Bass Action heating up On pool 8 - Mississippi River – Bass - Mississippi River – Bass

Winds from the East, fish bite the least….Yeah…uh huh…sure….
I headed out on pool 8 today despite the superstision. I was a little scared not of the superstision, but of the water clarity and level + current creating fishing problems for me. I was right, it was extremely tough when i started at about 10 o’ clock. I was focusing on bays and pockets with at least 3-4 feet of water in them with some good lay downs because that’s what has been producing fish for me lately. I located several extremely good looking pockets using a good river map, and while passing by to my other spots. I was mostly chucking spinnerbaits at the laydowns to start out, and throwing in a jig/trailer combo to follow it up. I had no strikes at all in my first area, then i fished a brush pile without a strike there either. I moved down and fished some rocks, along with some more wood cover. still no takers. i went up in another pocket and didn’t get bit on a pumpkin/chartruse worm and then i went to pammel creek. It was so terribly muddy in there and there was floating junk everywhere due to yesterdays rains, so i left after about 20 casts and one bite there. I was about ready to loose my mind, as about 3-1/2 hours had elapsed during this time. I was running and gunning at this point, pretty much hitting anything that looked good on my way back up river. I tried another little pocket with laydowns and chucked the spinnerbait everywhere, only mustering up one boil from a heck of a northern. I found one more little pocket on my way back up and fished it with a spinnerbait, then the pumpkin worm. Nothing going, and then i got to thinking…” you know, maybe this color is too dull for this water.” so i switched to a red shad with some silver flake in it and started casting. After about 5 casts, it was fish on. my first fish was a 14″ largemouth. I made a few more, and about 15 yards later, i landed my second keeper, just like that, a 14-1/2″ largemouth. I thought i might have been on to something, but after another thorough pass, i didn’t get another strike. I moved up into another bay and started throwing spinnerbaits and plastics again. I didn’t get a strike, so I backed off on to the edge of the steep drop and followed it with my depth finder, zig zagging to see where the drops and humps were. I found the perfect place to stop, right off the end of a point and i dropped anchor. I camped out on the spot and started ripping a frenzy chartruse trap. I felt something after about 5 casts that i couldn’t tell if it was a fish, or if i bumped a log. I casted back to it and whammo! I had my first fish off of this spot on the line. It was a nice 16 inch largemouth with a nice gut. I kept camping on the spot, and my knowledge and trial and error, plus a good depth finder read really paid off today. I caught 9 fish on this spot, and they were all nice fish. It was a mix of large and smallmouth bass, but primarily the smallies which makes the day 10 x’s better. I caught some 14’s, a couple nice 16 inch smallies, i lost a real nice smallie, about 3-1/2 pounds at the boat, and then, while talking to Jeremiah, the biggun came. I was showing him how i was pumping my rod to get bit and right at that moment, My frenzy bait got crushed. Slop said right away that it was a hawg and then i realized just how big she was. I played her to the boat and after one miss, i got the net back down and got her in. There was no swinging this pig over the side. I pulled her out of the net and i knew that i was holding my new Personal best Smallie. I was goin’ nuts. well we got a pic of her and sent her back on her way. She was full of eggs and ready to burst in a couple weeks. i guessed her to be mid fours. She was 19-1/2 but with a pinched tail and open mouth, she was touching 20. I don’t really care about the measurements, she was huge and she made my day. I ended the day with 11 fish, all keepers. My best five would have been around 13-14 pounds which i thought was pretty darn good. I am super syched to have caught this beast, and we’re just gettin’ started!
Here’s my pig smallie:

See ya on the water!
Cade