At the end of last season, I looked back at my fishing records and how I did the past few seasons. I had pretty good years on both largemouths and smallmouths, but I saw a common denominator. Normally, I would “finesse fish” at the start of the year and then again at the end of the year. The past couple years, I finesse fished all year! Yes, I threw some deep cranks, frogs, bladed jigs, and a few big swimbaits, but 90 percent of my fishing was finesse. Not by choice, but more by necessity.

I don’t think it’s anything new in some parts of the country. The namesake of the Ned rig, Ned Kehde fishes his Ned rig, or a version of it, in Kansas all season long. But here in Wisconsin, outside of Sturgeon Bay and Door County, fishing finesse all season long isn’t something we had to do.

What is finesse fishing? I will get into the detail, but the broad brush-stroke explanation is light line, light rods, and lures under 3 inches.

Let’s start with light line. Former Wisconsin bass pro, and now host of Smallmouth Crush podcast, Travis Manson turned me on to 5-pound Cortland Master Braid. I’ve tried a lot of light braids, and some have become a wind-knot nightmare, but the 5-pound Master Braid is the ultimate finesse braid, in my opinion. Have you ever cracked off a lure on the cast and just watched it fly forever? The longest cast of your life, but unfortunately, the lure isn’t attached. That’s what 5-pound Master Braid is like with a 1/8-ounce jig, but it is still attached. You will be amazed how far you can cast a #9 floating Rapala—a great lure that has been described as trying to cast a potato chip. I like white, but they have a couple other options. If you don’t feel comfortable with such a fine braid, go up to 8-pound, but no heavier.

On the business end, attach a mono or fluorocarbon leader roughly 6 to 8 feet long. I don’t believe in super-expensive fluoro leader, but I have been using a very reasonable fluoro called Seaguar Red Label. It’s sold as a main-line fluorocarbon line, but is a great leader material, and 200 yards are about $15.

Spinning rods and reels are tools of finesse. You can go with medium-light rods. I personally like a medium just because I like a little more power to keep bass out of cover. If you are fishing clean bottom like on gravel points or in Door County waters, you can go to a medium-light and it will get you a little more distance with a light bait.

I like a 2000 size reel because the spool is small, and line just pours off effortlessly, like nothing is attached to the lure. The drawback to 2000 size reels is that the line retrieval ratio is slow. So, the compromise is a 2500 size. Put some mono backing on it, 75 yards of braid, and you are set.

I generalized with lure size by saying lures under 3 inches, but in reality, that holds true for Wisconsin finesse bass fishing.

Finesse lures

Here is your Wisconsin finesse bass fishing starting lineup.

Let’s start with minnow/jerkbaits. The classic of all classics, the #9 floating Rapala, is a great shallow-water/topwater finesse twitch bait. If you need to get deeper, the #8 Husky Jerk is a great option.

Regarding topwater, the small Rebel Pop R has been a solid choice for Wisconsin largemouth and smallie machine for 50 years. It’s a small package that has produced many 20-inch-plus bass for me.

Paddle-tail swimbaits are great finesse baits all season long. Any of the 2.5- to 2.8-inch versions will serve you well. Match them with a 1/4-ounce head and you can cover a ton of water quickly.

Tubes are year-round bass killers. It’s hard for me to not start with a tube on new water. They just work everywhere. Swim them, crack them, crawl them. Here again, a 2.5- to 2.75-inch tube fits the finesse presentation. Fit them with a 1/8-ounce head on a normal weight hook. Some tube jigs are built on a hook that’s too heavy for finesse gear. Note the wire diameter when picking out tube heads and other baits when finesse fishing.

Rubber-legged bass jigs are the basis for a lot of my Wisconsin finesse bass fishing. But these are scaled down versions. Most have sparse rubber, a small trailer, and weigh 1/8- to 1/4-ounce. As with tubes, you can swim a jig, hop a jig, crawl a jig, crack a jig—or all the above. It’s very versatile and works all season long, from ice-out to freeze-up. You can tie on a bass jig and cast it and swim it shallow, then let it drop to the weed edge and crack it along the bottom in 15 feet. One lure covers all depths.

Then there’s the ultimate finesse bait, the Ned rig. What can I say that hasn’t been said? It is still a great bait, but I have noticed that on some waters, I think the bass have seen it a lot now. It’s still a solid choice, but don’t rely on it 100 percent.

There are some final plastics that I really love for finesse Wisconsin bass. The first is a 3-inch hellgrammite. Bass, especially smallies, cannot pass on a helgy. Put it on a 1/8-ounce jig or drop-shot it. It’s another all-season, start-to-finish producer.

Don’t forget about a wacky worm presentation. Four- and 5-inch wacky worms are the norm, but a 3-inch will catch them when they only glance at bigger ones.

One last bait I need to mention will get you through weedy situations. It’s from Japan where they seem to reinvent finesse bass fishing every year. The bait is the Deps Cover Scat in the 2.5-inch size. It’s the best weedless finesse bass bait I have found and works all season long. It doesn’t look like much, but it works! Pop it off the bottom and let it sink. Crawl it along the bottom. Slowly swim it. It’s fished on a weighted hook and is as weedless as it gets.

In Wisconsin, finesse bass fishing isn’t just for early season, late season, or summer cold fronts. Due to clear water, fishing pressure, and spooky fish, finesse works all season long. And don’t think it’s just for numbers. I’ve caught all my 20-inch-plus bass the past four seasons on baits under 3 inches long, using light line. Five-pound braid will land more than you think. Trust me, scale down and you will be amazed.

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