I had only been on The Canal once since April and that last outing I had focused more on playing fishing guide to my family rather than fishing. But I have had my sights on this June 5 trip for a while now as my work week got shifted to have the day off. The goal on this trip was to land a bass in the same area that I caught my first ever Canal bass back on June 5, 2021. Read on for the rest of the story.
Stats
Date: June 5
Location: Hennepin Canal
Time: 7:20pm-8:50pm (2 pools)
Totals: 5 bass
Weather: Sunny/breezy
Water temperature: Not available
Lures: Spro Flappin Frog 65 (nasty shad) – 4 bass, 5” Yamamoto Senko wacky rig (smoke shad) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 2-0 Frog
Top 4 Weight (only 4 bass at 12” or better): 6-6 (2-0,1-11,1-9,1-2)
Winning Lures
Notes and Nonsense
Anniversary Bass – On June 5, 2021, I landed my first ever Canal bass. It came on a Senko wacky rig from the stretch of The Canal near the Geneseo Campground. To celebrate the date, I decided to revisit the spot and see if I could recreate the catch. Luck was on my side as roughly ten minutes into casting, I had another wacky rig bass posing for a pic. It wasn’t big but that didn’t bother me a bit as it was all about achieving the goal.
June 5, 2021 – first ever Hennepin Canal bass
June 5, 2026 – Fifth anniversary catch at the same spot on the same presentation, a Senko wacky rig
Froggy Water – Once I had the anniversary bass in hand, I made a few more casts on the area but just wasn’t feeling overly optimistic in my gut. And several other anglers lining the shore also convinced me to relocate a few miles downstream. I had not seen this water since April, but it was right on the money for my intended approach, topwater frog fishing. A mix of solid shoreline mats, scattered weed clumps, and clear water was just what the doctor ordered. Roughly an hour of casting produced four “keepers” along with three other missed strikes. The missed strikes are part of the game when fishing a frog in the slop, but I also made an error on adjusting my drag that may have cost me my fifth keeper. A novice mistake upon getting in a hurry and overlooking an important detail for this type of presentation.
Frog bass often come with a side salad as shown below
8:05pm – Top Bass weighing 2-0 (16″) on a topwater frog
8:34pm – Top Bass Runner-Up weighing 1-11 (15.5″) on a topwater frog
The Canal has been good to me over the last five years. It’s also been weird and difficult, but the five bass landed on this trip push me closer to a pre-season goal of landing Canal Bass #1000. Currently, I sit at 965 bass, and I hope to get it done this year. However, some transportation issues have complicated matters. But that is another story. In the meantime, I am hoping to get in some more casts elsewhere over the weekend. Stay tuned and talk to you later. Troy