Mississippi River Bass Report

There was a smile from ear to ear on my face Saturday evening as the Bass tackle was being inventoried and the main tackle box down sized in preparation for touring Pool 8 with ottobass32 (Ben) Sunday Morning 9/28/08. After a few pm’s back and forth, Ben told me he needed to do some pre fishing for an upcoming tournament and, he had an open seat for the weekend There was no way I could turn down the opportunity to get out of my 14’ floater and into a Bass boat, not to mention fish with a Bass tourney dude who happens to be an IDO member. It was a perfect opportunity for me to learn more about the bass world which has been a lot of fun for me this year trying new baits/ techniques and areas holding the green fish. Thanks Blue Fleck for peaking my interest these last 2 years

The first areas Ben and I fished were dying off lily pads with some scattered duck weed because of an East breeze and not enough weed growth left to hold the mat together. Working the edge back and forth did produce some short fish, a few keepers and some big blow ups, only to be missed while throwing Ribbits and Zoom Horny toads. The hog of the day was the Northern Pike caught on Ben’s Ribbit, the pike missed the bait 3 times but in a ferocious state of mind the toothy caught up to the plastic and hit with a vengeance. Splashing water, blow ups and chases put top water action on the top of my list for heart pounding fun

Other areas we fished were sand and wing dams on the main channel. The bass of the day, just being over 19 inches, smacked my chug bug with a nasty attitude……like said above, you got to love big blow ups
The weather front seemed to have somewhat of an effect on these fish from earlier in the week. With the water we covered I’m hoping Ben has himself a good game plan for this coming weekend and I wish him the best of luck. There were a number of fish showing themselves with short strikes but every now and then there would be a good fish caught keeping things interesting. If the weather stays consistent for a few days the big fish bite will be back on track.

Our highlight of the day was Woody We had a Wood duck fly into the boat keeping us company for 2hrs. It didn’t take long to figure out Woody was a fan of granola bars While moving around in the boat we both had to keep an eye on the duck who was constantly under foot voicing his opinion on everything When it was time to head out Ben gently tossed Woody from the boat only too have him make a circle and come right back aboard We were finally able to shake Woody only after Ben gave the boat some gas at which point Woody did a great job keeping up flying right a long side the boat. It was a great laugh and something neither of us will ever forget. Good luck getting through the season Woody
It was a great morning on the water making another IDO friend sharing good information with each other. Best of luck this weekend Ben….we will have to do it again when we can just hang around an area and beat up on the fish

Good luck with the Fall Bite People