Jig (Casting & Pitching) Fishing on Lake Mendota
Lake Mendota · Wisconsin · Midwest
Lake Mendota sits at the northern edge of Madison, a 9,842-acre natural glacial basin with a mix of hard-bottom flats, rocky points, weedbed edges, and deep main-basin structure reaching 83 feet. Clarity tends toward the green-to-moderate range due to algae blooms in summer, though spring and fall offer cleaner windows. Both largemouth and smallmouth bass share the fishery, with smallmouth dominating the rocky structure and largemouth holding tight to the weed edges and shallower bays.
A lead or tungsten head with a weed guard, skirt, and soft plastic trailer. Fished on the bottom by pitching, casting, or slow-rolling. The jig imitates crawfish and bottom-dwelling forage. More big bass have been caught on jigs than any other lure category — it's the lure that separates serious anglers.
Jig (Casting & Pitching) Setup for Lake Mendota
| Rod | 7'–7'3" medium-heavy casting rod, fast action |
| Reel | 7.1:1 baitcaster |
| Line | 15–20 lb fluorocarbon (cover) or 50 lb braid (heavy grass) |
| Weight | 3/8 oz standard; 1/2–3/4 oz in wind or deep; 1/4 oz finesse |
| Hook | Built-in, typically 4/0–5/0 |
Seasonal Tactics on Lake Mendota
Lake: Smallmouth stack on rocky points and gravel flats in 6–14 ft as water temps climb through the 55–65°F window; Picnic Point and the rock piles along the north shore are historically reliable pre-spawn and staging areas. Largemouth push into Mendota's shallower bays — Cherokee Marsh and University Bay — once surface temps hit 58–62°F, setting up for one of the more consistent shallow-bite windows of the year.
Jig (Casting & Pitching): Pre-spawn is prime season — pitch brown/green pumpkin jig to 45° bank transitions and rocky points.
Lake: Warm-season algae blooms push dissolved oxygen levels down in deeper water, concentrating bass on weedbed edges in 8–15 ft and along the rocky drop-offs that hold cooler temps. Smallmouth suspend over main-basin structure in 20–30 ft during the hottest weeks, requiring a drop shot or finesse presentation to consistently connect.
Jig (Casting & Pitching): Football jig on offshore ledges 15–30 feet. Swimming jig around grass edges at dawn.
Lake: Falling water temps in September and October trigger a hard feed as bass pack on shad and cisco forage near main-lake points and the edges of dying weed lines. Topwater and swimbaits run productive through mid-October, and smallmouth on the north-shore rock piles can be some of the best fishing of the year before turnover muddies the bite.
Jig (Casting & Pitching): Swim a jig around baitfish schools near points and flats. Shad trailer colors in fall.
Lake: Ice-cover fishing for bass is limited and largely incidental to the perch and walleye crowd, but late-fall pre-ice largemouth in the 5–10 ft weed zone on the south shoreline will take a slow-rolled swimbait or a 3/8 oz football jig crawled along the last green cabbage edges.
Jig (Casting & Pitching): Slowest presentation — drag a 3/8 oz football jig on deep hard bottom. Barely move it.
Best Conditions
All seasons, all depths, all cover types; most effective in 50–70°F water; excellent in pre-spawn and when fish are on hard bottom
Match trailer to conditions: craw trailer in cold water (slower fall, bigger profile), swimbait trailer when swimming, chunk trailer for flipping.
More Techniques for Lake Mendota
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