After a successful day of casting in the rain the previous day, I found myself contending with a strong wind on this outing. Read on for the results, a rescue, and thoughts on the windy conditions.
Stats
Date: April 12
Location: Hennepin Canal
Time: 9:15am-12:00pm
Totals: 8 bass
Weather: Partly cloudy/very windy, 65F
Water temperature: Not available
Lures: Z-Man Chatterbait (sexy shad) with BPS Speed Shad trailer (sight fish) – 8 bass
Top Bass: 1-15 Chatterbait
Top 3 Weight (only 3 bass at 12” or better): 4-0 (1-15,1-1,1-0)
Starting Lineup
Tune of the Trip
“Blow away, Blow away, Blow away.”
Blow Away – George Harrison (1979)
The wind was wicked on this day. When walking The Canal. it really doesn’t pose much of a problem, but it did rock me a few times as I stood on uneven shoreline riprap. More on the wind later in this post.
10:24am – Top Bass Runner-Up weighing 1-1 (12.5″) on a chatterbait
Notes and Nonsense
Battered Chatter – My chatterbait has begun to show some wear upon landing every single one of my bass this year. The unusual streak reached forty-seven with the eight landed on this outing. The battle scars consist of paint knocked off the head and many of the skirt strands ripped away. In addition, I have gone through a batch of swimbait trailers along the way. While ugliness is not a deal breaker, I did bust out a new bait on this trip to give the old one a rest.
Rescued – I nearly donated the chatterbait to The Canal as an errant cast landed on downed limb several feet from the bank. I have hole in one boot and the muck on the bottom of The Canal is crazy, so I was unable to wade out to the bait. Fortunately, I had a rod and reel spooled up with braided line. I tied on a swim jig, stepped into the edge of the water with my good boot and proceeded to snag the branch. As the braided line is darn near impossible to break, it allowed me to pull the branch within reach and retrieve my lure to cast another day.
Wind Pros – On the upside, wind can be beneficial as it can push the food chain towards the riprapped banks of The Canal. It also breaks up the surface making the shallow fish less spooky which is a bonus for a bank bound angler. I prefer the wind blowing towards me in terms of positioning fish in proximity but at my back or a crosswind has a positive effect on casting distance. Generally, accuracy is more important to me than distance, but it is cool to make some casts that span the entire width of The Canal.
11:15am – Top Bass of the trip at 1-15 (16″) on a chatterbait
Wind Cons – I’ve been slinging a baitcaster for over forty years but even a seasoned angler must deal with a professional overrun from time to time (fancy term for a backlash). The wind also got me on this day as I did not compensate properly on a cast parallel to the bank and caught a branch as described above These days, I always hit the water with my GoPro, and the wind wreaks havoc on the audio as I do not have a fancy wind muff accessory. One final drawback was not being able to hear a bike rider approaching and he scared me half to death even though I was well off the path when the movement hit my peripheral vision.
Good numbers on this outing but I could not find any big bites. However, I had the opportunity to get out the following day to make it three consecutive days on the water. Stay tuned for that report and talk to you later. Troy