The Hennepin Canal offers over one hundred miles of fishing with the vast majority being off the beaten path. Those remote spots are where I do most of my prowling to get away from the crowd. However, there are several spots on my “to fish list” that are closer to communities. Having taken Thursday off work, I set my sights on a dual duty day on the waterway. This consisted of a morning visit to an “urban” stretch and an evening outing on a “rural” area. Both spots were new water for me. I had observed the areas during some scouting hikes and drives but had never made a cast on the waters. Read on for the results.

9:20am – First bass was a solid 2-6 on a Whopper Plopper

Stats
Date: May 25
Location: Hennepin Canal (two locations)
Time: 9:20am-1:10pm & 5:30pm-8:00pm
Totals: 15 bass (11 bass & 4 bass)
Weather: Sunny/breezy & sunny/windy
Lures: War Eagle Spinnerbait (chartreuse/white) with a BPS XPS double tail grub trailer (Houdini) –9 bass, Booyah Buzzbait (black) – 3 bass, Whopper Plopper 110 (bone) – 2 bass, 5” Yamasenko wacky rig (perch) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 3-2 Buzzbait
Top 5 Weight: 10-4 (3-2,2-6,1-10,1-10,1-8)

Winning Lures

Notes and Nonsense

Morning Mission – I headed west to start my day and got some quick feedback with a 2-6 on a Whopper Plopper on my second cast of the morning. While it would be my largest bass of my first stop of the day, I did fool several more “keepers” with seven of the eleven bass coming in at 12” or better and a Top 5 of 7-1. My three hours of exploring were well spent on a stop worthy of a return trip.

6:26pm – Top Bass was a long and lean 3-2, could it have made 4-0 with some bulk?

East Evening – After a break of several hours, I opted to end my day on some water to the east of my normal stops. The evening bite was tougher than my morning, resulting in only four bass in three and a half hours of casting. On the upside was posting my Top Bass of the day at 3-2. Three of my four catches were keepers and combined to weigh in at 5-2.

Ten-Pound Top 5 – As I have mentioned before, my on the water goals in chronological order are don’t get shutout, land five keepers, and post a double digit Top 5 weight. Over the course of the two trips, the bass came through with a 10-4 total to check that often elusive third goal.

 

A banged up and lean 3-2 Top Bass, possibly spawned out

Four-Pound Quest – The search for my first four-pounder from The Canal continues as my Top Bass on this outing came up well short. But the weight was the only thing short about it as it measured 19” in length. A bass of that length has all the potential to tip the scales at four pounds but this one was just long and lean. Granted the fourteen ounces it needed may be a stretch, but this bass was near razor thin, although proportionate. No big head and scrawny body but perhaps just spent from the spawn. It was also missing a chunk of its tail and both sides of the fish had sustained some sort of damage. If only bass could talk, we would have had a good conversation.

 

Great fun exploring and it is hard to beat the allure of new water. In fact, I enjoyed the pursuit so much that I headed for a couple more stretches of “uncharted territory” over the Memorial Day holiday. But those are fish stories to come. In addition, I need to work in my May “Prowl the Canal” stats and notes once June arrives. Too much fishing and not enough time to write. A good “problem” to have. Stay tuned and talk to you later. Troy