Thursday, October 16, 2025
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Thursday, October 16, 2025

Milwaukee Press Club 'Excellence in Wisconsin Journalism' 2020 & 2021 Award Winners

Top 5 Green Bay Smallmouth Bass Lures – Sturgeon Bay Door County

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Top 5 Green Bay Smallmouth Bass Lures

      Fishing for smallmouth bass can be tough, but when you find out what they are hitting it’s super easy and fun, they tend to be in the shallows from early spring to mid-summer. Then they move out deeper to find food and to escape the hot summer months. Here is a roundup of my favorite Green Bay smallmouth bass lures. 


1. Rapala Big Brat 6   

   Green Bay smallmouth bass LuresThis is a popular bait for smallmouth anglers, these baits dive from 1.5 feet to 6 feet. The crawfish color shown above is one of the best colors, due to the amount of crawfish hiding among the rocks of Green Bay. Another good color is the Sleeper color or bone craw, casting these around rocks will imitate escaping craws or even small gobies. Cast this bait around structures most likely rock ledges or sunken trees and range the depth so that the bait is running from a foot off the bottom to halfway in the water column. Buy it here.


2. MegaBass Dark Sleeper


Green Bay smallmouth bass LuresGreen Bay Smallmouth Bass Lures

The Megabass dark sleeper is a goby bait that comes in three sizes, 2.4”, 3”, 3.8”. It comes in 10 colors that you can check out on the amazon link above. Of course, the color above is my personal favorite but there are several others I have good luck with. It is a very versatile bait, you can swim it or bounce it off the bottom. This bait can be fished in pretty much any way you want and fish will bite. This bait imitates a small goby, it is a paddle tail swimbait and has a nice large top fin that protects the hook from weeds. But the fins are flimsy enough that a smallmouth bass will have no issue getting hooked. Buy it here. 


3. Googan Baits drag-N-drop
Green Bay smallmouth bass Lures

The Googan baits drag-N-drop is a finesse-style bait that can be fished in most likely 3 ways. It comes in 7 colors and any color will catch one because it can imitate a goby, worm, leach and much more. The first way is on a shaky head, a shaky head is a kind of jig that wobbles and when the lure is on the bottom and you bounce it will jiggle the tail. The second way is on a drop shot and a drop-shot is where you tie a weight that can vary weights due to the depth of water you fish and then tie a Palomar knot with a smaller hook about a foot or higher above the weight. The ideal way to fish a drop shot is to cast out and do two or three bounces and let the bait slowly fall. The last way is to Texas rig it and fish it but drag it along the bottom and bounce it. Buy it here. 


4. Berkeley Hit Stick

Green Bay smallmouth bass LuresGreen Bay Smallmouth Bass LuresThe Berkeley hit stick is one of my goto smallmouth baits, it is meant to be fished by straight retrieve for about two or three feet then give it a jerk or two to imitate a dying baitfish. This bait can dive from 3-12 feet. There are two sizes, the 3.5” and 5.5” the 3.5 dives 3-6 feet and the 5.5 will dive from 6-12 feet due to how fast you retrieve. It has 11 colors, there are so many colors that work very well but I would stick to a baitfish color. The color shown above is my personal favorite and I have caught several 3+ pound smallies on this jerk bait. What I like to do that I don’t hear of much anymore is when you feel the bait hit the bottom, by hitting rocks you should stop the bait. Let it float a couple of inches then continue the retrieve because that pause gives the smallmouth a chance to eat it if they are a little more finicky. Buy it here. 


5. Ned Rigs

Green Bay Smallmouth Bass LuresGreen Bay Smallmouth Bass LuresNed rigs are by far the cheapest option if you are looking to get into smallmouth fishing. A ned rig is about a total of 1.5-2 inches, many many companies make this style of bait. There are hundreds of colors and sizes. There are lots of different jig head weights that you can get to how deep you are fishing. This bait is meant to be a small insect or really can be whatever you want it to be. How you fish it is by casting out and bouncing it off the bottom, this bait is usually used in the spring when smallies are spawning and fished by bouncing on their beds. I know several people who swear by this bait to catch every fish in its path.  Buy it here.


Green Bay Smallmouth Bass Lures

Tube Baits are amazing lures that are at the top of Green Bay smallmouth bass Lures. Spinnerbaits are highly effective lures for smallmouth bass, as well as almost any other species of gamefish in freshwater. Crankbaits and spinnerbaits are both very popular lures for smallmouth bass when the fish are active.

Some of the more productive lures for smallmouth in streams are 1/4-ounce spinnerbaits and buzzbaits. Many of the best bass fishing lures are smaller versions of the ones used on bigmouth. Jigging spoons are among the best bass deepwater fishing lures, though they are seldom fished by most bass anglers.   

This combination makes the most spoons a great option for those anglers that have a large body of water they have to cover to find fish. The best spoons for smallmouth bass cover just about every scenario, from bottom-straining fish to topwater feeders that are aggressive, going after minnows and damselflies. There is no better way to catch smallmouth when they are aggressive than topwater lures, certainly when conditions are right.  

While smallmouth are a lot like bigmouth, and they will populate the same areas and eat the same lures, in bodies of water where smallmouth are the dominant species of bass, like deeper, more pristine northern lakes, you are going to need to adjust your techniques and presentations, and make adjustments in not just how you fish, but your bait choices. When shifting focus from bigmouth to smallmouth, fishing different areas will be far more effective than changing up lures, but using these classic smallmouth baits will allow you to get a lot more in tune.   

Swiftwater smallmouth would typically be bigger and stronger than those caught on creeks, and through the years, specific lures and types of baits emerged as a must-have on each and every smallmouth fishing trip. Whether fishing Snake, Potomac, John Day, New, Niagara, Susquehanna, Shenandoah, or lesser-known streams visited only by locals, the best smallmouth bass lures will produce smallmouths summer to fall. Otherwise, if using lures is your preference, you can choose one of these popular smallmouth bass lures.  

Bladed Swim Jigs are also highly effective in hot summer months, as well as late fall, when there are a lot more smallmouth in deeper waters. Lipless crankbaits still may work through deeper water, but are best at shallower areas to catch the smallmouth bass moving down in for a feed on a baitfish. 

You can target suspended Bass in deeper water, or simply crank a Crankbait through the shallows looking for Bass moving in to feed on baitfish. When the bass are moving deep (15-30 feet), it is not unusual for some anglers to get some grouping Bass when jigging vertically on Bass hanging around schooling baitfish. Generally, anglers may be fishing all finesse soft plastic lures in a similar manner, pulling and bobbing baits across the bottom.   

Anytime you are having trouble getting a bite on other lures, be it extremely cold water temps or warmer ones, these soft plastics often will do. You can rig whatever soft plastics you like onto your spinnerbaits, however, most anglers report better success imitating fish lures like shad, glow lights, and other types of minnows. Artificial lures enable anglers to cover more water, while also getting a trigger for bites on fish that are not actively fishing.   

Many times, baits can be cast on rocks or sandy bottoms on an open hook such as tube without having to worry so much about getting caught in the weeds. I love using crankbaits for floating when you are rapidly moving through the water and need a bait you can retrieve at moderate or rapid speed. I find that these lures work well for all types of situations, and hopefully, they will be helpful to you in your quest to catch the bass smallmouth. 

The Coffee Tube is a powerful, all-around bait that will help you land a smallmouth anywhere it swims. In addition to being great at catching smallmouths along the bottom of the water, this lure produces a caffeine smell, thus its Coffee Tube name. For the smallmouth angler that is cash-strapped or budget-conscious, however, this is a lure that you are going to want to pick up. 

As its name suggests, this crankbait is slightly smaller in size compared to the other models offered for bigmouth. The Divine Swim Jig also features a quality Mustad 1/0 hook, the hook is super strong for the smaller spinnerbaits size, and while the bait is smaller, you will have no trouble hauling in huge bass of more than 5 pounds. 

The jigs are great bigmouth lures as well, and these lures will also catch bigmouths. Smaller soft plastics might not produce the same action that some other bass lures, but they offer a simple food item so that any fish would be hard-pressed not to take a bite, thus being great Bass producers. All finesse soft plastic lures are great on rocks piles and sand beds for finding smallmouth bass cruisers. 

The best Green Bay smallmouth bass Lures for pre-spawning smallmouth bass include mid-drop crankbaits with crawfish or fire tiger shades, jig tips with chunks of plastic, and plastic grubs. Brown bass will be scattered around gravel bank edges of the channel and around the body of the lake, so try moving lures like white or chartreuse spinnerbaits or mid-diving crankbaits in crawfish, fire tiger or bluegill colors. Most smallmouth anglers use eight-ounce jig heads with three-inch tubes as their standard rigs for channel fish, and colors including black, brown, pumpkin, olive and root beer patterns have caught fish all season. 


 

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New Wisconsin Law Heightens Punishment For Deepfake Pornography

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill on Friday that will make using artificial intelligence to create pornography of a person a misdemeanor and using an AI-generated nude or sexual image of a person to intimidate, coerce or harass them a felony.

Wisconsin Act 34 was authored by Rep. Brent Jacobson, R-Mosinee, and Sen. Andre Jacque, New Franken.

The law, which goes into effect on Saturday, came after D.C. Everest Junior High student Bradyn Bohn died by suicide after he was the victim of sextortion.

“Recent events like the tragic death of DC Everest student Bradyn Bohn demonstrate how vulnerable we can be to online coercion and intimidation,” Jacobson said in a statement. “I am proud that my colleagues in the Legislature and Governor Evers could come together to proactively update our laws and keep Wisconsinites safe!”

The law is an expansion of prior crimes related to the depiction of nudity.

Jacque cited a study from Deeptrace which showed that 96% of “deep fake” material is non-consensual pornography, and “exclusively targets and harms women.”

Jacque cited another case in Milwaukee where an artificial image was created by a former police officer who then used the image to harass an ex-girlfriend.

“As the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) become more and more advanced, bad actors are increasingly using artificially generated sexually explicit images to harass and intimidate innocent people online,” Jacque said in a statement. “Act 34 will protect citizens against a new and disturbing form of cyber-abuse and ensure that all Wisconsinites can feel comfortable sharing regular images of themselves online without fearing that those images will be manipulated or corrupted into pornography.”

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Consumers’ Research launched a seven-figure campaign against Chubb Insurance, stating in its Woke Alert that the company promotes DEI, gender ideology, and climate extremism.

Executive director of Consumers’ Research Will Hild told The Center Square: “Instead of providing a service that individuals need to protect themselves and their families, Chubb is weaponizing its outsized influence over the insurance industry to promote radical ideologies such as DEI, green climate initiatives, and transgender ideology, all above services people need."

Consumers’ Research is “the nation's oldest consumer protection organization,” according to Hild.

Chubb Insurance is “a world leader in insurance” with “operations in 54 countries and territories,” that provide “commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance,” according to the company’s website.

When contacted twice, Chubb Insurance media relations did not respond.

Hild told The Center Square that “Chubb Insurance has a responsibility to their customers first and foremost to provide exceptional services at competitive costs, but the company has chosen to prioritize a woke agenda and force their political beliefs onto consumers.”

“Chubb proudly claims DEI is the foundation of its culture and publicly touts its discriminatory policies,” Hild said.

Indeed, Consumers’ Research’s Woke Alert outlines the ways in which Chubb’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion is evident, including the company’s General Counsel Joseph Wayland saying that “diversity, equity and inclusion are the foundation of our Chubb culture.”

In addition, Chubb launched a platform called “Race Matters” to “facilitate greater consciousness of racism and understanding of the Black experience,” as well as made a “Race Fluency Toolkit” to “ingrain anti-racism within Chubb’s culture,” as shown in the Woke Alert.

“As part of Chubb’s woke ‘racial justice’ activism, its Code of Conduct tells employees to ‘promote diversity, equity and inclusion’ and ‘help us maintain a culture that values’ DEI,” the Woke Alert said.

The Chubb Rule of Law Fund also “awarded $1.1 million to projects that promote equity and advance racial justice and police reforms.”

Hild told The Center Square that because of Chubb’s “blatant disregard for President Trump's policies [against illegal discrimination], Consumers’ Research sent a letter to the Departments of Justice and Treasury calling for a federal investigation into Chubb for any violations of President Trump's executive orders and anti-discrimination laws.”

In addition to a DEI agenda, Chubb supports the transgender industry, as it “funds gender ideology for children and has made contributions to The Trevor Project through the Chubb Charitable Foundation.”

The Woke Alert said that “the Trevor Project operated “a private chat room which allowed adults to prey on vulnerable children and for supplying materials intended to advance trans ideology among kids.”

Chubb also boasts of its Human Rights Campaign score, and the company’s CEO Evan Greenberg said that “stopping men from using women’s bathrooms is a ‘threat to democracy,’” as stated in the Woke Alert.

As far as climate extremism goes, the Woke Alert states that “Chubb has pushed a radical climate agenda, equating the impact of climate change with that of global terrorism.”

Chubb has also “refused to reliably insure American energy companies, stating on its website that it will no longer underwrite new coal-fired plants and phase out coverage for existing coal plants that generate more than 30% of their revenue from coal,” the Woke Alert said.

Hild told The Center Square that consumers can “make their voices heard” about Chubb’s work efforts “by reaching out to Chubb and demanding the company focus on their consumers and not a political agenda.”

“Consumers' Research will continue to put companies on blast that are prioritizing a woke agenda over its consumers,” Hild said.

“If any consumers have first-hand experiences dealing with woke policies being pushed at Chubb, they can reach out to us at ConsumersResearch.org and visit our Report Woke page to share any information with us,” Hild said.

In addition to its Woke Alert, Consumers’ Research launched a national television ad, a website, and mobile billboards as a part of its seven-figure campaign, according to information obtained by The Center Square.

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(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto, sees an E-Verify bill that he has co-authored as a step toward requiring E-Verify for all employers in the state, like 10 other states require.

For now, however, Assembly Bill 281 would require state government employees and state contractors with contracts more than $50,000 to use E-Verify for employees.

“This is a commonsense measure that promotes transparency and accountability in public contracting and state employment,” said Rep. Jim Piwowarczyk, R-Hubertus.

Hubertus told the Assembly Committee on Commerce that, had Iowa used this requirement, it would have avoided the situation where Des Moines Public School Superintendent Ian Andre Roberts was arrested after it was found that he had weapons charges and was in the country illegally.

“This bill would make sure this does not happen here in Wisconsin,” Piwowarczyk said.

Wimberger said that he knows and has experienced how difficult it can be to find employees.

“The fact that we struggle to find labor does not justify doing something that is destructive to our society,” Wimberger said.

He compared it to before the Civil War when cotton farmers said that they wouldn’t have anyone to pick cotton if they could not have slaves.

“The answer is that we’re going to figure it out,” Wimberger said. “… Advance as a society and not be luddites.”

Christine Neumann-Ortiz of Voces de la Frontera registered against the bill, saying it would make some undocumented workers go the extra steps of buying a Social Security number from someone else in order to work and then it would raise the charges that could be brought against the worker if they are found to have used false information.

“We need to make sure that, here in Wisconsin, people are made to feel welcome and their contributions are welcomed,” Neumann-Ortiz said.”… In the absence of immigration reform, it is what people are coerced to do.”

David Ortiz Whittingham, of Worker Justice Wisconsin, said that the requirement will lead more contractors to heavily use subcontractors who do not have the E-Verify requirement to do the actual contracted work and shield “brazenly illegal practices.”

“The prime contractor on the project will only employ a small fraction of the workers on the project,” he explained.

Wimberger said that the use of illegal immigrant labor undercuts the value of an hour of labor for those in the country illegally, citing Cesar Chavez.

He called the employment of workers in the country illegally “corrosive.”

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ICE Arrests Iowa Schools Superintendent With Criminal Record, No Work Authorization

Iowa's largest school district is holding an emergency meeting Saturday night after its superintendent was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Des Moines agents.

ICE arrested Des Moines Public School Superintendent Ian Andre Roberts on Friday. A citizen of Guyana, Roberts has a criminal record and has been living in the U.S. illegally with no work authorization, ICE says. A federal immigration judge also ordered his removal from the country last year.

Roberts, “a criminal illegal alien from Guyana,” was arrested “in possession of a loaded handgun, $3,000 in cash and a fixed blade hunting knife,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers in Des Moines said.

He was working as the DMPS superintendent “despite being an illegal alien with a final order of removal and no work authorization,” ICE said.

When ICE ERO-Des Moines officers approached him, he sped away in his taxpayer-funded DMPS vehicle to evade arrest. Officers later found the vehicle abandoned near a wooded area. Iowa State Patrol assisted with locating and arresting him. He remains in ICE custody.

Roberts first entered the U.S. in 1999 on a student visa. Not soon after, he was arrested on weapons charges on Feb. 5, 2020, in violation of his visa terms. A federal immigration judge issued a final order of removal in May of last year.

The ATF is investigating how Roberts acquired the handgun. “It is a violation of federal law for those in the U.S. without legal status to possess a firearm and ammunition,” ICE said.

“This suspect was arrested in possession of a loaded weapon in a vehicle provided by Des Moines Public Schools after fleeing federal law enforcement,” ICE ERO St. Paul Field Office Director Sam Olson said. “This should be a wake-up call for our communities to the great work that our officers are doing every day to remove public safety threats.

“How this illegal alien was hired without work authorization, a final order of removal, and a prior weapons charge is beyond comprehension and should alarm the parents of that school district.”

Des Moines Public Schools is the largest school district in Iowa, serving more than 30,000 students and employing 5,000 people. Its superintendent receives a salary of $270,000, a taxpayer-funded car and cell phone allowance, contributions to a tax-sheltered annuity and retirement plan, and district health, life and long-term disability insurance.

DMPS has an affirmative action plan, which appears to emphasize hiring based on race. Its 2021 Affirmative Action plan prioritizes “diversity, inclusion, and equity” as “fundamental and essential” to the district’s success.

The plan’s stated goal is to increase hiring the number of teachers of color by specific grades and percentages. This includes increasing hiring teachers of color in kindergarten and first grade by 8%; and in second through fifth grades by 5%. It also prioritizes increased test scores of Black male third grade reading students “from 35% to 72% by June 2023, as measured by FAST” and “Black male students earning a ‘B’ or higher in Algebra 1 by the end of 9th grade will increase from 17% to 35% by August 2023.”

It also prioritizes recruiting teachers who completed a “Blue Contract,” program through Drake University’s Master of Science in Education degree in Culturally Responsive Leadership and Instruction. Courses include “culturally responsive teaching” and “equity in Mathematics.” New teachers hired through the BLUE contract receive a higher starting salary than non-BLUE contract teachers, according to the plan.

DMPS said in a statement that its board retained Texas-based JG Consulting to conduct a search for its superintendent.

In a now deleted post, the consulting firm said Roberts previously served as the superintendent of Milcreek Township School District in Pennsylvania and “previously held leadership positions in various schools across the country, including Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Saint Louis.” It also cites DMPS Board Chair Teree Caldwell-Johnson praising his selection, citing his “educational experience, academic excellence, and his passion for innovation and inspiration” and “ability to create equitable experiences for students.” He assumed his DMPS role on July 1, 2023.

DMPS also included Roberts in its "Top 100 Influencers" this year.

On Friday night, the DMPS board said Baker-Eubanks conducted a third-party comprehensive background check on Roberts and that DMPS is “required to verify employment eligibility for all employees. In this case, Dr. Roberts completed the I-9 employment eligibility verification form and submitted the required documentation.”

The board also said he “was licensed by the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners in July 2023” and it “did not have any knowledge” of his immigration status or final removal order.

In response to ICE stating a loaded gun was found in a district vehicle, it said, “DMPS policy states weapons are prohibited on school grounds or at a school sponsored or school related activity.”

The board is holding an emergency meeting Saturday evening “to take action regarding Dr. Roberts’ administrative leave status.” It also appointed an interim superintendent.