A great evening on the river

I had a chance to connect with good friend Bob Bowman last night to fish the Mississippi River. We were both looking for a way to put the rainy, gloomy week behind us and an evening out on the river with the clouds forecast to blow out and chance to see the sun late in the day was too good to pass up.

In all honesty neither of us expected the fishing to be good. The rain over the previous 2 1/2 days had water levels on the rise and clarity very poor. As it turned out the smallies had a much more optimistic take on things. I threw a 3/8oz VMC SWIMJIG w/ 4″ white grub. Bob fished a junebug colored tube. I don’t remember either of us ever switching.

Fish caught ranged from rediculously tiny to 20″ magnums. Man, it felt good to see the sun and get to spend some time on the water with a good friend!

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Nice job. Glad to see you still have the old muddy touch! As if there was a doubt

Good to see Bob in a post again. He had some good stuff.

Were the smallies starting to migrate more to their wintering holes? Haven’t been able to venture over to my deep bends lately.

No, not yet. The water is up and the current is ripping pretty good. All fish were found in shoreline current breaks in shallow water. I’m sure once we get through this current stretch of high water the fish will start to settle into classic fall patterns and locations.

Deuces wrote:

Good to see Bob in a post again. He had some good stuff.

Bob’s still giving the smallies a hard time!

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Nice to see you did not forget your roots James, it has been awhile since you have been on the river. Glad you had a good outing but I expect nothing but the best from you on these waters in any conditions.

Thanks for all the knowledge I learned from the crew when Dean was at Everts, sigh miss those days and evenings sitting tipping up a few around a fire.

Still run my 182 Crestliner TS for the river and the way I fish have not found a better boat, maybe prettier and faster but still gets the job done easily.

Yup, that was a fun stretch of time with a great group of people all sharing and learning the river together.

I was thinking the same thing about the weather. Sunday was awesome too!

Add fish snapping and a good ol friend and how can it get any better?

Glad you have a little time off from your job James-now you can fish!

Smallies hammering it today.

Here’s a 20″. Time for snack then heading back out.

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Nice fish!

The big ones are eating

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Their colors get so wonderful this time of year.

Deuces wrote:

Smallies hammering it today.

Here’s a 20″. Time for snack then heading back out.

Nice pose and pic…Nick

Easy for me to imagine that picture in Bass Pro Shop catalog.

Bob Bowman wrote:

Nice fish!

The big ones are eating

OMG, name seemed familiar, then the picture!!! How’s musky fishing and that son of your doing???

Mark

P.S., best one in my boat this summer, 47″ for an old friend fishing musky league…

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Very nice bass.

mbenson wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bob Bowman wrote:</div>
Nice fish!

The big ones are eating

OMG, name seemed familiar, then the picture!!! How’s musky fishing and that son of your doing???

Mark

P.S., best one in my boat this summer, 47″ for an old friend fishing musky league…

Nice lunge Mark!

I’ve turned into a river rat but still find time to ski a little now and then. My son’s doing great, he’s driving now, heavily involved in sports and still finds time to jump in the boat with Dad. Thanks for asking. Attached is a pic from this summer, we fished a smallie tournament and had a blast

Take care!

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