Lately, my Canal trips have been to less traveled stretches while attempting to boost my Top 5 weights for those locations into double digits. On this trip, for a change of pace and a shorter drive, I stayed closer to home.
4:31pm – Top Bass Runner-Up at 1-13 (15.5″) on a buzzbait
Stats
Date: August 28
Location: Hennepin Canal
Time: 4:10pm-6:55pm
Totals: 6 bass
Weather: Sunny/calm, 87F
Lures: Booyah Buzz Buzzbait (snow white shad) – 4 bass, Spro Flappin Frog 65 (natural red) – 1 bass, Senko wacky rig (natural shad) – 1 bass
Top 4 Weight (only 4 at 12” or better): 6-7 (1-15,1-13,1-7,1-4)
Winning Lures
Notes and Nonsense
Evening Heat – Nearly all my summer fishing this year has been morning outings to beat the heat. On this day, I took a weekday off work, and had my errands completed by mid-afternoon, so I felt that I had earned time on the water. Having been distracted by my tasks all day, I did not realize just how hot it was. In addition, the tree-lined stretch of The Canal I chose along with calm conditions made for a hot, still tunnel hit by full sun the entire afternoon. In no time at all, I was soaked with sweat, long before I reached the turnaround and had to row close to a mile back to the parking lot.
Topwater Commitment – This stretch of The Canal has abundant weed growth this time of the year. Over forty percent of the surface is weed covered, with another quarter of the stretch featuring vegetation just under the surface. The weed free portions consist of narrow channels between the surface weeds and scattered pools of open water. As such, the one-two punch of a buzzbait and frog get a workout. Ideally, cloud cover is desired, but you can’t control the weather and must make the best of what you’ve got. In such instances, I like to hit shady spots around overhanging trees and work a lot of retrieves as close to lengthy weed edges as possible. The aim is to run the bait along as much edge as possible in hopes that a bass lurking in the shade of trees or surface weeds will get tempted to take a shot.
Bass #800 – While it wasn’t much of a bass in terms of quality, the catch in the above video represented Bass #800 all-time from The Canal. A solid fishery and a lot of hours of learning since June 5, 2021, when I landed my first Canal bass. I still can’t believe that I neglected the waterway for nearly seven years after moving to the Quad City Area. In the meantime, the old Canal has been good to me, and I have my sights set on Bass #1000 sometime next year.
4:44pm – Top Bass at 1-15 (15.5″) on a buzzbait
Top 5 Quest – In my Canal experience, I have logged just under thirty hours on this stretch and landed ninety-three bass. My current all-time Top 5 weight on the pool sits at 12-8, consisting of bass weighing 2-12,2-12,2-8,2-7, and 2-1. My Top Bass of 1-15 on this outing came up a bit shy of giving me a boost but glad I gave the area a shot for the first time this year.
I am not sure if I will be back on this stretch before the year ends as I have my eye on spots that lack a double-digit Top 5. And speaking of that, stay tuned for the first September report of the year as I took a shot at a spot in search of an eleven-ounce boost. Talk to you later. Troy