Heading up for bed Friday night after a hot day in the 80’s and 45mph winds, then waking up Saturday early morning to a lightning show along with a pouring rain and the temperature dropping to 40 degrees, no way in my wildest dreams would I have thought it would turn into one of the best days for Mike and I casting to deep holes and boat docks.
After the rain let up and the God made light show in the sky was over, we did get out for the River Clean Up in the La Crosse area too put the smack down on some trash. Nothing was pleasant about the morning but there was still more of a showing than expected with the weather conditions. It was great to see boats of all sizes loaded with family’s out pitching in and having fun doing it. Little tikes of all ages were about on beach fronts, shorelines and islands making for a rainbow of PFD’s in all colors 
It was cool to see the future being parented to care about the river resource 
So…..noon comes along and the words out of captain Mike’s face were, well the boats already in the water, want to fish awhile 
With an up coming company tourney next weekend we were hoping to find a couple areas holding fish to build up some confidence, but there were doubts in my head because of the weather patterns changing so drastically in such short order. Amazingly enough, the second time the rattle trap was flung up against a cut bank it was fish on, better yet, it was a red eyed Small Mouth 
In no time Mike was dancin’ with a smallie in the back of the boat himself. With big grins on are faces we both knew we might just have a starting point for the following week, now we are hoping the weather stays on the crappy side
The bronzed fish were found along cut banks, wood, and off sand points all in 10fow. There was also more fish found on the current swept banks and points than in slack water. A steady retrieve with a rattle trap, whether fast or slow, would be retrieved only to be ignored. A fast retrieve with a couple hard twitches to get that bait singing and then a pause however made for an aggressive slam as the bait came to a complete stop. Thanks for the heads up B.C.
After hitting some good areas and staying on the move as not to beat up to bad on the fish before tournament day, it was a pleasant surprise to find a good number of fish willing to eat baits. The first picture is my personal best Smallie a tad over 19inches, just short of my replica goal but things are lookin’ up as my partner and I learn more about these fish with each outing. Jumping in the boat with Blue Fleck the last couple years would be one of the blames for the new addiction, along with the Reports and picture Steve DeZurik provided the last few years.
After fishing current and deeper water a move was made into shallower flats and boat docks in hopes of finding LM. Still tossing Rattle traps Mike found a couple of the green fish along with some pike, the day was full of entertainment as it seemed we could do nothing wrong, everyone deserves a day like this now and then 
Strike Kings sexy shad and bleeding shad were the baits that kept us in the game. Posing as bass guys Wednesday evening after work even had a couple walleyes take the offerings while pitching at boat docks, that was a cool surprise 
The last couple trips to the candy shop have both Mike and I starting a new collection of lipless crank baits, you can never have enough stuff
With what started off looking like a depressing cloud covered, rainy boring Saturday turned into one of those trips that made memories for a long time to come. Putting in a few hours cleaning up made for a feel good, and then to be rewarded from the resource we are trying to help out, well…..just don’t get any better 
Good luck fishing people 
Pictured here is Mike sneaking up on some garbage
Just like fishing…the best bite was deep in the wood
Amazing the crap that is found in the water and along the banks
After taking a poll of the garbage we collected….the healthy people were the worst at tossing stuff out. There were 20 – 1 water bottle found over beer cans/bottles. Budwiser was the worst over Miller Lite and, I’m happy to say not a single Old Style can was found by Mike or I
Pictured here are the 2 Walleyes that had mistaken us for Bass guys
The other pics are from Saturday’s fish outing
Great report Bart!
Great job you two, some dandy smallies
It felt good, once the rain and lightening stopped, to do our part in cleaning up the great natural resource
that we have right here in our backyard along with the many other boat loads of people with the La Crosse Annual River Cleanup – too bad the weather didn’t cooperate or I’m sure there probably would have been a lot more people involved. In the past I have seen that dumpster overflowing with trash. In a little over 2 hours we filled 2 large 50 gal. garbage bags with discarded cans, plastic and glass bottles, bait containers, coffee cups, cushions……well the list could go on. 
At least we were happy to see that premium beer drinkers (Blatz and Milwaukee’s Best) like Bret and I are more environmentally conscious and don’t discard their empties. 
I’m sure some of the things that were found were accidentally left there but I’m also sure that there are a lot of people who just don’t respect the environment or have the smarts to realize what a mess they are making, or just don’t care – sure wish there was a way to educate them. If you ever get a chance to help out with one of these events please consider it. The organizers are very friendly
and the people you meet bringing in boatloads of trash are having a good time on the river. 
Like Bret mentioned it was great to see family’s with small children helping out – what a great learning experience for them and one I hope they continue in the future. 
The first picture is a boat load of trash being unloaded just as we were heading out. The 2nd & 3rd pictures are of Bret working up a sweat in search of trash
– The 4th picture is some found “treasure” to restock my tackle box – you never know when you will find something valuable and I think the slip bobber was one I lost upstream last year. 
So how could you beat a day like that, doing something good for the environment and having a great afternoon catching fish.
Nice report Breat and congrats on your PB smallie!
But more importantly, kudos to you and mikehd for taking the time to make our fishery a better place! 
good work on the garbage clean up
those are some big smallmouths
Great fish and report! Congrats on the PB smallmouth!
G
Awesome fish guys….ive always wanted to find smallies like that down around here but havnt found em yet
Awesome fish Bret!
Sounds like there is still a chance to fully convert you into a river smallie guy after all!
Great report Bret. Nice fish too guys!!
Great report Bret!! Thanks to all that helped out cleaning up the river !!! My hats off to you all.
Congrats on a great fish too.
That’s one nice smallie! Great report Bret
A big thanks for helping clean up pool eight!Job well done! I seasonal camp at Wildcat and frequent that water and try to do my best all summer long to pickup on the islands and shorelines.I wish the DNR would have some rules/guidelines on blue barrels and dock materials in regards to being contained or secured on the banks at all times.To much junk is laying around and swept or blown in the water every year. Thanks again.
Boy, those smallies sure are solid chunks of fish fightin machine there. Nice!