I was halfway through a slow, steady retrieve when my line suddenly pulled tight, a noticeable bend forming in my rod. Something in the shallow, clear waters surrounding the Sister Islands had inhaled my black marabou jig. I set the hook and felt a weighty fish dart off in another direction. A short but dogged fight later, I had a chunky smallmouth bass in hand—my first of the day. After a few quick photos, I slid the feisty fish back into the cool water, and my boatmates congratulated me on my first Door County smallmouth.
It was mid-June, and our group of anglers was on Lake Michigan’s Green Bay for two reasons: to catch lots of smallmouth bass and to test Humminbird’s new MEGA Live Imaging TargetLock system before its official launch. The new accessory lets anglers lock their MEGA Live Imaging on structure while being free to use their trolling motor for navigation. We’d see it in action over two days of excellent fishing.
I spent most of the morning with fellow anglers Ryan Chuckel and Bryan Brasher, catching several nice smallmouths on swimbaits and hair jigs. After lunch, I hopped onto Capt. Adam Rasmussen’s boat. A Door County charter captain for the past eight years and owner of Rasmussen Outdoors Guide Service and Salmon Depot Charters, the guy has the fishery around Sister Bay dialed in. We caught more bass around the islands before fishing the docks along Sister Bay’s shoreline. We eventually stumbled onto a big school of smallmouths, ranging from dinks to decent fish around 3 pounds. I don’t know how many we caught that
