Upper Miss River Smallmouth Bass report 9-20-04

This report will be one of my last couple smallmouth bass reports for the year as September comes to a close. The bite remains very strong for numbers as well as the big-uns. Water temps are a little warm yet for this time of year, but the smallies have almost fully committed to their fall transition areas already and feeding like the winter cold spell was right around the corner. Lucky for us, with weather permitting this bite should last well into October. With Mille Lacs Lake twilight walleyes calling my name , I will be donw fishing the smallies at the end of September.

As I mentioned in my previous report, I have backed off the guide trips a bit lately to enjoy some well deserved time fishing with my family members as well as good friends.

This past week brought fellow IDA Field Staffer and brother Scott DeZurik and I together to hit the river in search of some hefty fall transition river smallmouths. We had 4 hours of evening light to take advantage of these schooling fish and were rewarded right out of the gate with fish positioned right where they should be for this time of year. Targeting the back sides of the current breaks found the most fish stacked up. These fish were not necessarily the most active in the area, but with a little coaxing, these fish fell victim to a well placed YUM Dinger right on their doorstep. The process for eliminating water this time of year is to run and gun with cranks, topwaters, spinnerbaits, etc… and when one fish shows himself, slow down and work them slow with plastics to maximize your catch rate for that school. And then move on down the shoreline. Over time, this will prove several higher percentage spots.

Scott and I exercised this approach and found several spots that the fish were holding thick. Some held 3-4 fish per spot while others gave way to 10-12. 4-5” YUM Dingers were clearly the ticket for our outing. Scott was fishing his pumpkin seed colored YUM Dinger rigged wacky style on 2/0 worm hook. I rigged my texas style with a single split shot about 18” above the plastic. Both of these presentations worked equally well and were subtle enough not to spook the rest of the fish within the school. The first photo is a dandy 21” smallie that found herself chasing my YUM Dinger across the surface as was reeling it in quickly for another cast…That was an explosive hit! The seconf photo is of Scott and a very stocky 19-1/2” fish that drilled his wacky dinger! Nice fish Scott. Scott and I experienced one bonified double with several “close-to” doubles throughout our evening. Thanks again Scott, I had a great evening!

This past Saturday James Holst, Jon Jordan (camera man) and I took to the upper Mississippi River to film our first ever smallmouth bass video shoot. Although I cannot spill the beans too much on this as there are a lot of behind the scenes things that are taking place for this video as well as the future of this ground breaking opportunity, so I will let James fill you all more in as he gets more of the details of this pursuit. Thanks to both of you for your time and letting me be a part of this incredible opportunity.

As for the last remaining weeks of my smallmouth bass fishing, I wish I had 4 more weeks to chase these fish as they are aggressive and full of spunk to give anyone the thrill of a lifetime. Remember to put all Minnesota caught smallmouth bass back in the water immediately.

Good luck to all!