Mississippi River Lower Pool 4 Bass

Last night I talked to the Minnesota Valley In-Fisherman club about summer bass fishing the Mississippi. Today my guests are members of the club and had the chance to see what

I talked about first hand. Randy Schuaer purchased my guide services at the IDA/St Jude fundraiser held Miesville in Feb. Randy invited to Jack Naylor to join him on the trip. Jack is an IDA regular a Site Guardian-Gold. Because of the late evening we decided on a late start and probably missed the hot bit. We saw a fair amount of surface activity on our first stop, but the sky clear and the wind shifted to the NW by second stop. The bite sloooooooowed way down. We figured out that if slowly drug a Yum tube on the bottom we could trigger a strike. The fish in the picture was Randy’s reward for his patients.

The other key was hitting as many prime spots as possible, and pick the few biter that were there. The picture is Jack with the only legal fish we caught on a swim jig. The fish just weren’t willing to chase.

We also noted that points and wing dams in the major channels were the most rewarding stops. This largemouth was where a smallmouth should be!

Although today was a struggle, there were some promising signs. The flow and water level have improved. Fish are schooling and running shad in packs. They still seem to be very size selective which can be very frustrating. It’s had to watch fish busting small shad and ignoring your favorite top-water bait.

I want to thank Randy and Jack for taking part in a fundraiser I’m passionate about. I’m a big supporter of St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and I’m glad to donate my time to the cause. Randy and Jack contributed the grass-roots funds that keep the mission going.