Rice Lake is an excellent lake for catching smallmouth bass and there are plenty of big smallies here too. While this lake is known for having a lot of weed growth, there are plenty of rocks in the lake that smallmouth bass love to hang out around. Smallmouth bass will feed on the bait fish in and around the weeds as well, so don’t rule out fishing for smallmouth bass around the weeds while here on a trip.
Big Smallmouth Bass on Rice Lake
Rice Lake is known for its quality smallmouth bass fishery. In most of the tournaments, you will see smallmouth bass as the more common bass when it comes to the biggest fish of the tournament. It is fairly common to see smallmouth bass in the 4 to 5 pound range in the bass tournaments here.
Fish the Bays
Early in the season, anglers will find plenty of smallmouth bass in the bays around all types of cover such as weeds, rocks and wood. The bays are definitely much better in the spring and early summer as smallmouth bass move into spawn.
Fish the Docks
Rice Lake has plenty of docks to fish throughout the lake. It’s a popular lake so plan on seeing plenty of docks with boats occupying them throughout the summer. The deeper docks will usually hold better numbers of quality fish.
Fish the Offshore Structure
Humps
If you take a look at a contour map of Rice Lake, you will see that there are a lot of humps found offshore. These spots will definitely hold smallmouth bass, especially if you have some rocks and or weeds on these structures. The humps provide some very good fishing from mid summer through fall.
Islands
Rice Lake has plenty of islands that you can easily fish this pattern and have plenty of spots to fish. Depending on the island you will have rocks, weeds and some wood to fish. Islands that have some deeper water around them will usually be your better spots in the summer and fall to find larger numbers of smallmouth bass.
Fish the Points
Rice Lake has a lot of points whether you’re looking at the main lake shorelines or all the points on the numerous Islands throughout the lake. The bass anglers are known for going from point to point to find active largemouth or smallmouth bass. Find some rocks and wood and you’ll find some smallmouth bass.
Fish the Weeds
Rice Lake has an abundance of weeds which is awesome for so many species of fish. You will find just about everything in and around the weeds from spring through fall. Smallmouth bass will be found more in the rocky areas, however you will find some smallmouth bass relating to the weeds too since there will be so much bait in and around the vegetation.
Fish the Wood
You will find some wood along the shorelines. Anglers usually target the wood for largemouth bass, but you’ll find smallmouth bass here as well, especially earlier in the summer. Some of the shorelines will have some overhanging trees or lay downs while other areas will have a lot of taller trees which provide some great shade for the fish to hide on sunny days.