ANSWERING THE BELL...Door County Smallmouth Ready for Fight
By Dick Ellis
Reader Note: When reading any of Dick Ellis’s 1200 Wisconsin journeys taken over two decades as a syndicated columnist, be sure to check current regulations when planning the trip yourself. The following trip to Door County targeting smallmouth was taken in 2003 with return trips following.
In 2003 John Volkman and Eric Carp questioned the number of five pound smallmouth claimed by anglers that actually reached that weight. In an interview May 29, 2012, Volkman said, “Now a five pounder is common. I know of fish caught over seven pounds and the bass population is in great shape. This year fishing is great for everything. If the wind would just stop blowing for a day.”
Just a five-minute rocket-ride out of Sturgeon Bay, Eric Carper and John Volkman let the Ranger settle into its own wake on the calm and pristine “flats”, step up to the platform and go to work. To set the scene, two boys cut loose in a Tonka factory with a six-hour play window and wearing “official tester” buttons would also be wearing basically the same look.
This is smallmouth time in smallmouth country. Volkman and Carper are looking to pick another fight…or fifty…with this tenacious Door County fighter. And if the bouts turn into a 100-fish, ten hour marathon, so be it. After years of watching the population blossom, it’s both the rejuvenated resource and the individual battles they’ve come to appreciate.
“Friends not familiar with this fishing will ask, ‘How did you do over there smallmouth fishing,” Carper said. “If it was a bad day maybe we’ll say `Not so good. We got 25 fish.’ The reaction is, `What?’ It is pretty unbelievable fishing.”
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| Alone in Paradise. John Volkman (foreground) and Eric Carper of Door County work Green Bay water for smallmouth bass. Smallie numbers are high and anglers can find entire Door County bays like this one with only one or two other fishing boats. |
“The smallmouth have always been here,” said Volkman, pitching another soft plastic to the sun-sparkled waters of Door County shortly before the rod doubles over with the first fish of the afternoon. “But when they went to a 14-inch minimum size limit it made a huge difference. I think the water clearing up with the zebra mussels may have helped too. But it’s gotten better every year.”
That it has. According to Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Fisheries Technician Tim Kroeff, who works closely with smallmouth bass in Door County waters of Green Bay and Lake Michigan, the smallie population is “absolutely fantastic”. But not without riding some rough water and uncertain times to make it here.
A stable smallmouth bass population in the 1960s often targeted by charter boats from Sister Bay and Fish Creek began to decline in the late sixties and early seventies. One theory for the decline is that a significant increase in alewife numbers and heavy predation by that fish resulted in heavy losses of smallmouth fry.
In the early to mid 1980s, the smallmouth population began to rebound with the assistance of an increase of the minimum size limit from 12 inches to 14 inches and lessened fishing pressure in part due an angler focus that had switched to a fabulous perch fishery. Tournament fishing for smallmouth bass brought with it increased fishing pressure once again, but also an angler mentality of catch and release.
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| After a hard fight another smallmouth bass surrenders. Fishing Green Bay water off of Sturgeon Bay in Door County, John Volkman and Eric Carper were disappointed in the “slow” fishing. “Only” thirty smallies were caught and released. | John Volkman and Eric Carper of Sturgeon Bay prepare to release a double whammy of smallmouth bass Monday off of Door County. The veteran Green Bay anglers called the day’s catch and release of approximately 30 smallies, “slow”. |
“Now we’re getting more reports of smallmouth bass near the Milwaukee Summerfest grounds, Sheboygan, Port Washington and other warmer water ports,” Kroeff said. “I think that it’s related to pollution control, less predation of fry by alewife and a heavy emphasis on catch and release. Fishermen used to keep those three or four pound bass. Recent Door County creel surveys showed that the actual harvest was five or six percent. Catch and release has been so important.”
Like Volkman and Carper, Kroeff too knows the thrill of a strong Door County smallmouth bass fishery on the business end of a rod and reel. Hosting a US Fish and Wildlife Service Fisheries Biologist from Minneapolis recently for a day of smallie chasing, Kroeff said his guest was left impressed by the results of a rejuvenated fishery bolstered by a catch and release mentality.
“He couldn’t believe it,” Kroeff said. “We only got about 15 fish, but they were up to 20-inches and four pounds. We caught nothing under 14 inches. Triple digit days for two two people, 100 smallmouth, is not out of the ordinary.”
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| Eric Carper prepares to release another smallmouth bass into Green Bay off of Door County. Carper and John Volkman caught and released approximately 30 smallies. |
John Volkman prepares to release another nice smallmouth bass near Sturgeon Bay. Volkman and Eric Carper caught and released approximately 30 smallies. |
Monday, Volkman and Carper were hoping to show a reporter more than those 30 fighting smallies over an afternoon. Volkman explains that with water temperatures wide-raging on these vast waters to the south and north of Sturgeon Bay, an angler can find bass in pre-spawn, spawn, or post-spawn conditions within a relatively short driving distance.
“We almost gambled and went further north,” he said. “But we thought we better stay with the sure thing. We knew fish were here on the flats.”
To an outsider not accustomed to the Door County smallmouth bass fishery, that’s a bit like apologizing for offering Packer tickets on the 40-yard line instead of the 50. This “game” has been more than worth the three hour ride to Green Bay.
The day ends as it began. Another smallie rises to take the plastic, Carper’s rod doubles over, the fish offers its aerobatics, and two boys in the Tonka factory “ooohh” and “ahhhh” themselves through another test ride.
The fish is released. Carper smiles. “There’s just nothing like it,” he says. “Nothing like feeling that thump on the end of the line.”
County connect with the Door County Visitors Bureau at www.doorcounty.com or 920-743-7873.