As I would be unable to work in some casts on the longest day of the year, I hit The Canal for a short outing on Summer Solstice Eve, instead. A short drive and a long evening make The Canal an ideal place for a quick hit and the bass proved to be cooperative (although not particularly large).
7:34pm – Top Bass weighing 1-8 (14″) on a frog
Stats
Date: June 20
Location: Hennepin Canal
Time: 7:20pm-9:05pm
Totals: 4 bass
Weather: Sunny/calm
Water temperature: Not available
Lures: Z-Man Chatterbait (sexy shad) with BPS Speed Shad trailer (sight shad) – 2 bass, Spro Flappin Frog 65 (nasty shad) – 1 bass, 5” Yamamoto Senko wacky rig (smoke shad) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 1-8 Frog
Top 5 Weight (only one bass at 12” or better): 1-8
Winning lures
Notes and Nonsense
The Usual Suspects – With less than two hours to hike and fish, there’s not a whole lot of time to experiment. Therefore, I arrived armed with my current summer trio of Canal lures even though it wouldn’t technically be astronomical summer for another eight hours. The arsenal of a topwater frog, a chatterbait, and a wacky rigged Senko all produced at least on bass apiece. The topwater frog was used in, around, and over the abundant surface and submergent aquatic weed growth. The chatterbait came into play in open water stretches. The wacky rig was ready for a specific stretch and as a follow-up to any missed strikes on the frog in areas that have open water.
8:06pm – Razor thin bass landed on a wacky rig
Gaunt Bass – One of the bass that I landed on this trip was rather sickly looking. The two pictures above show side and ventral views of this slim specimen. Measuring at 11” in length, its gaunt body indicated a combination of malnourishment, stress, and/or sickness. I have caught a handful of similar bass over the years, and the appearance is striking and at times a little unsettling. The oddest specimen came from a strip pit many years ago and it looked so sickly that I wound up mentally asking myself, “Do I really want to touch this fish?” Like the condition was contagious or something. As I wrote today’s post, I did an internet search for “gaunt largemouth bass.” The results apparently thought that I was looking for “giant largemouth bass” as there was not a scrawny bass in sight. Perhaps this blog entry will change that search landscape.
July 30, 2017 – One of the longest, gauntest (or is it most gaunt) bass I have ever landed
Mosquitoes – This outing marked the first abundant appearance of mosquitoes and they feasted well. Between my arms, head, and neck, I wound up with two dozen red, itchy welts when all was said and done. There were literally swarms of the nasty bloodsuckers around my face and head wherever I stopped to make some casts. I have a disdain for spray or lotion repellents which is perhaps unwise, but I did but purchase a Thermacell device several years ago. However, it does not help much when sitting in the garage.
Well, more mosquito bites than bass bites but four catches in just over an hour and a half are a winner in my book. These fish bring my all-time total on The Canal to 979 largemouth bass so the quest for Canal Bass #1000 continues to move forward. Stay tuned as I have been back again to try my luck, this time with a partner in tow. Talk to you later. Troy