For this trip, I set my sights on a lengthy stretch that was quite weed choked back on May 30 when I made a thirty-minute stop for an exploratory hike. This time around, I opted for biking over hiking to cover the entire stretch. My aim was to find the froggiest looking spots among the near solid weed cover and clean house with my recently purchased Spro Flapppin Frog. Well, it is always good to have a backup plan as detailed below.
7:41pm – First bass after nearly two hours of fishing
Stats
Date: July 15
Location: Hennepin Canal
Time: 5:50pm-8:20pm
Totals: 2 bass
Weather: Hazy/calm, 82F
Lures: 7.5” Yum Ribbontail Worm (plum) – 2 bass
Top Bass: 2-8 Plastic Worm
Top 1 Weight (only 1 at 12” or better): 2-8
Winning Lure
Notes and Nonsense
Frog Fail – Riding high after a July 2 frog catch on another stretch of The Canal, I was all in on prospecting a potentially productive pool. However, I was disappointed as the only action was a green sunfish popping my frog at my feet in a narrow stretch of open water between the bank and an extensive weed mat. The pool was much shallower than I anticipated, and everything looked the same; darn near bank to bank weed cover. I hit areas where there were open pockets, weeds mixed with wood, channels along the riprap bank, and any other variations among the vegetation. That’s a solid approach, right? Look for something different or a combination of cover in otherwise identical looking water. Well, it sure didn’t work for me on this outing. And while you may suggest looking for deeper water adjacent to the surface weed cover, on this stretch the only choices were shallow and shallower.
Looked like Frog City but I couldn’t buy a bite
Plan B – Having reached the end of my initial stretch of water after ninety minutes without a bite, I was left with only about thirty minutes to fish. This prompted a decision to take a stab at the next pool rather than fishing my way back through the unproductive water. This also meant a change of tactics as the lock featured a deep pool with limited weed cover along the banks. Cue the Texas-rigged worm cast to the weed edges which resulted in two bass, one other lost after a brief battle, and a couple short strikes. While I was quite happy to avoid the embarrassing shutout, I also kicked myself for not bailing on the first pool earlier. But that’s how fishing goes. Take your hindsight, file it away, and draw upon it in the future.
8:00pm – Top Bass at 2-8 (16.5″) on a Texas rigged worm
Final Bite – I figured that my Texas rig catches would be my last bites, but it turned out that I was wrong. As I rode my bike back along the towpath to the truck, one of my fingers suddenly felt like it was on fire. Glancing down, I spotted the business end of a bee stuck in my finger. I stopped the bike, flicked the bee off, and then had to brush the stringer out. Been a while since I got stung and it was just an unfortunate situation for the bee that we collided as we were both zipping along just minding our own business.
Although the catching was lacking, the learning continues. And before the summer is out, I intend to put the lessons learned on this outing to work. Stay tuned and talk to you later. Troy