Day Five of COTR

     After a map session the night before, and comparing what we'd found for fish the night before, Rick and I dropped his Champion in at the Washington Street ramp in Prairie Du Chien, and headed out to spot check some of our more productive spots. The day before a tournament is an interesting time because you can use this opportunity on the water for a variety of purposes. Some tournament anglers will take the hooks off their crank baits, bury the hook inside a tube, or creature bait, and put a piece of plastic over a spinner bait hook just to prevent accidentally hooking the fish they are checking. Some anglers will use the day before to search almost exclusively new water insisting on leaving the fish they have already found untouched. Others will employ a combination of these theories. We were not going to one extreme or the other, but we had every intention of making sure we didn't hook many fish in any of the existing spots we had fish on, but were also going to use every minute of time we had to keep searching for more quality fish. With 106 boats in the tournament, 212 fisherman would have a line in the water on Saturday and we needed every spot we could find.
     We decided to check an area first thing in the morning that we'd both failed to check during the week, but given the current conditions, we felt somewhere in this backwater lake should hold fish. As we idled through some shallow water, we decided to give a little area a few casts to start the morning. Lilly pads, current, and a shallow flat spilling into deeper water. Sounds productive I know, however, not a single blow up on a buzz bait, pop-r, spinner bait, or swim jig. So we quickly made our way to this intended area. As we arrived, I was pleased to see we were the first ones in the area, but after about an hour I realized why we were alone. Not a single bite except a pesky hammer handled Northern Pike that tackled Rick's spinner bait along some wooded cover. Disappointed, and wanting to use our time the best we could, we decided to check a few spots up river. Arriving just down stream from our next targeted spot, we almost immediately started getting bit on a main channel transition spot going from rip rap to wood. The bites were consistent, and we figured out why quickly. The small largemouth were hitting the beavers and brushhogs as they were falling down on the initial presentation behind the larger trees providing the current breaks. Not able to get a solid fish out of this stretch, we decided to move up to the spot around the bend where Rick had managed some solid 2-1/2lb to 3lb fish earlier in the week. As we arrived, Rick explained the topography of this shallow bay with flooded pads, cattails, and timber. All the pieces seemed to fit together with one unexpected surprise. A Ranger boat appeared from the flooded timber, passed by us without a word, and headed out of the bay. We both hoped they hadn't found a pile of willing fish and left disgusted and cursing the time they spent in the area. But the sad reality was they probably caught some fish and were headed out not wanting to burn too may of them in case they had to come back to them later in the tournament day. Rick and I began fishing swim baits, swim jigs and spinner baits on the outside edges of the structure, with Rick catching a few shorts on the swim bait. It wasn't long into fishing this area when we heard the familiar noise of bait fish being fed on in the flooded timber. This sight, coupled with another bass boat entering the cove and starting to fish around use, we decided they were still here and we'd leave the spot alone.
     As the day wore on, we checked a few other spots with relatively little success with the exception of Rick catching a solid 2-1/2lb fish on a Live Action Frog, and a solid 2lb fish on a secondary channel point that yielded several bites that I couldn't manage to hook up. Early afternoon, we decided to make a long stretch of backwater with wood and weed cover our last stop of the day. Once we got past the initial entrance without a single bite, we made our way along the flooded timber and began throwing frogs as it became increasingly covered with weeds. Our first pass took us all the way back to the end of the cut without a blow up, but on our return pass, we had a surprise waiting for us back in the flooded timber. As Rick pulled his frog through the weed bed just on the edge of what would be the original bank in normal pool, his frog was absolutely crushed by a what I initially thought was a very big Nothern Pike. As the battle ensued, I said to Rick, "that is either a Nothern or a really big bass", and as I finished the statement, we both realized it was an enormous largemouth that had been hiding in the tree line. Moments later, the fish spit the frog and Rick and I were left speechless. The only thing I could think to do in that silence was to continue throwing the frog into the tree line. And on the first cast, just yards away from where Rick's frog got crushed, my Spro frog was engulfed by another enormous fish. This fight lasted 5-7 seconds and again, the bait came loose. We quickly realized this specific section of the tree line was holding good fish and ended the day knowing we had late day fish to go to on tournament day.
   

Day four of COTR

     My intent on the morning of day four was to fish a few main channel points to see if the size of the fish were bigger than the 1-1/2lb to 2lb fish I'd found over the last 36 hours. My partner for the tournament had spent the first hour of his pre-fishing week on Wednesday drilling 2-1/2lb to 3lb fish so I felt obligated to change things up a bit. As I dropped the boat down on a main channel point, I new instantly that the trolling motor was going to drain quickly if I fished this much current all day. I picked up one of my crankbait rods and started throwing a KVD 1.5 shad colored crankbait above the point and pulling it through the break. The second cast produced a 10" bass, followed by another 10" bass, followed by another 10" bass. In 20+ casts I'd caught a dozen clones of the first tiny largemouth. I could see the small minnows in the current break and assumed these where what the bass where feeding on and was convinced there were larger fish in the vicinity. I switched to an RC Tackle Brown and Tan camo pattern 4" Beaver and continued to catch only small fish. But by now, I had a bass boat drop down behind me about 100 yards and start fishing his way up to me. As he politely held his distance, I continued to catch fish but couldn't get anything above a 12" fish. I worked my way up above the point and the bite quickly dropped off. It was apparent the fish were below the point, but I had no interest in dropping back down and continuing to catch fish that wouldn't help our team come Saturday. So, I packed up and headed to a few more main channel spots with limited success, and decided to try and find some secondary current.

     Winding my way through a secondary cut, I noticed a small dead end cut that was chocked up with slop but had cattails at the very end. As I began to fish the wood on my way into the cut, a few fish began busting the surface trying to feed on a group of shad. I threw a white and blue tinsel double willow blade Stanely spinner bait at the disturbance, but couldn't get bit as I pulled it through the ball of shad. The second cast made it clear the Northern Pike were making a meal out of the school of shad. I tossed back the fish and continued to cast out the cove without a bass. The cove left me a little confused because there was 4'-5' of water, large lilly pads, wood, and bait fish. But, that's why we pre-fish, to eliminate water as well as find good water.
     Up stream and around the next bend was a giant log jam that I'd fished in previous seasons. It had current and depth but this time with the high water, the trees directly behind the log jam were flooded with 3'-4' of slightly moving water. Coupled with a weed bed just down from the log jam, this situation looked promising so I began fishing down stream from the log jams current break and made my way up slowly. Two larger trees that were usually out of the water made another secondary current break and as my spinner bait made it's way by the first tree, Wham!, a solid 2lb largemouth came springing out of the water just after I set the hook. The fight lasted seconds and I began repeatedly throwing the Stanley spinner bait by all the standing timber I could reach. After having another hook up but having the fish come unbuttoned, I switched to flipping a beaver at the cover. After about a dozen casts, I had the line swim off toward the main current and I set the hook, turned the fish initially, but had the hook come out. I decided this was a spot I would check the following day so I packed up and headed up river to cover more water.
     The rest of my day was very uneventful, and honestly, quiet boring. As the week went on, I was experiencing more and more bites, but the size of the fish I was catching was not improving. This was a concern as there was only one more day of pre-fishing before tournament day and I had not found quality fish on a consistent basis, and my partner had a few spots with only one yielding tournament quality fish.

Day three of COTR

     Having found cleaner water, bait fish, and bass the evening before, I decided to investigate this area some more and take a different approach to see if there were larger fish to be had. I drove straight back to the spot I left the evening before with the intent of throwing a buzz bait to try and call up some of the bigger boys. It only took a few cast before a fish took a good swipe at the buzz bait but missed. I quickly dropped the buzz bait rod, picked up the Berkly Pop-R and casted back to the scene of the crime. One twitch and the popper was inhaled. A good 2lb fish to start the day, and it also reminded me the popper was roughly the same size as the bait fish I'd seen the evening before. This scenario repeated its self several times over the next hour. Some fish I caught out right on the buzz bait, but most were caught with the Pop-R after they'd missed the buzz bait.

     As the morning bite came to an end I started to investigate the entire area so just in case the water levels dropped more than anticipated, I would have a general idea of where these fish might pull out to. This lake however looks the same regardless of where you go, but the deciding factor was bait fish. Where I found bait fish and clean water, I found bass. Not in great numbers, and no hogs, but solid fish. It was hard to leave the area, but I knew I better start fishing all the areas I checked on the map for that day or it wouldn't get done. On my way down to my starting spot, I passed by the entrance to another small inlet that I felt better get checked. It had lots of wood and current running across the front and as it turned out, had a nice 3lb largemouth waiting for me when I dropped a Watermelon with Red Flake tube next to a fallen log. This would turn out to be the biggest fish in this area by far, as I only caught two more fish and both wouldn't have added up to 14"s. My next spot was a weed line with good water and current, but when I pulled up, the winds from the over night hours had pushed a thin mat of weeds over the top of the weed line. So once again, I grabbed the frog rod and within a dozen casts, I had five blow ups and two 2+lb fish. I realized as I left this spot there where a few other locations that mirrored this spot so I spent the next two hours checking those spots with a little less success.

     As the day was coming to a close, I decided to fish a rock shoreline I couldn't earlier in the day because it was simply too windy. I was throwing a Rivers Edge Brown and Tan Camo pattern Beaver and caught a few fish right away. Only a few yards away from the end of the rock shoreline, I casted the beaver out and watched the line quickly swim away toward deeper water. I set the hook and the pole doubled over with a 4+lb largemouth in about 6 feet of water. I quickly got down and lifted the fish into the boat. All I could think about was how nice five of these size fish would be on Saturday. I realize this was an odd place for a fish like this to be, and the likely hood that he'd still be there come Saturday, and bite again was slim, but any time you get a 4lb largemouth into the boat, it's a good day. It was a great close to day three.    

Day Two of COTR

     Having day one of pre-fishing out of the way, my hopes were high for my second day on the water. After once again getting wet to launch the boat at 5:30 am, I decided to start my morning on a weed line that had a secondary channel on one side, and 3'-5' of water on the other. The point was made up of arrow head and lilly pads, the water was calm and peaceful, and I was ready to change my luck. I grabbed the buzz bait rod and made several cast to across and through the vegetation but it wasn't until I threw across the top of the point that the buzz bait was slammed. A solid 3-1/2lb largemouth had just started my day off right!!. I quickly released the fish and spent the next half hour combing the weed point with multiple baits hoping this was not an isolated fish. But as hard as I tried, no other fish came off this point. In fact, no other fish bit my lure for the next six hours. That's right, I said six hours. I fished wood, weeds, current, depth, shallows, sand points, you name it, I fished it. I even spent an hour throwing everything I could think of at the Metro Dome of beaver huts. This eight wonder of the world had 3' of water on either side and 5' right in front of the entrance with so much cover for bass I couldn't help but attached a photo. Disappointed, and once again hot and hungry, I left this part of the pool in search of lunch and an attitude adjustment.

     With two Mc Doubles down and a diet coke chaser, I pulled into another ramp ready for my afternoon/evening session. I wasn't sure what the solution was, but I was sure going to try and fish my was through it. I made the trek down to a small lake with current feeding the top end and good weed growth and sections of depth. As soon as I began casting to a weed line, I could hear action all around me. This was something I hadn't seen any of for the past day and a half, and it was quiet a thrill to see fish exploding on schools of bait fish. The water clarity was multiple times cleaner than any water I'd been fishing so far and there were schools of bait fish everywhere. I sat back not really sure how to approach the situation. There were pad fields all around me, but  not quiet enough spacing for me to get a spinner bait or chatter bait through, so I picked up the Spro Frog and started launching. The second cast produced an open water blow up which made me realize they were not holding tight any over head weed cover. I casted back to the same area and this time he made it count. A solid 2lb fish crushed the Spro Frog. This would be the start of 40-50 blow ups over the next two hours. Most of the bass where in the 12'-14' range, with a few pushing 2-1/4lbs, but this action is hard to beat. These bass were clumped together in a 50 yard area on a 3' flat with cleaner, deeper water near by. I realize these size fish won't help come tournament day, but regardless, it was an outstanding end to day two and it gave me some ammunition for day three.  

Day one of COTR................

     It was anything but an outstanding start to my week on the river preparing for the Country on the River Tournament out of Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin. Even the best laid plans always seemed to have a little twist in them, and this day was no exception. I planned to start my day using a small ramp down the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi river, and when I pulled into the parking lot I saw lots of water between the dock and dry land. So, I launched the boat managing to stay dry, (from the knees up), parked the vehicle, and headed out to my intended area. After a short boat ride, I dropped the trolling motor and began casting to a weed point dropping gradually from 1' to 6'-7'. With no luck and a lot of weeds chocking up the spinner bait, I switched to a swim jig with the same result. As a creeped up on the point I picked up the tube and made several casts before claiming two 5 lb northern pike on back to back casts. Disheartened, I began heading down river to the next few spots.

     The water clarity was a mix bag of semi clear water, clouds of dirty water, and flat out stained brown water that you'd loss visibility of the swim jig just below the surface. I decided to try and find some cleaner water and headed back up river a few miles to a couple back water lakes that might be what I was looking for. This was not the case. The water was just high enough on pool 10 to be going over most of the islands and I was saddled with the same mix of dirty water I'd been fishing all morning. With nothing to show for my morning efforts, and the sun and humidity beating down on me, I decided to head back toward the ramp and check out one weed chocked inlet I saw leaving the ramp earlier. I pulled the frog rod out and began chucking and winding. A few blows up almost immediately and my adrenalin began pumping. The next cast was swallowed by a large dogfish, which of course managed to inhaled the frog forcing me to perform surgery in the boat, and creating the usual mess they manage when caught. A few cast later, my Spro frog was swiped at by a good size bass that i saw come out of the water, but no hook up.  Seconds later however, a very large northern manage to eat what the bass failed to eat. A few casts later, and I was done with my morning session. Covered in sweat, and sunscreen, I packed up the boat and headed out for lunch and some cool air before the afternoon/evening session.
     I decided to fish a little closure to Prairie based on the possibility of rain, so I launched in town and headed to a couple of current spots close together that always seem to hold fish. When i arrived I noticed cleaner water and some sparsely flooded bright green vegetation just north of the pocket I intended to fish. After several casts with a black with red flake 4" tube, and only a dink to show for it, I made my way around the point and starting pulling the Spro frog through the pads and weeds which had surprisingly clean water around them. A few casts in and only a few yards from the boat, my bait was slammed by a 12" largemouth I quickly swung into the boat. Proof of life!!!!! I released the fish and continued to work the weed section getting a few more blow ups, and one hook up that came unbuttoned after only a few seconds of action. Needless to say I focused the rest of my evenings efforts trying to find water that duplicated this scenario. With a blow up hear and there, and no hook ups, I decided to fish a few more rock ledges on my way back to the ramp. My first cast was greeted with the familiar tic of the line and I reared back and drew air. This happened to me a few more time before finally managing to get the little #@%&*#*% to eat the bait enough so I could set the hook on him. Having had enough for the day, and at least finishing the day with a bass, I called an end to day one.
     Tomorrow is calling for rain, and if the fishing doesn't pick up, it could be fairly miserable out on the water. But hey, its better than being at work.

let it begin......

     In order to locate good concentrations of fish for the upcoming Country on the River Tournament out of Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin, my friend and fishing partner Rick and I planned to spend the better part of six days pre-fishing. And yesterday was the beginning of our optimistic journey toward cashing a check at this summers most popular, and valuable tournament on the upper Mississippi river. With the recent rains in the area, the river levels were predicted to be rising slowly, which didn't concern us as much as the anticipated water clarity we might be experiencing. Chocolate milk is what I expected to see when we arrived at the boat ramp, however, we were pleasantly surprised to see cleaner water and hoped it would be consistent as we set out on our first of several pre-fishing days.
     As we pulled out of the marina and headed to our first spot, my excitement was increasing by the moment because we were headed to a spot that Rick has previously slaughtered fish two weeks prior. As we pulled up on the spot, Rick quickly noticed the increased water level, and the increased current over this spot. This spot had all the components including current, rocks, wood, and weeds. As we began fishing this area from the main current side, we realised boat control was going to be an issue, and if we intended on fishing for the entire morning, fighting this current with the trolling motor on high wasn't going to be an option. So we let the current float the boat down stream from the spot and made our way around the back side of the current break. There we were greeted with our first largemouth of the day from just off the weedy shoreline on a single bladed spinner bait. A solid keeper, but long and skinny. We continued to fish this spot for another 20-30 minutes managing only one other fish off the same spinner bait. Even though the second fish was a solid smallmouth, we made a few more casts, found a few more rocks to snag our lures on, and decided to move to another spot within sight of our current position.
     The next few spots produced nothing but a dink, however, our movement did expose us to the reality of just how many bass boats were out pre-fishing for the weekend BFL tournament out of Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin the very next day. After realizing we'd spent a few hours with little to show for it, we decided to head back to our starting spot and see if the fish were more active than they were at first light. We placed the boat in about the same spot behind the current and up against the shoreline and began fan casting the point like we had previously done. Within a few casts, Rick hooked into a solid largemouth with less than five feet of line out. This fish short lined a River's Edge swim jig within feet of the boat and surprised us both. Shortly after that, I hooked up with a good smallmouth that made one solid effort to spring out of the water and throw my spinner bait, and he succeeded. I'm not sure which situation is worse. Never seeing a fish that you've hooked into that doubles over your rod, or getting the pleasure of seeing a nice fish leap out of the water as he spits your lure. Both are equally painful. Regardless, Rick and I fished the spot a little longer and decided to head to a few weed choked spots in search of faster action.
     As we pulled into the entrance of a shallow water lake, we began counting the bass boats in the top end. With this disheartening news, we decided to give the bottom end a little effort because the entrance had a nice weed point, slightly flooded with a current break going from inches of water to 5'-6'. Even though the conditions seemed right, and we'd thrown a variety of baits, the fish weren't there, or didn't have an interest in what we where throwing. At that point, we moved to the shoreline where the boat docks ended and the weed line begins with no more success. So, we decided to head into a weed chocked back water down stream to finish our day fishing frogs in hopes this is where the fish would be as the sun creeped higher in the sky.
     Our final spot had all the components for tossing the vulnerable frogs across a loose mad of weeds and having them exploded on by hungry largemouth. But as we wound our way through the mats of grass, the only real action was occasionally pulling up the trolling motor and removing the salad that had accumulated in the prop. We did manage to have one largemouth under two pounds slam into a green/white Spro Frog a short distance from the boat, but that would be our final fish of the day. As we idled our way back to the boat ramp, it was funny, and quite obvious to use we were being out fished by a Pelican that was eating more fish in 10 yards than we'd seen all day.
     The ride home was spent discussing the potential for increased water levels over the next week, where our efforts should be focused, how the fish might react to the changing water levels, and what we'd learned from the days fishing. It wasn't a day filled with observations that would direct our efforts over the next few weeks, however, it did help us eliminate some stretches of water, and with alot of water to cover in the next week, every little bit helps.





    

.....and the bite is back on

     Sunday we had our second club tournament of the year and if I could sum up the fishing in one word, that word would be...."unbelievable". It wasn't a tournament that saw quantities of 3lb and 4lb fish, however, when your tossing over dozens of 2-1/4lb to 2-1/2lb fish because they wont help increase your weight, then you know it's been a good day on the water.
     My partner for this tournament was club member Harry, who is a quality stick with club championships and regional qualifiers on his resume. Harry is the proud owner of a new Legend boat and I have to say this smooth riding boat has all the amenities to go with the balanced ride, quick hole shot, and top end speed. As we idled out of the marina, we discussed our strategy for the day and decided to start in a spot we were comfortable getting a quick limit, and later in the day we'd try and locate larger fish to increase our weight. With any tournament, its never a good sign when you drop the boat down, turn around and see a half dozen other boats doing the same. However, this particular day there would be enough action for everyone. Harry dropped the Minnkota and we barely made it 20 yards and he had the first keeper of the day in the boat. Harry started the day throwing a spinner bait and I made a few casts with a pop-R and quickly switched to a spinner bait because of the current position on the rocks. This first stretch was an east west rock wall with current spilling against half the stretch and current flowing over the other half. Water depth was 2'-3' with water clarity slightly stained compared to normal pool 9 water clarity. As we made our way up the rocks we started to pick up more and more fish off spinner baits, chatter baits, and shallow crankbaits. The outstanding thing about the bite this particular morning was the way in which these fish attacked the lures. A few would just lay on the bait and load up your rod, but most would crush the spinner bait, chatter bait, swim jig or crank bait. Needless to say, we quickly filled out our limit but knew we had to increase our weights to have a chance at the win.

     As we watched our surroundings throughout the morning, we noticed several boats with rods bent and nets going into the water, so after a few hours, and a few increased ounces here and there, we packed up and headed to our next spot. The next two spots echoed each other in the fact they were main channel rock walls with shallow water bordering deeper water with steady current. Harry had found fish in these areas during practice and as he predicted, they were still there. This time, the fish were tight against the rocks so once the lure hit the water, you had to be ready for a strike. The bottom side of one little rock point in particular had four largemouth over 2-1/2lbs and two solid fish pushing the 3lb mark. To give you a perspective on this, imagine all six of these quality fish sitting in a foot of water in an area no larger than your dining room table. Harry would have me step up to the trolling motor and keep us in position while he weighed his fish, and just about the time he was ready to start fishing again, I would hook into one and we'd switch positions. Its just the kind of day it was.
     We continued to catch fish everywhere we went, and would gain an ounce or two in weight to slowly but surely work our way up to 25lbs-26lbs. Most of the spots we fished were very similar with rocks, current, and a few weeds, however, one area behind the rocks was a very shallow weed flat with sparse lilly pads and patches of fresh green grass. This area had "Frog" written all over it, so Harry grabbed his spro frog and launched a cast right next to the rock bank surrounded by weeds. Boom!!! The frog was inhaled by a solid 2-3/4lb largemouth he quickly wrestled to the boat. After the fish was released and Harry's very next cast landed beside another patch of weeds, Boom!!!!, another 2-3/4lb largemouth. Back to back casts produced quality fish, with only one draw back. We couldn't go any further because the water depth ran out and the stumps became to much of a risk. So we headed out and decided to finish our day in the same area we'd started.
     As we arrived back to our first area of the day, neither of us were surprised to see the same amount of boats in the general vicinity. Harry dropped the boat down quietly and we got into the rotating line of boats surrounding the rocks and weeds. Just as we reached the spot we finished at in the am, Harry slammed another solid 2-1/2 lb largemouth off a swimjig between the weed and the rock line. At this point, Harry had almost a 3lb average so these fish were not helping him at all, but left me slightly jealous because I needed to get a couple smaller fish off my board. We continued around the bend in the rocks and with roughly 15 minutes of our tournament day left, I was blessed with almost back to back 2-1/2lb fish off a Stanley Vibrashaft spinner bait. This helped bump me closer to a 2-1/2lb average and helped our total to 27.04lbs.
     As we idled into the marina and the talking started between boats, I began to feel that everyone had a tremendous day on the water. And that was indeed the case as everyone in our club had almost the exact fishing experience Harry and I had on the water. It took 27.14lbs to win the tournament with Harry and I coming in second place with 27.04lbs and every other team weight close behind. Almost everyone in our club reported excellent fishing with 2lb to 2-1/2lb fish very common on a variety of lures and techniques. Simply put, the bass had the feed bag strapped on and we had the pleasure of being on the water at the right time. Pool 9 was almost back to normal water level, the water clarity and temperature were just about ideal, and the overcast skies and slight winds were all contributing factors to a remarkable day of fishing.