LA CROSSE, Wis. — The Great Lakes Division of the Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine will kick off its 2025 season Saturday on familiar waters. La Crosse, Wisconsin, and Pools 7-9 of the Upper Mississippi River will host the field, as it will for three of the five Great Lakes Division events this year.
While the event should feature plenty of river rats who have lots of experience on the waters surrounding La Crosse, the variables at play on the river (water level, timing the locks, largemouth vs. smallmouth, etc.) ensures that just about every event is different. The one safe bet is that it will take a strong sack of fish to claim the first trophy of the year, as locals indicate the Big Muddy is fishing as well as ever.
This year, BFL anglers benefit from an expanded slate of Regionals, which minimizes travel costs and provides more opportunities to qualify for the $120,000 BFL All-American while fishing familiar, closer-to-home waters. Click here to find out more.
What to expect
The bass fishing on the Upper Mississippi has been on an upward trend in recent years, and Wisconsin native Cade Laufenberg thinks it will only continue to get better in 2025. Laufenberg, who has five BFL wins out of La Crosse to his name, called the recent fishing “unbelievable.”
“The number of really big fish that are getting caught right now is astonishing,” he said. “I personally have caught multiple fish in the upper-5-pound class, and caught one the other day that, I didn’t have my scale, but I’m pretty confident it was over 6. And I’ve heard of a couple other 7-plus-pound fish getting caught, which is not something we’re used to in La Crosse. So, I think this has a chance to be a big-weight burnout.”
The river offers a healthy population of both largemouth and smallmouth bass. While Laufenberg is confident smallmouth will be well represented in the Top 10, he thinks green fish will be the way to win, as their top-end size seems to be bigger.
“The smallmouth fishing is excellent, but you’re not seeing as many of those real giant, over-5-pound fish,” Laufenberg said. “So, I’m expecting a largemouth bag to win this one. A lot of thick smallmouth will play in the top five, but I don’t think they’ll win this one.”
The biggest factor anglers will have to contend with in chasing those fish is the river level. For the most part, Laufenberg said, it’s been a low-water spring, but recent rains have the water level forecast to spike nearly 2 feet by derby day. While that could be a good thing for those hoping to target largemouth in shallow backwaters, it will mean anglers have to look for fish in different areas than they’ve been catching them so far this spring.
“It’s going to open up some areas that would have been too shallow to fish before – now you’re going to have enough water for the fish to get into those places,” Laufenberg explained. “It’s going to move the fish from where they were this past weekend, but somebody is going to land on them, and they’re going to be really thick, stacked up, getting ready for true prespawn staging mode.”
Baits to bring
The Upper Mississippi is typically a power fisherman’s paradise, and Laufenberg believes that will hold true this weekend. He expects anglers to target largemouth with the likes of bladed jigs and flipping jigs, while jerkbaits and swimbaits should produce plenty of smallmouth action.
What will it take?
A year ago, the first BFL of the year out of La Crosse produced six bags over 20 pounds and a winning weight of 23-0 – virtually unheard of for the river. Yet Laufenberg thinks this event could match or exceed those numbers.
“I think it’s going to take at least 22 pounds to win the tournament,” he said. “I think it’ll probably take 17 1/2 to cash a check, and there will probably be at least three bags over 20 pounds brought in.”
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