This trip tested the approach that “the best time to go fishing is anytime you can”, as the forecast for rain and blustery conditions weren’t the most appealing. But hey, I’ve been rained on before, and the fish don’t care as they are already wet.

4:28pm – Top Bass at 2-5 (16.5″) on a chatterbait

Stats
Date: April 11
Location: Hennepin Canal
Time: 3:15pm-5:30pm
Totals: 7 bass
Weather: Overcast/windy/light rain, 60-56F
Water temperature: Not available
Lures: Z-Man Chatterbait (sexy shad) with BPS Speed Shad trailer (sight fish) – 7 bass
Top Bass: 2-5 Chatterbait
Top 5 Weight: 9-7 (2-5,2-3,1-12,1-11,1-8)

Winning lure is once again this battered chatterbait

Tune of the Trip
“It’s the same old, same old situation”
Same Ol’ Situation – Motley Crue (1989)
With the seven bass on this outing, the chatterbait extends its string by catching the first thirty-nine bass of this year. It is an oddity but not entirely surprising with seven of my nine outings of 2026 being on the same stretch of water.

5:12pm – Top Bass Runner-up at 2-3 (16″) on a chatterbait

Notes and Nonsense

3:52pm – Two views of a bass with a deformed or injured lower lip

A Look at Lips – There’s more to catching a fish for me than just set the hook, reel it in, unhook, and release. Of course, there is the documentation via a log entry, perhaps a picture, and in more recent years, video. But beyond those aspects, I take a good look at the fish as you will find that not all bass look the same. In the instance of the fish above, the lower jaw came to a pronounced point with a knob rather than the normal more rounded shape as shown in the photo below. The best that I can find online is that the characteristic may arise genetically or from an injury. Either way, it is an interesting feature, and I take pride in giving my catches a closer look to spot such a variation. On the flipside, I have wondered if bass think we all look alike. I hope not after all of the effort to introduce myself to thousands of bass on a couple hundred lakes over the years.

Example of a bass with a normal uniform, rounded lower lip

The tale of the scale as it read 2.30 on the bass caught and weighed in the video below

 

Guesstimation – When I catch a decent bass, I often try to employ my “built-in” scale to estimate a weight before actually putting the fish on the scale. The clip above is an example and it turns out that I was right on the money, even though I profess an accuracy of +/- 2 ounces. I also profess that it doesn’t always work out as precisely as this catch. But therein lies the beauty of being the video and blog editor.

 

A good day in the rain as I nearly reached my goal of a ten-pound Top 5 for the outing. Even better, the bass were able to put me within nine ounces of the mark in just over two hours on the water. The success inspired me to hit the water again the following morning. Stay tuned for that report and talk to you later. Troy