I had to drop my boat to Team Marine Service in LaCrosse for some work so I call Jim Johnson to see if I could talk him into taking me fishing for the evening. Jim is one of the best, if not the best, river fisherman I know. Jim has the uncanny ability to figure out how fish move within their home range and where they will be during seasonable movements. With that said, Jim knew right where a bunch of largemouth had staged on their way to their wintering grounds in Lake Onalaska. We move along a deeper weed edge aggressively swimming white Lethal Weapon jigs over the weeds than killing them as they broke into the open. The picture of Jim is of a double that fell all over Jim and my presentation.
In the first hour we come across pods of fish that were busting shad and walking surface baits such as Sammy’s or Super Spook Jr. would drive em nuts. It was great to watch a fish create wake as they chased down the bait and crushed it. What a rush! Unfortunately the surface bite didn’t last very long. From there it was search with the swimming jig until another pod was located, then we work them over with jigs.
As the evening progressed, the fish got less aggressive and suspending jerkbaits worked the along edge of the weeds seemed to be the presentation they wanted. Both Pointers and Suspend Rattlin Rouges did the job. Normally the jerk-jerk-pause retrieve is the best but last night the pull and pause was what they wanted. The picture is one of the better fish that fell for that presentation.
It was a great evening with lots of fish. The fish are clearly consolidating into schools. Not all of them were monsters, but we had enough action to experiment with different presentations to see what would turn them on. We did catch a couple of sumo whites and the northern in the photo. Northerns are great fun but not when you’re fishing a $16 lure. Tackle manufactures love em!