Mississippi River Lower Pool 4 Bass/Northern

Thank you cold front….overcast skies, light winds, cooler air and water temperatures and chasing bass. Today was the last chance for Mike Anderson (walleyeboy) and I to fish for the summer. Mike is heading home on Friday. It’s the start of football practice and some time with family and friends. We started on a wing-dam and found lots smallies willing to chase down Mimic Minnows, Spooks and swim jigs. The picture is of Mike with a smallie that crushed a Super Spook Jr. At the end of the day on the same wing-dam we started on.

Most of the action of the day came on swim jigs in the eel grass in clean water. We were looking for bass but came across Pile of BIG pike. Even though northerns prefer cool water they seem to be thriving in the shallow, warm waters of the Mississippi River. The key seems to be the dissolved oxygen level in the weed beds in the lakes in the Wabasha area. Note that the northerns in the pictures are a bit lean but check out the size of the heads. I can’t wait for fall to see what they look like after they put on the feed bag.

We caught about 20 northerns with many over the 30 inch mark. The one in the picture measured 36 inches and we measured 2 at 34 and one at 33. Lost fish don’t count, but I had Bubba on for a few seconds before it sniped my line. Both Mike and I got a good look at her and there is no question she blew away anything we landed. Of interest is the use of steel leaders. Mike was trying to surpass his previous record and opted to attach his swim jig to a leader. After that his bites dropped off dramatically. We don’t know why but it must change the action of the lure.

We had a few lulls but it was a great way to end Mike’s summer bass season. Mike will be back around Thanks Giving and if conditions permit we’ll give the bass one more go-around before the ice comes. Good luck with the football season Mike and here is to next summers Mississippi River bass.

John