LA CROSSE, Wis. — River fishing can be tricky at times, but Wisconsin anglers put their best effort forward Friday on Day 1 of the Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Qualifier at Mississippi River presented by Lowrance.
Justin Yenter caught a five-bass limit of 20 pounds, 6 ounces to take the Day 1 lead in the tournament being held on the wide expanse of America’s greatest river. He led a group of Wisconsin residents who surged to the top of the leaderboard in this tournament, grabbing seven of the Top 10 spots in the standings after the first of three derby days on the water.
Yenter, 30, hardly ever fishes the Mississippi, however. He lives in Stevens Point, Wis., which is a two-hour drive from La Crosse, and added that there aren’t many similarities between the river and Lake Winnebago, which he considers home water.
“The biggest thing I’ve noticed here is that the fish group up,” Yenter said. “Once you find them out on the mats, they move up together pretty good.”
Understandably, Yenter wasn’t ready to discuss specifics of the techniques he used to jump into the lead, but his statement about bass moving up from mats is telling. He said fish on this part of the Mississippi are in all three stages right now and confirmed that his best fish were pre-spawn largemouth.
“The smallmouth are post-spawn,” he said. “I have some spawners on beds, but they’re not big enough to mess with. The largemouth I caught, I could see them on LiveScope and I could watch them moving in and out (or potential bedding areas). That’s good news.”
Indeed, it was great news for Yenter, who was committed to a bedding smallmouth bite on Friday until about 9:30 a.m. After an extremely slow start, he went after largemouth and the move brought good fortune.
“The first spot I fished largemouth this morning, I landed on 17 pounds,” he said. “I went back to the smallmouth later, but it just wasn’t happening. So, I locked down from Pool 7 into Pool 8, and then I caught my big fish of the day (4-13). I didn’t want to sting all those fish once I had 20 pounds, so I left them alone.”
Yenter said the river appeared lower than usual, but that water depth was not his main concern.
“I found some cleaner water and that was the big thing for me,” he said.
Despite his success with the largemouth bite on Friday, Yenter said he expects to start Saturday trying to get bites from the smallmouth he previously targeted in Pool 7. He’s fairly sure he can find transitioning largemouth again Saturday and again on Sunday, after the field is cut and only the top anglers advance to compete for the tournament title.
“It’s hard to say (what you’ll wind up doing,)” he admitted. “This river changes so much, especially during the spawn when fish are moving up.”
A total of 289 anglers started the tournament Friday (183 boaters and 106 nonboaters). The Top 10% will make the cut here and also earn berths in the 2026 Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Championship presented by Lowrance, scheduled for Nov. 18-21 at Lake Hartwell in South Carolina.
Mike Raber, a 30-year-old resident of Elkhart, Ind., is in second place after Friday’s weigh-in with a five-bass limit weighing 20-1. He was the only non-Wisconsin boater in the Top 6 after the Day 1 results were posted.
“I had some boat trouble today, so I decided to put some hay in the barn,” Raber said, hinting he might have hit some of his best spots Friday after missing key fishing time on Day 1. “We’ll hope that doesn’t burn me tomorrow. We’ll see how it goes.”
Rounding out the Top 6 in the boater division after Day 1 on the Mississippi River are third, Harmon Marien, of Eagle River, Wis., 18-8; fourth, Cade Laufenberg, of Onalaska, Wis., 18-1; fifth, Parker Kratochvill, also of Onalaska, Wis., 17-15; and sixth, Tom Monsoor, of La Crosse, Wis., 17-13. Yet another Wisconsin resident, West Salem’s Wyatt Becker, is tied for seventh with Michigan’s Luke Gritter. Both anglers caught 17-7 on Friday.
Tyler Fitch, of Oregon, Wis., weighed a 5-6 on Friday to take the early lead for Big Bass of the Tournament honors.
Philip Olson, of Waukesha, Wis., leads the nonboater division with a three-fish limit of 8-15 caught Friday. Matt McVeigh, of Ft. Dodge, Iowa, is currently in second place with 8-9; and Mike Towe, of Braidwood, Ill., is third 8-1.
Tanner Visco, of Antioch, Ill., caught the heavy (a 4-10) among nonboaters on Friday.
Action will resume Saturday for Day 2 of the tournament. Fans can follow the action live on Bassmaster.com. Take-off is scheduled for 6 a.m. CT and weigh-in will begin at 2 p.m. CT.
Explore La Crosse is hosting this week’s tournament.