On the heels of a decent Saturday bite, I hit The Canal again for a Sunday St. Patrick’s Day outing. However, the weather and the bite were not so hot. Read on for the scoop.
1:48pm – First bass at 1-0 (12.5″) on a chatterbait
Stats
Date: March 17
Location: Hennepin Canal
Time: 1:45pm-4:00pm
Totals: 2 bass
Weather: Overcast/very windy, 37F
Water temperature: Not available
Lures: Z-Man Chatterbait (sexy shad) with a BPS Speed Shad trailer (pro blue) – 1 bass, Strike King Rattlin’ Jig (green pumpkin) with plastic craw trailer – 1 bass
Top Bass: 1-0 (one each on chatterbait and jig)
Top 5 Weight: 2-0
Winning Lures
Notes and Nonsense
Deceptive Feedback – I caught my first bass of the outing within a cast of my truck on my fourth cast of the afternoon. It hit a chatterbait hard and shallow along a submerged log. Hopes were high that the cold front wouldn’t put lockjaw on the fish. However, I never got another bite on the chatterbait and ended up leaving it behind as I hooked another submerged log. That is the cost of doing business from the bank as I tried to slow my retrieve and get as close to the cover as I could. I just got too close.
2:27pm – Last Bass at 1-0 (12.5″) on a jig
No St. Patty Fatty – My year was off to a solid start with eighteen bass, but I had only fooled one bass topping the two-pound mark. The stretch that I fished on this outing has produced three three-pounders in my two and a half years of fishing and I have spoken to other anglers who have landed bass over four-pounds on the pool. Luck and Mother Nature were not on my side for this day with a pair of bass at exactly the one-pound mark.
St. Patty Flatty – When biking The Canal, I ride between targets to cut the transit time with the goal of getting more quality casts over the course of a few hours. Sounds like a good idea until you get a flat. I had only made it to my second spot, so I wasn’t too far from the lot, so I walked it back to my truck and spent the rest of the day on foot. Still haven’t gotten around to finding a local bike shop but kind of looking forward to the visit. I expect it to bring back memories of childhood visits to Dave’s Schwinn Center in Galesburg.
A tough day but not unexpected with the cold front conditions. You can’t catch them sitting on the couch so it’s always worth a try. More reports to come. Talk to you later. Troy