Mississippi River Pool 4 Bass

“Sometimes the fishing isn’t the only story!” That’s how I started a fishing report in August 2006. That’s because I was involved in of Piero Ghedin‘s fishing history. Piero is from Venice Italy and was transferred to Milwaukee by his employer, GE Medical Systems. Piero is an experienced angler but had never fished in North America and had never caught a smallmouth bass. On our guide trip Piero caught his first North American bass, a smallmouth. I guess it appropriate that today’s trip will be Piero’s last North American smallmouth (at least for now). Piero will return home in two weeks. Dave Stanley of Proctor MN, Perio and I spent the day fishing smallmouth on Lake Pepin.

Lake Pepin undergoes a smallmouth population boom as fall progresses. Many of the smallmouth in the Wabasha area and the lower Chippewa River migrate to Lake Pepin to winter. There are key areas they stop along the way they stop on to put on their final weight to carry them to spring. If you know the spots the fishing can be spectacular. Today’s light winds allowed us to fish the hot spots.

Early in the season the fish are usually stay tight on the bank. This year we had high muddy water and the “typical” patterns didn’t happen. Most of the fish are away from the bank in the 7-14’ range. Casting or dragging tube baits was our best presentation but a few did fall to a C-rig. Color didn’t seem to make a difference but continuous contact with the bottom was critical.

Today we caught around 30 fish but no monsters. However, a good fishing day for this time of the year.

I have to comment on the ethics of fishing smallmouth this late in the season. First, they are concentrated in small areas and it would be easy to decimate their population. Minnesota recognized the problem and has a catch and release only season starting early in September. Also, the fish need to be released right where they were caught. They are close to their wintering areas and they need all the stored energy to survive winter. If we move them they may burn their wintering energy getting back to the wintering areas. Finally, my experience is fish caught in water over 20’ show signs of pressure changes which may cause their death so I set my fishing limit at 20’. It’s a great time to catch em but use good judgment.