Back on July 7, I hit one of my seldom visited stretches of The Canal and ran into an uncomfortable spider situation in one of the tubes that I had to traverse. Well, I wanted to fish the water again but this time I was smarter (and scared), so I opted to approach it from an alternate launching point. While this allowed me to avoid the spiders, I found that the resident bass were in a mood to avoid me. I did fool a few though so read on for the results and rambles.

7:36am – First Bass at 1-11 (15.5″) on a topwater frog

Stats
Date: August 17
Location: Hennepin Canal
Time: 7:20am-10:50am
Totals: 4 bass
Weather: Overcast/breezy to windy, 67-75F
Lures: Spro Flappin Frog 65 (natural red) – 2 bass, Strike King Red Eye Shad (sexy shad) – 2 bass
Top 2 Weight (only 2 at 12” or better): 4-4 (2-9,1-11)

Winning Lures

Notes and Nonsense

Comparing Notes – About an hour and a half into my morning, I had just landed my second (and largest) bass as a pair of boating anglers got within conversation distance. Disappointed with my total, I was feeling a bit embarrassed to fess up that I only had two bass to show for my efforts. To my surprise, the other anglers admitted that they had only landed two smaller bass after covering even more distance. I told them not to take it the wrong way, but it made me feel better to know others were struggling as well.

8:41am – Top Bass at 2-9 (17″) on a topwater frog 

Confidence – Even after forty plus years of trying to be a bass fisherman, it can be difficult to keep your chin up during a tough bite. But my chat with the other anglers about their similar struggle recalled a conversation with Dad a number of years ago about experience. He said that Brent and I shouldn’t sell ourselves short as not just anybody can go out there and catch a batch of bass consistently. Great advice to keep the confidence up from a guy who knows a thing or two about fishing and the outdoors. Of course, he’s a little biased and would also profess that he taught us everything we know.

Sample shot of multiple gar breaking the surface

Gulping Gar – On one portion of the stretch that I was fishing, I observed constant, scattered ripples of fish breaking the surface. Initially, I assumed they were shad being chased by bass, but the frequency, consistency, and sheer number of disturbances seemed different than the sporadic flurries of prey spooked by predators. As I got closer, I stopped casting to focus on figuring out what was taking place. When several of the fish broke the surface near the boat, I suddenly realized that they were gar. Now, I have seen a handful of gar on The Canal, but this was something to behold as dozens of the fish repeatedly rolled at the surface. I attempted to get a strike on a wacky rigged Senko but only had one follow that I observed upon lifting my lure out of the water at boatside. That fish was of considerable size as best I could make out in the murky water and was the largest of any that were observed up close. It was a cool sight, and I stopped in the same area again as I headed back downstream later. Internet research revealed that gar will come to the surface in such a manner to intake air for supplemental oxygen in low oxygen environments. Summer on parts of The Canal with sluggish current and dingy water would certainly fit the bill and result in such behavior.

A little tough to see but this was a sizeable gar that followed my Senko to the boat

The learning on The Canal continues as you never know what you will encounter. While I did not encounter many bass on this trip, the gathering of gar was something to behold. And before I forget, the 2-9 Top Bass knocked a 1-9 out of my Top 5, raising my weight for the stretch to 10-1. Mission accomplished and talk to you later. Troy

The choice for this outing was a destination that I had fished twice previously and established an initial Top 5 Weight of 8-3. For this leg of the Top 5 Quest, I was in search of a quality bite or two to gain the twenty-nine-ounce boost needed to push my Top 5 weight into double digits. Things started off in fine fashion, but the flurry did not last. Read on to see if the bass came through.

3:00pm – Top Bass at 2-4 (17″) on a buzzbait

Stats
Date: August 11
Location: Hennepin Canal
Time: 3:00pm-6:00pm
Totals: 4 bass
Weather: Sunny/calm, 78F
Lures: 5” Yamamoto Senko (pumpkin/black flake) – 1 bass, War Eagle Spinnerbait (chartreuse/white) with Bass Pro Shops Twin Tail trailer (Houdini) – 1 bass, Spro Flappin Frog 65 (natural red) – 1 bass, Big Bite Baits Suicide Buzz (citrus shad) – 1 bass
Top 3 Weight (only 3 at 12” or better): 5-2 (2-4,1-11,1-3)

Winning lures

Notes and Nonsense

New Buzzbait – A recent article on buzzbaits in a national fishing publication sent me in search of a new trick on the day prior to this outing. I found what I was looking for at my second stop over the river during my first visit to K & K Hardware. They always have a quality booth at the annual Quad City Outdoor Show and the store did not disappoint. My purchase was a Big Bites Bait Suicide Shad in the citrus shad pattern. This buzzbait is a variation that features a swimbait body rather than a skirt on the business end of the lure. My traditional skirted buzzbait bite has been lacking on The Canal this year, and the abundance of shad observed in the waters pushed me to try something different.

Expanding my arsenal with a new type of buzzbait

Fast Feedback – My first casts with the new buzzbait were a mixture of disappointment and surprise. The disappointment arose as the blade was not turning smoothly, causing the lure to dive or clumsily flail about the surface. The surprise came as I rapidly splashed the bait back to the boat for a tune-up. A bass blasted the ugly retrieve and a follow-up with a Senko wacky rig had my first bass of the day in the boat before a minute on the water had elapsed. Six minutes later, after fixing the blade issue, a solid 2-4 nailed the new lure and I was feeling pretty smart about my purchase. I never caught another bass on it the rest of the trip.

5:29pm – Top Bass Runner Up at 1-11 (16″) on a topwater frog

Top 5 Quest – The 2-4 provided a significant boost as it displaced a fifteen-ounce bass in my creel and put me within eight ounces of the ten-pound mark. However, it was a lengthy drought of over two hours before I got another “keeper.” Adding to the frustration was losing a bass at boatside that was in the two-pound range. Luckily, I got one more shot when a bass busted a topwater frog as it reached the deep edge of a shoreline weed mat. My target had been a shallow stump amid the weeds and the strike took me by surprise as my focus drifted after not getting the strike where I initially aimed. There’s a lesson there but even after forty plus years of bass fishing, a prolonged lack of bites will still catch me daydreaming. In this case, I was fortunate that the bass was on target and all those years of muscle memory aided in a hookset that bordered on autopilot. That final bite of the evening came in at 1-11 and pushed me past my goal with a current Top 5 Weight of 10-2.

Mission accomplished as I got the bites that I needed on an evening when bites were few. Check another spot off the list for a double digit Top 5. Three days later, I was back for a quick hit on another stretch of The Canal with the same goal in mind. Stay tuned for that report and talk to you later. Troy

For my return to The Canal, I chose a stretch that is popular with other anglers. My hope was that a sunrise start on a Sunday morning would beat the crowd and that indeed proved to be the case. The primary aim of this trip was to get a boost of two ounces to my Top 5 to reach double digits for the pool. Read on for the results from my first visit to The Canal in nearly a month.

Welcome to The Canal where you get a side of “summer salad” with your bass

Stats
Date: August 4
Location: Hennepin Canal
Time: 5:50am-8:50am
Totals: 8 bass
Weather: Partly cloudy to sunny/breezy, 66-77F
Lures: Booyah Buzzbait (snow white shad) – 5 bass, Whopper Plopper (bone) – 3 bass
Top 5 Weight: 6-13 (2-5,1-4,1-3,1-1,1-0)

7:36am – Top Bass Runner Up at 1-4 (13.5″) on a Whopper Plopper

Notes and Nonsense

Top 5 Quest – In my ongoing quest to post a ten-pound Top 5 from every pool on The Canal from Colona to the Feeder Basin, I selected a spot where my Top 5 sat at 9-14 (2-8,2-3,1-15,1-11,1-9). As such, I needed a 1-11 catch to knock out the lowest member of the Top 5 and gain the two ounces I was lacking. Reports from fellow anglers have shown that there are plenty of quality bass in the pool, but my previous efforts have found me coming up short. Just have to keep on casting.

Winning Lures

Topwater Commitment – The depth and cover on this area set up well for a topwater bite like most stretches of The Canal. However, a lack of clouds and the angle of the sunrise had the stretch in full sun shortly after my arrival. Even so, I went nearly all in on topwater with only limited casts of a swimbait, spinnerbait, and Senko wacky rig. Part one of my thought process was to stick with topwater as close to the weed cover as possible where I expected the bass to be hiding from the sun. Part two of the topwater approach was a willingness to sacrifice quantity in exchange for a quality bite. The first two hours were tough with only four bites (three on a Whopper Popper) including two “keepers” and a Top Bass of 1-4. For the final hour, I switched to a buzzbait and had better “luck.”

8:50am – Top Bass at 2-5 (17″) on a buzzbait with the last cast of the morning

Last Cast – Pushing three hours into the morning, I was still lacking the bite needed for my Top 5 boost. Adding to the disappointment was the fact that I had recently had a solid blowup on the buzzbait by a bass that lacked good aim. It’s a guessing game on how big such a bite could be but in my mind the strike was the fish that I was seeking. Luckily, at 8:50am I got a second chance when a bass nailed a buzzbait as it neared the boat on the end of a retrieve. As I battled the fish, I knew that it would make the mark. I did have trouble getting a grip on its lip but got it in the boat where it tipped the scales at 2-5. Mission accomplished in pushing my Top 5 weight for the pool to 10-10. With that bass in the bag, I elected to call it a day with the successful final cast. After a picture, I thanked the fish, released it, and rowed back to the truck.

 

Mark another spot off the list with a double-digit Top 5. Still more work to do and I was back at it the following morning on a stretch with a Top 5 mark of 8-2 that was established in my lone visit back in June of 2023. Stay tuned for that report and talk to you later. Troy

Back to the strip mines as I continue to give The Canal a rest. This time, Brent and I opted for a new wrinkle on our old hikes with a “float trip” approach. Read on to see how this stunt worked out.

Pre-hike Guesses, we did not do well on the weights but far exceeded out estimates on total bass

10:16am – Top Bass at 1-14 (16.5″) on a buzzbait

Stats
Date: August 3
Location: Knox County public strip pits (3 lakes)
Time: 5:45am-11:40am (5.25 hours fishing)
Totals: 64 bass (Brent – 36 Troy – 28)
Weather: Sunny/breezy, 68-88F
Water temperature: Not available
Lures (Troy): 5” Yamamoto Senko (blue pearl/silver flake) – 11 bass, Booyah Buzzbait (snow white shad) – 9 bass, Strike King Red Eye Shad (sexy shad) – 7 bass, Spro Flappin Frog 65 (natural red) – 1 bass,
Lures (Brent): 5” Yamamoto Senko (green pumpkin with large black flake) – 20 bass, Chug-N-Spit (black/chrome belly) – 13 bass, Spinnerbait – 3 bass
Top Bass: 1-14 Troy (Buzzbait), 1-10 Brent (Spinnerbait/Popper)
Top 5 Weight (combined): 8-6 (1-14,1-12,1-10,1-10,1-8)

Winning Lures – Brent

Winning Lures – Troy

Notes and Nonsense

The Departure – Our plan consisted of what we referred to as a land and water based “float trip.” Park one truck at the ending point and drive the other truck to a departure point and walk/fish our way through. Along the route there were seven or eight lakes to choose from and we wound up fishing three. A fourth was merely used as portage as we opted to call it a day in the oppressive heat.

So, the calculator app shows that 1.88 pounds equals 1 pound 14 ounces (.88 x 16), but my brother can tell you the same thing quicker

The Abacus – I am not too hip on current bass angler nicknames but back in the day I followed fishermen going by the monikers of “Ike”, “G-Man”, “KVD” or “The Kalamazoo Kid.” Well, after this outing I may start referring to my brother, Brent, as “The Abacus.” I currently use a pair of backup digital scales as my prime scale gave out last year due to water damage. The scales only display in decimals which requires some calculation. As far as numbers such as 1.10, 2.25 and so on, I am good. However, my brain isn’t quite as sharp when it comes to 1.34 or 2.84 and I must use the calculator app on my phone to dial in the exact ounces. Insert Brent on this trip as a solid substitute as he would tell me how many ounces before I was able to punch the numbers into my app. Granted, I did check him for accuracy, and he was right on the money every time.

8:00am – Brent Top Bass at 1-10 (14″) on a spinnerbait

The Return – After just over five hours of fishing, a mile and quarter of hiking, and a heat index exceeding ninety degrees, we were worn out. As we stood on the bank of a final lake, we elected to call it quits and head for home. We made it back to the truck soaked with sweat and with little left in the tank.

Breakdown of a morning of roughly 7,000 steps (approximately 110 steps per bass)

Crazy vs. Dumb – The final tally was sixty-four bass, a darn good morning. At one point earlier in the day, we had pondered a shot at landing one hundred. The fish were there, the energy was not. In hindsight, we nearly bit off more than we could chew and should have saved the stunt for cooler weather. I got a chuckle out of a social media comment from an angler we chatted with as we ended our day as he stated, “After you guys told me your route, I thought man these guys are crazy and weren’t playing around today.” Well, we did have a mission, and I thanked him for using the term “crazy” as Brent and I had a later conversation where we referred to our stunt as “dumb.”

 

A successful hike and another instance when I ponder how many more years I want to undertake such an adventure. One of these days, a few of these lakes may get the farewell tour. But do you know what? After I got home and had a nap, I actually thought “that wasn’t so bad.” Talk to you later. Troy