Mississippi River smallmouth bass report 9-4-08

With cool night finally starting to arrive here on the Upper Mississippi River the smallmouth bass is starting to see some fall patterns and behavior taking place. Slight shifts in locations and the over abundance of fish present are some of the more notable changes I have seen in the recent week. In another 2 weeks and the patterns I have going now will and could be almost non-existent.

Monday I had a day to go and explore solo for a change on the upper miss which was a change of pace for me. I took the day and pursued some usual haunts for these skinny water smallies, but also took some time to investigate some not so conventional waters. Finding new spots is always something I really look forward to from day to day and with no one else in the boat with me, I could prowl at my own pace. From 7:00-9:00am the bite has been slow as it has for the last several weeks, and slowly the bite starts to progress and the fish get more responsive and aggressive. Pitching tubes and hair jigs to slack water current breaks for the first couple of hours seems to be the best thing going as of late. By 10:00am the smallies start to chase and that’s when the Jimmy D’s ¼ and 3/8th oz swim jigs come out to shine.

On this particular day the wind was howling at 30+mph and throwing a ¼ oz jig in the air was just not cutting it so I opted for the 3/8th oz jigs to cut through the fierce breeze. Jimmy D’s green pumpkin seed color and a 5” grub was what working for me as the day rolled on. With a few short biters early on with the swim jig, I started to change up colors with little to no change in hookups. By noon the fish turned that magical switch and started to crush those swim jigs without remorse. The faster I wheeled the jig the more response I seemed to get. Pitching the jig to some kind of cover and bumping cover on the way back is often times very key to turning a lurker smallie into a hunter smallie. The best retrieve that has been working for me has been a simple cast out and medium to fast retrieve back to the boat. You will often get bit within a couple cranks of the reel or you will get a fish hot on the back end of the jig. When this happens, sometimes a very quick pause triggers a bite or often times keep a same speed retrieve and they will track it down. The biggest change that I have noticed now when fish are changing is they are not alone….I have on several occasions seen more than 5 fish chasing a swim jig at one time…this gets a guy excited. After you hook up, there is even more fish at times in the area that you can visibly see. Signs of changing seasons for sure….

The next report I will have up will be in two weeks, when I suspect a significant change in patterns and locations with cooling waters. The fall bite seems to always shine once we get into that magical 55 degree water temp mark. Then we see fish move slighter less current and more sand related locations versus the gravel and timber that I am seeing fish in right now!
See you two weeks!