Mississppi River – Pool 7 Bass Report

A lot of time has gone by since I’ve made a report from my home waters. It’s been an even longer time since I’ve fished with my very good friend Jeremy.

It’s been almost a year since I’ve seen Jeremy in person. His life, like many other’s from his region has honestly been turned upside down by last year’s flooding in Iowa. Many member’s here on IDO from Iowa can attest, that things still aren’t exactly as they should be, almost a year later.

As it was, seeing Jeremy waiting (semi)patiently in my driveway when I got home from work was great, and I knew no matter how good or bad the fishing was going to be, smiles and laughs would be shared.

Our first destination, was a community spot out on Lake Onalaska. It’s a shallow flat with emergent weeds and sparse wood. Upon setting the boat down he were greeted with the frantic splashing of a Whitetail Deer making a break for it from the island hideaway we’d intruded on. After watching her bust across the flat, we decided to let that side settle down and fish the opposite side.

There is where we found a nice group of Bass eager to hit swim jigs and buzzbaits. The one pictured found my buzzbait too much to resist. That black skirt with the 2-tone gold blades has been a fantastic bait for me this spring. It’s been a great search bait, so much so I’ve dialed in a wonderful Pike pattern with it….

Thankfully those toothy critters haven’t been able to relive me of any of my baits so far. *knocking on wood*

After we fished the whole area and finding more pike than Bass, decided to move out. Not too far from there, we settled on another community spot and almost immediately Jeremy was graced with a chunk of a Lm Bass. This fish fell to a Brovarney swim jig with a BFT k-grub. After a quick pic, she was released back to the water to fight again.

Not too long after we made room for a couple panfisherman and made our way back to the main channel looking for a solid Sm Bass bite. Our efforts weren’t exactly what we were looking for, but those Smallie sure put a bend in our St. Croix’s and a smile on our faces.

Our best presentations were flipping tubes and casting lipless cranks. This time of the year, it’s important to really work over spots where fish might be laying. Snap jigged tubes with rattles inserted proved to be better than lipless cranks overall. Try natural patterns that mimic crawfish.

Lastly, towards the end of our day, we were rewarded with a gift from the fishing Gods. White Bass! Even better…White Bass feeding on the surface! I can honestly say I don’t recall finding many if any White Bass last year on pool 7. Nevermind the White Bass feeding on topwater baits. It wasn’t too long and we had a nice batch of Whites in the livewell headed for a hot grease release. Yummy!!

All in all, the fishing wasn’t spectacular, I wouldn’t even classify it as great. It was a good day that I got to spend with a great friend. There’s not much more a guy can ask for.

Thanks Jeremy for making the migration north for a day and a half. I look forward to doing it again, sometime soon.