Misssissippi River Pool 5 Bass Fishing Report

2008 is a year that is out of sync with the past 5 years on the bass scene. The late spring and long high water period are a couple of obvious differences. One observation is the young-of-the-year shad and emerald shiners are much smaller than in the past. Over the last couple of weeks we are seeing active surface feeding, here on pool 4-5. My guest to sample the action were, father and daughter, Mark and Leslie Collins. Wednesday morning started with dense fog but it thinned by 7:30 and the clear skies held off for about an hour. During that hour the bite was hot.

Swimming jigs through shallow eelgrass, sand and current produced lots of action from 13-15” largemouth, smallies and a few northerns. It seemed like every fish that gave away their location was catchable. Many of the fish were scattered but a few small schools were located. One 10’ hole in the grass produced about 8 largemouth that seemed to be lining up to take their turn. What was really fun was you could watch them blast the lure, and if one missed another one got it.

Overall the size was a little small but a few good fish showed-up. The fast action made-up for the size, with 4-5 double hook-ups. The one in the picture was a northern smallie double that came from the same grass clump. Things should continue to improve.

John