Pool 7 Report Bass & Panfish

I spent a fair amount of time fishing Pool 7 throughout the month of July, but I didn’t spend a lot of time taking pics. Finding fish to stretch a line wasn’t an issue at all, however finding a better caliber of fish whether it was Bass, Panfish or Pike proved frustrating. Many times that left my trusty camera laying on the floor of the boat longing to be a bigger part of my fishing adventures.

Finally, after a well deserved trip to Mille Lacs I was able to get back to that task at hand and find some photo worthy fish to post here on IDO. Fortunately, the fish are a little more active and the size continues to improve.

Like almost all the other pools on the upper Mississippi we’ve had to deal with our varying levels of high water. That’s part of life on the Might Miss. and I’ve all but given up on trying to find spots out of the current. It’s just not worth the effort and quite honestly the fish seem to have adjusted to the extra flow….or so I’ve found over the past few weekends and evenings after work when I’ve been able to slip out and find some new spots to try….If you take the time, you’ll find that you can use the extra water to your advantage.

For Panfish, we’ve been targeting weed edges with some mild current as well as banks with a little deeper water. Something not really hard to find with the extra 2ft of water we have. If you can find areas like that with some timber and small pockets in the area you’ll be golden. That’s what we are looking for and those areas are producing well for us right now.

When I’m looking for Bluegills and Crappies, I’ve been drifting with the current casting a small slip bobber rigged with either a plain hook and redworm or a CJS GillPill or Diamond jig tipped with a waxie. I like the small profile of the jig and bobber combo when casting that gear into tight areas. If I really want to pick the area apart, that’s where the canepole comes in handy. My Dad will almost methodically dip his canepole into areas that I dare not try casting into. It’s a lot of fun watching your line jump from the aggressive bite from a Bluegill, Crappie or Perch.

Bret and I found some eater class Bluegills in some submerged wood Saturday afternoon. We caught those fish by fishing directly over the side of the boat. If you had a good pair of polarized glasses and looked real hard you could watch those fish come up and hit your bait. Again, there was a lot of current to deal with, but those ‘gills found a way to make due with the conditions.

Saturday morning Bret and I put plans in motion to meet Dave Koonce and his soon-to-be-Son-In-Law Josh for a day of chasing Bass and Panfish. The weather was just about perfect, if not just a bit too hot. The wind was there to keep us cool, but if you got into an area where it was protected from the wind you were punished by the heat….

The plan was to try and put a bend in the rod and stretch a line on whatever was looking for a fight. We started on the upper end of the pool in an area that I knew held nice Bluegills, Perch and big Pike. It wasn’t too long and I had a few nice Bluegills in the boat along with a bonus 10″ Crappie. Not staying in one spot for too long, we found some eager Pike that were all to willing to ruin a weightless frog, but not enough to eat it so we could bury the hooks in it. In a couple cases those pike would jump completely out of the water, missing their intended target.

About an hour into the this spot, Bret hooked a real nice Pike on a swim jig and the battle was on. Too bad that toothy critter didn’t play nice and bit him off. That was a fish we were both wanting to see. Giving time to let Bret wipe the tears from his eyes and tie on another Swim jig, we were on the move south to a place I’d fished earlier in the week.

This is one of those places that where I’ve been using the extra water to my advantage. Typically, this area’s only about a foot deep, but now there’s at least 3ft on average with close to 5ft in the cuts. It’s an area with sparse pads and weeds with current flowing through them. The Bass & Pike have been using this area making it a go-to place for me. The quality of fish has been good too. My bait of choice has been weightless frogs, senkos and swim jigs. All playing an important part in putting fish in the boat.

Josh and Dave took the inside of the area where I’d found the most fish while Bret and I took the outside pads. We were able to put a few fish in the boat including the one pictured with Bret. I was able to hook up on a few bass, but not getting many of them boat side. These fish seem to know if you hammer something on the surface, dive for the stems of the pads and don’t look back. I admit I had a heck of a time getting those fish turned to the surface.

Dave said him and Josh were able to put some fish in the boat as well. Josh was targeting the outside of the pads while Dave was pulling a frog across the top.

I want to thank Dave, Josh and Bret for the great day on the water. The weather and company provided was perfect. As was the great lunch at Red Pines. I hope we can do that again soon. If not by boat, maybe during the ice fishing season.