Four days prior to this outing, I finished a day of casting in a ninety-eight-degree heat index. In the meantime, the seasons changed, and I hit the water hoping that the fall bite would be kicking into gear.

Stats
Date: September 24 (two pools)
Time: 3:20pm-7:00pm
Totals: 12 bass
Weather: Partly cloudy to overcast/breezy 71-69F
Lures: War Eagle spinnerbait (white/chartreuse) with Zoom Creepy Crawler trailer (watermelon seed) – 9 bass, Whopper Plopper 110 (bone) – 3 bass
Top Bass: 1-5 Spinnerbait
Top 5 Weight (only 3 at 12” or better): 3-4 (1-5,1-3,0-12)

5:07pm – Top Bass at 1-5 (14″) on a spinnerbait

Notes and Nonsense

Short Stop – As I was having difficulty choosing between a pair of pools for my destination, I opted to fish both. My aim was to speed fish the first stretch by investing an hour to spot hop between the most productive areas. It turns out that my shortened visit only produced short fish with a seven-inch bass and two ten-and-a-half inchers. Not the start that I was anticipating, so on to stop number two.

Feeling Good – My evening finished on my best stretch of The Canal in overcast conditions that just felt right for something good to happen. I even commented with the GoPro running that I sensed I was on the verge of a big bite. After all these years, I trust my gut feeling, but on this day, the anticipated bite never showed. I felt that I had the right presentations, and I was putting the lures in the right places, but the bass weren’t interested. Just one of those things that leads me to frequently say, “That’s fishing.”

Winning Lures

Fall Fail – Last year was my first year fishing The Canal. I caught my first ever Canal bass in June 2021 and found a good batch of quality bass throughout the summer. I recall looking forward to a solid bite when the cooler fall temperatures kicked in, but it never materialized. This trip has me concerned that the quality fall bass are going to get the better of me again in 2022. However, I’m not ready to give up just yet.

Local Legend – As I loaded my boat in the parking area, I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow angler who was getting ready to wet a line. He introduced himself and we briefly compared some notes on The Canal. As we both headed our ways, I mentioned that I had a website (did not have my cards in my tackle bag, duh!) and he noted that he did as well. He stated that it was J-Mac Lures and of course I did a bit of internet prowling when I got home. Turns out that Tom has quite a history regarding fishing and fishing tackle in the Quad City Area. Not being an area native, I had no idea who I was speaking with but perhaps we may get a chance to cross paths again.

 

I did manage a dozen bass in my three hours of casting which overall isn’t that bad, but I just couldn’t find any big bites. With those twelve bass, however, I began pondering a milestone that was well within reach. Back on September 17, I had landed bass #420 to establish a new personal record for bass caught in a year (topping 419 in 2020). Following several other trips and including the dozen bass landed on this Canal outing, I stood only nine bass from #500. Stay tuned for the details on that quest later this month. Talk to you later. Troy