Pool 8, Mississippi River multi-species report.

After numerous PMs and a few phone calls, I finally had a chance to hook up with Pool 8 "Guru", Bret Clark yesterday.

Making the 2 hour run north on hwy. 35 I couldn’t help but notice the massive thunder heads building to the west, putting our night of drifting for cats in jeopardy!

Meeting Bret in the ramp parking lot under a hot, mid day sun, Bret quickly produced his digital to show me the top water bass bite I had missed out on that morning. Great looking bass Bret and a nice report to boot! Yeah, yeah, should have been here this morning!

Knowing that we had a few hours to burn before playing with the cats we opted to anchor up on some rocks and try our hand at wing dam bluegills.

This is a great time of year people to seek out the shallower dams with a little less flow, anchor above the rocks and get in on some fast action. Bret had two rigs set up, one, a slip bobber rig with the other being a small 1\8th oz.jig with a half crawler. I couldn’t wait to get my 9ft. panfish stick out matched up with an Okuma ultra light spinning reel and loaded with 4lb.fire line. Fishing this rig with a single 1\16th oz.split shot and plain wire hook with a piece of crawler sure was a sweet little deal.

These fighting little "wing bullers" are very aggressive this time of year so remember, when getting bit, set the hook quickly to avoid the fish from swallowing the hook.

After a few gills came into the boat with the hooks buried deep it became obvious that our day of catch and release was going to turn into a day of selective harvest for an up coming fish fry. Looking forward to that!

Leaving the gills, Bret and I decided to give the bass and pike a shot. Setting up on a weed line with a small amount of current produced a few blow ups but it was made clear that these fish weren’t ready to get started with their second feeding binge of the day. Bret stayed with his "super spook’ and Spros frog while I finally settled in with my all time favorite Pike producer. Bret and I have had many discussions on this "old school" favorite.

As a little boy and being in my Dads boat, there was one bait tossed by Pops and one bait only, and that was the Johnson Silver Minnow with pork rind.

Through time, I have learned to modify a few things with this weedless wonder to make it even more deadly for Pike. Forget about the smaller spoon and go with the biggest one they make! When taking this spoon out of the package be sure to put a file on the hook point.The hooks are big and hearty on these spoons but the points have always been suspect.

Personally, I haven’t used pork for many years as a trailer but go with a 5in.white K grub.This big twister gives this set up a little more buoyancy to stay on top of the slop when you need to.

Triggering strikes with this bait, especially when the fish are a little neutral is all about being aggressive.When coming off of any top cover and getting to open water lines or pockets, be sure to let your spoon drop and flutter followed by sharp rips and twitches.I like to do this all the way back to the boat.Before lifting your bait for the next cast try to take on the Musky mentality. Pike love to follow baits right to the boat so be sure to rip and flutter boat side for about ten seconds.Nothing will give you a heart attack faster than to have a "gator" destroy your bait within arms length! Do yourself a favor, give em a rip and hang on!

Toward sunset, Bret recieved a call from his buddy Mike C.

Mike let us know that bad skies were coming and that the entire area was under watch. Thanks for that Mike, nice to have friends who are watching over us!

Time was now critical so we set up a drift.Staying on the channel break lines like a guy who had done this before, Bret got the first bump of the night.Dropped! Farther down another bite….DROPPED! Long story short, never hooked a fish with 8-10 dropped bites.

With the rumbling getting nearer and feeling the first rain drops we were back at the landing.

Hated to give it up!

Driving home in the pouring rain I had ample time to reflect on the day. After finally getting the chance to fish with Bret Clark did I come to realize that he is just like us,an everyday kind of guy who enjoys his time on the water, likes to share information and tell good stories.

What separates him from the average Joe is his uncanny ability to read river water and put fish in the boat,no matter what you’re after!

From one river rat to the other…..Thanks Bret!