Mississippi River Pool 4 Bass;A Tale of Two Rivers

It’s been a while sense there has been a significant change in the water temperatures but the recent cold snap has made a big impact. However, the change has not been across the board. The lower end of the Chippiwa River is broad and very shallow. Consequently, much of the water flowing into the Mississippi has been exposed to the cool air and the water temperature has fallen rapidly. By comparison, the water flowing through Lake Pepin (the Mississippi flow) is deeper and much less water is on the surface to cool. The result is, in the main channel below the Chippiwa the water is 51 degrees. On the Minnesota side the water temperature is 58 degrees. Knowing about the difference helps in predicting fish movement and selecting fishing techniques. That information helped my friend Brent Haimes (Fishnut) catch the dandy smallmouth in the picture.

I spent Friday morning pre-fishing with Brent for Saturday’s bass club tournament. I have to miss it because of a wedding. The smallmouth movement to Lake Pepin has begun so we spent about 3 hours hitting the traditional staging areas looking for the mother load. What we found was the fish are still widely scattered in small pods, rather than the big schools we expected to find. When pre-fishing one has to limit the number of fish that you hook so we left the staging areas after catching one or two fish. The smallmouth I’m holding came on a Northland Reed-Runner spinnerbait in the warmer water. We couldn’t find a fish that would chase down a spinnerbait in the cooler Chippiwa flowage on the WI side.

This scenario is not limited to Pool 4. There are many creeks and rivers the flow into the Mississippi that can have a local influence on the fishing. Monitoring the water temperature in the spring and fall is one way to improve your odds of finding the active fish.

I suspect that the next few cool nights will accelerate the movement to Lake Pepin. The points and depth transition areas on the lake should see an increase in activity with the smallmouth feeding actively in the afternoons. I also anticipate catching some walleyes on the shallow flats on the lower end of the Lake. The bad news is the surface activity of schooling white bass will end, but they can still be caught on a variety of lures fished below the surface.