Upper Mississippi River bass report 8-13-08

The past 3 weeks I had the opportunity to spend some quality time on the Upper Mississippi River chasing skinny water smallmouth bass with good friends and family. Nice warm sunny August days on the upper Miss means only one thing…lots of shallow water very aggressive smallmouth bass. The best part about it, the bite gets better as the days get warmer and brighter. This is a fantastic time to put lots of fish in the boat and a occasional shot at seeing some better sized fish. 60-75 fish days have been very common the last several weeks and sight fishing these fish in 1-3 feet of clear water are about as good as it gets.

The river right now is in its typical late summer low water conditions and the fish are stacked anywhere near those shallow faster riffle areas of the river or scattered down the shallow sand/weed flats in the center of the river channel. Both areas have the most of the available current and using even the smallest weed patch or boulder to shelter out of the current for an easy ambush. When these fish are serious about eating, you will easily see the fish on the prowl chasing minnows across the surface or weaving in and out of shallow 1 foot regions. The best depths have been shallow weed mats right on the edge of faster current and slightly deeper 3-4 foot of water.

Presentations have varied slightly over the past several weeks but they all have one thing in common and that’s fast horizontal retrieves either on the surface or slightly below. Buzzbaits and topwater chuggers typically do produce at times a little less numbers but can reward you with a better than average smallie with an occasional musky showing himself. Swimbaits have probably accounted for more fish of the past weeks than any other presentation that I typically throw this time of year. Not only do swimbaits work extremely well this time of year up here, they can be very easy to fish. Even a youngster or beginner fisherman will have fun with these baits. Swimbaits or often times referred to as swim jigs are simply a bullet nose or flat ski shaped jighead coupled with a grub or various trailer. Simply cast it out and a steady retrieve back to the boat and keep a close eye within a foot or so back behind your lure as fish will often follow it back to the boat. This “mood” will often tell you whether or not you need to speed up or slow down your retrieve speed.

With a few hints of cooling nights the past couple days, its just a reminder that fall is right around the corner and this is a prefect way to get the kids out for one last hurrah before school starts…..and also a perfect way to rekindle your love for these river fish before the best bite of the year sets to take place in the coming weeks! I have a few remaining dates available in August if anyone is interested in taking advantage of this fun bite!