Mississippi River Minnesota Pool 7 Bass Report

Wednesday evening was a great time to be on the water. A light wind put a small ripple on the water and the intermittent clouds kept the sun in check. Those 2 factors combined with a fantastic bite made Wednesday evening a great night.

I hadn’t been on the water since last week, and I was in need of a fix. Really bad…. After weighing in 5 Bass at 9lbs 10oz at the Wabasha BFL, I had try and find some fish that would remind me just how special the fishing on pool 7 is right now. I wasn’t disappointed.

The first Bass pictured is one my Dad put in the boat slowly & methodically fishing soft plastics on a hard weed edge. The moment the bait hit the water, the tullies behind it started to twitch & shake. About 3 seconds later the hook was set and this dandy fish was hoist into the boat. That was very cool to watch.

I’ve tried hard this year to make necessary adjustments and various approaches to swim jigs and swim baits this year. So far, I’ve been hitting on all cylinders. I have to admit, I’ve had some help from a couple fellow IDO members here. They’ve offered some key insight to small things that I’d over looked. As my lovely wife always tells me, it’s the small things that truly do matter.

The Bass in this picture inhaled a swim jig. Trust me when I say that jig is in the fish’s mouth. A couple switches in grub color have really helped me put lots of fish like this in our boat.

The hardest part of making adjustments can be unlearning what you already know. Keep things fresh, and don’t be afraid to try something different. Be prepared to fail….that’s not at all a bad thing either.

It’s easy to stay the course and use what’s been working, but you may be surprised what a different shade or flake configuration will do for you.

My Dad found that out when the plastics he’d been using were left at home on accident and he had to try something a little "off color." After putting a few smaller fish in the boat on his "go-to color" and not thinking there were any bigger fish in that spot, he swiched to a lighter shade and was immediately rewarded with this beauty LM Bass.

One of the last things we found in our trip was how the fish were relating to certain "structure." The duckwart is by and large under developed in some areas, that’s leading to a less that spectacular slop bite for us.

We found last night(and on previous outings) that brown scum which builds up on the edges of weed beds acts very similar to duckwart. It doesn’t have the density, but the Bass have really been favoring it. The last Bass pictured came from a large section of that brown scum. Him and all his friends were feeding heavily on baitfish and crawfish under that canopy.

Just keep in mind, it may not look like a place you wanna live but Bass find it more than inviting.

Good luck fishing!