Pool 14 on the Mississippi
River ended up being a bigger challenge than expected. Fish were caught on both Saturday and Sunday,
but the size of them were just not what I was looking for. Friday's practice brought promise with two
keepers both over 14" but the cold front that moved in on Saturday and
Sunday shut off the fish somewhat making them move from areas that we found
them in on Friday. River fish are less
effected by cold fronts and pressure changes, but it still ended up being
tough. Water temperatures remained in
the low to mid 70's with the air temperatures starting in the morning around 52
degrees and working up to the low 70's.
High pressure both on Saturday and Sunday with blue bird skies as well.
I think the key thing that made
it so tough was the water level...and I think that has been a pretty consistent
theme for most tournaments throughout this season. The river was at least 5-7 feet down which
made a lot of the channels and cuts inaccessible for boats. With the water being lower than usual a lot
of the structure that the fish were used to holding to was also out of the
water. So after some thinking and
practice on Friday we were able to find a handful of areas that consistently
held a few fish. One of those areas was
an isolated point next to a main river channel.
Basically what it looked like was an island out in the middle of the
river that seperated the river into two channels on either side of the
island. On the right side there was no
current due to the river being low enough to expose a sandbar, and on the left
side the channel dropped down to almost 20 feet of water. So you basically had a nice flat at a point
with no current with deeper water near by....which is perfect for bass in the
summer. It took all about 3 casts to find out that there were fish there and we
caught a couple keepers instantly. So we
left it alone until Saturday. All of the
fish were at the tip of the point and to the right where the sandbar dropped
down into the water.
The other area that we found
later in the day on day 1 of the tournament was a stretch of discharges from a
set of industrial plants in a cut off of the main river. This provided warmer water which made this
specific channel less effected by dropping water temperatures from the cold
front. There were about 8 or so
discharges in total but one of them was just on fire with the amount of action from
fish busting the surface while chasing after shad. We threw everything we had at them with no
luck until I switched back to a texas rigged plastic. Then I caught two 13 3/4" largemouth
within a few casts from eachother. No
keepers for Saturday...but at least that was another spot we could return to on
Sunday. In any case where we found fish
the other piece to the puzzle was baitfish...without a food source the bass
were nowhere to be found.
Sunday was a little colder and we
fished the same two areas again...which produced good fish but again nothing
over 14". My boater Joe pulled up
to the point where we caught fish and he ended up picking up the only keeper
out of that area that day. I caught
several 13" fish but just couldn't find that bigger one. Same went for the discharge...had one just
shy of 14" but nothing after that.
I caught about 12 bass on Saturday and 8 on Sunday, so I was happy at
the fact that we did find fish and we did catch a decent amount for the
conditions that we had. I also caught a
small 24" northern and a few hybrid bass as well, which gives you a
glimpse of the diversity of this fishery.
Fish were caught primarily on crankbaits and texas rigged creature
baits.
At the end of Sunday we knew that
a couple of the guys figured the fish out and they shared with us what they had
done. I guess they found a cut with a
couple of wing dams in them that had a good deal of shallow water. Like I said earlier, the water levels were
down so a lot of the guys were leery to venture into some of the cuts so they
didn't damage their boats. Well, that
ended up being the big difference that added to their win. Wing dams are long rock structures that jut
out from the shore on some of the main river stretches and cuts that basically
create a buffer for current in the river.
Since the water was so low some of the wing dams were exposed above the
surface of the water. These rock piles
almost always hold fish...but are very hard to fish since they are hard to find
if you don't have an accurate contour map.
The shallow areas that they were in were loaded with fish and the two
guys that found them had limits on day 2.
Almost all of them were caught on
spinnerbaits and were in an area where baitfish was plentiful. Shallow water and cold fronts just didn't mix
in my brain as being logical...but for some reason that is where the fish
wanted to be. That's the beauty of
fishing...its always a puzzle and patterns always change from day to day.
The weekend still ended up being
a lot of fun, and I learned a lot about a river that I have never fished
before. I finished the year on a
positive note by coming in 7th place overall in our club standings this
year. That means then that I will be the
first substitute for the 6 man state team for next year. On the non boater side I finished in 1st
which I was really happy about. On the ABA side I finished with a ranking of 629 out of all of
the members of the ABA circuit in the US . If I would have fished the classic for the ABA I am pretty confident
I would have finished in the top 500 which qualified me for the National
Event. So overall, I am extremely
grateful for how I did this year. All of
the prep work, the learning, and the time spent on the water this year was
worth it. I couldn't really ask for more
than that.
Thanks to all who have commented
and sent positive thoughts my way throughout the season, the encouragement
really helped keep me on my game this year.
The fishing season is starting to come to a close in the next few months
so I will still update you with my other catches this year....but until then
happy fishing and tight lines!
Fluke
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