live bait too much, don’t be afraid to fish small plastics. Hit the weed edges and rocky shorelines early in the morning, look anywhere from 5 to 25 feet deep.
- Small Stickbaits on a weedless wacky hook are a great way to work the weed beds while fending off the aggravating panfish. I stick with baits around 4″ and usually use natural colors – the water here is clear. If you don’t need a weed guard – don’t use one!
- If the fish are active and the water temps aren’t too hot, both pike and smallmouth will absolutely decimate a River2Sea Rover 98! It’s a great way to start your morning, and other small walking baits like a Zara Spook Jr can be dynamite! (For extra fun, rig up a Pop ‘n Drop and go to town!!)
- Finally, make sure you have a few jerkbaits, some quality swim jigs, and if you really want to focus on big pike and muskie – ‘ol faithful – the 3/4 Ounce Red & White Daredevle Spoon by Eppinger.
Later this month I’ll break down my Wisconsin Base Box. It’s more involved than this list. It’s also more involved than the Muck Base Box we covered a few weeks ago, but have no fear – the items mentioned above will give you a major leg up on your buddies!
Now… let’s talk about the new guy…
What’s The Snakebite Rig?
The Snakebite Rig is something that’s been getting tossed all along the tall, overhanging shores of Illinois. While exploring, I came across some clear lakes that had an interesting mix of tall, stringy grass beneath overhead muck. The Back-to-Back Uni-Knots used for my fluorocarbon leaders (to make my braid less visible) suddenly became a problem. Their forward-facing tag is a muck-magnet.
I would cast, start my retrieve, and within mere inches a large ball of snot and goop would form right at the connection, making it impossible to cleanly work my rigs through the cover. On top of that, the tag on the Uni-Knot next to my hook also gunked up, and as my plastic whatever would slip below the surface, it would become unusable after a crank or two of the handle.
Many popular knots have forward-facing tag ends.
There was no way to cleanly snake plastics through this mucky grass… very frustrating! I needed to come up with the most weedless, muckless setup that was also strong enough to hoist bass up onto the overhanging bank. (My beloved weedless wacky hooks and 8lb test had snapped, bent out or popped free one too many times while trying to haul nice bass up and out of the water. Just too much weight, so the hook needed to be a bit stronger as well – but retain a small profile.)
That was the goal, and The Snakebite Rig was born.
How to Set Up The Snakebite Rig
When you set up your Snakebite – the connections are as important as the components:
Spool up with 30 pound braided fishing line (or stronger) and tie on a high quality 15 lb fluorocarbon leader (or stronger) using an Improved Alberto Knot. This creates an extremely small, smooth connection that will not pick up muck. The fluoro is folded back onto itself, and the forward-facing tag is soft braid. This fixes the problem of the Back-to-Back Uni-Knot. (Adjust your leader length based on water clarity and cover conditions.)
Heavy line is important.
This rig will go where a shaky head or a jigworm with an exposed hook won’t, but it’s not a power presentation. It’s semi-finesse, but still needs to give you the power to hoist large bass up onto overhanging banks. The fluoro leader offers abrasion resistance too, and it won’t get spun up around branches as much as straight braid – double bonus!
Next, we need a weedless hook and weight system. The first thing that comes to mind is that good ‘ol Texas Rig… but we don’t want that free-floating weight or the hassle of adding a bobber stop / peg. Plus, we need a more compact hook, not a monster 5/0 EWG. This is the perfect rig to pair with some Z-Man Finesse BulletZ. The Z-Man Finesse BulletZ have a fixed weight and the 1/10th or 1/15th ounce sizes are usually enough to get the bait down into the cover without burrowing it into the bottom too fast. This gives fish time to see – and hammer – your offering. The recessed eye, stationary weight and smaller hook size slip through cover beautifully. (Note: the Z-Man Pro BulletZ feature much larger hooks and some heavier weights, so make sure you don’t grab these by mistake, unless you want to upsize the entire rig.)
This must be connected to your fluorocarbon leader using a Weedless Uni-Knot, which keeps the fluorocarbon tag end facing backwards – just like our leader connection.
These days I tie all of my Uni-Knots weedless, because it only requires one extra pass:
Finally, select your favorite floating worm or plastic (yes floating – we want this to sink slowly) and rig it – you guessed it – weedless. Push the tip of the hook through the bait and bury it just slightly below the “skin” on the opposite side so it doesn’t catch anything (“texposed”). This gives you better hooksets than what you would experience trying to drive through the entire plastic.
I prefer to use baits that already contain salt, then add additional scent. This mimics blood (something that is alive) while masking human stank. Bang StickZ. Dr. Juice. Get some.
How to Fish the Snakebite Rig
The Snakebite Rig was designed to be fished in clear to slightly stained water, with a layer of muck or algae over the top of tall weeds or grass. This is where it shines. The small hook, fixed weight, and knots with hard tag ends all facing back allow the angler to get through the algae, then snake through the weeds or grass below with ease.
The floating plastic helps to keep the bait up off the bottom, and the salt and scent give you an extra few seconds to set the hook.
Cast it out and start to work it back with slow drags or twitches. A faster retrieve will bring the bait back just subsurface. A slow, deliberate retrieve will allow you to drop the bait down into holes or transitions. If you come across a spot on a spot, like a stump or boulder or clearing within a larger weed bed, allow The Snakebite Rig to sink all the way to the bottom of these areas and entice fish.
This works great for largemouth bass. It’s why it was developed.
Using a Snakebite Rig on Wisconsin Bass
The Snakebite Rig is also extremely useful when you need to fish big weedy flats for smallmouth bass in Wisconsin, and it came into play for me more than once this year.
Was it developed for bank fishing? Yes. Does it work when fishing from a boat as well?
Sure does.
Many techniques catch bass (once you find them) in Wisconsin. Our favorites are listed above, but things like weather, water temperature and clarity are always a major factor. We’re usually visiting in July – so temps can be anywhere from 70° to 84°… it’s the warm water period. Smallmouth bass can be shallow, but we also find them deep, along with walleye and the occasional pike or muskie – depending on the time of day.
Typically, we’re fishing anywhere from 5 to 25 feet deep.
When we head out early in the morning, Dad and I like to start by fishing big weedy flats with sporadic wood and rock cover that sits on the inside edge of the weeds. I’ll throw topwater towards the bank, like a Rover 98 or a Pop ‘n Drop, and Dad will usually fish some combination of jig & meat off the other side of the boat.
This works well.
As the sun starts to get higher and higher in the sky, we move out. If it’s midday we’ll actually head way out to fish weedy, rocky humps in 20+ feet of water – but before that, we’ll work the back side of the weeds that were productive in the morning. Dad will continue to work his jig & meat off the back edge, but I like to keep working out from the middle of the weeds – right in the thick of it.
This year I realized The Snakebite Rig is prefect for working through big weedy flats, and then coming out and OFF of them, dropping down along the backside and working out a bit towards deeper water. This was especially effective on weed clumps sitting at the top of a rocky point coming out from shore, and using this technique allowed me to pick up extra smallmouth bass both IN and OUT of the weeds with MINIMAL SNAGS.
Outstanding.
In terms of rigging up for smallmouth bass? It’s all the same components and knots, just downsize your plastic and your line accordingly. You’ll catch fish of every size – and you might even land a few bonus species…
Add The Snakebite Rig to your bag of tricks – and let me know how it goes.
You’re gonna catch more fish.
Tight Lines & Godspeed, Patriots.
One Final Note on the Selection of the Improved Alberto Knot over The FG Knot or the Yucatan Knot…
Believe me… I tested ’em all. We covered the Back-to-Back Uni-Knot above (the Improved Alberto comes through the guides easier, and picks up less muck). The FG Knot has a small tag but it also faces forward – not to mention the simplicity of the Improved Alberto makes it much more attractive than the FG in this scenario.
Finally, the Yucatan Knot is similar to the Improved Alberto, because it also requires you to fold the fluorocarbon back on itself when tying the knot – but I tried to tie this knot several times – with MONO even – and it failed every single time. Every single time! Musta tied 25 knots. All failed. User error maybe… so if you have confidence in a Yucatan Knot it seems like it would work fine for this application, but for me – I’m sticking with the Improved Alberto Knot.
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Catch More Fish Than Your Friends. Laugh At Their Tears.
Thank You For Your Support
Your support directly funds the creation of weekly articles and videos that promote the development of better anglers and better men. Our country (and our kids) need both. Please share this site, and consider a monthly, weekly, or one-time donation. You are helping us make a difference!
