I had not made a cast on The Canal for seventy-eight days when I set out on the morning of October 5. Instead, my time on the water had focused on the strip mines and more recently, Lake Storey. Read on for the report as The Canal drew a crowd of people on this day but not too many bass.
Starting Lineup
Stats
Date: October 5
Location: Hennepin Canal (two pools)
Time: 7:30am-10:50am
Totals: 3 bass
Weather: Partly cloudy/breezy, 61-75F
Lures: Booyah Buzzbait (black) – 3 bass
Top Bass: 2-6 Buzzbait
Top 2 Weight (only two bass at 12” or better): 4-4 (2-6,1-14)
7:53am – Top Bass Runner-up at 1-14 (16″) on a buzzbait
Tune/Lyric of the Trip
“But man, I still think them cats are crazy.”
The Boys (and Girls) Are Back in Town – Thin Lizzy (1976)
My choice of destination was several miles east of the Colona finish line for the Hennepin 100, a hundred-mile ultramarathon. An admirable feat as those guys and gals are a different breed and a couple of the folks I observed were pretty spent but continuing to move ahead. I chatted briefly with a few and wished them good luck on the home stretch. I found it amusing though as one of the fellows told me that I was the one who needed luck as he said that he had never been particularly impressed with the bite on The Canal.
Hennepin 100 Finish Line in Colona, IL
Hennepin Hundreds – One of these days, I should try and figure out an estimate of how many miles I have rowed on The Canal. Most of my outings cover several miles as I row out from my launch and then must row back to the truck. I did a downstream float trip once which was cool as it eliminated the need to row back upstream. Otherwise, the dilemma is how far to fish away from the truck knowing that I will have to row all the way back. Anyway, I pulled up a map and my estimate for this row was just over four miles. Like the Hennepin 100 runners/walkers, I have covered one hundred miles (and more). Of course, I have done so over several years, not all at once. By the way, the winner of the race covered 100 miles in just under fourteen hours. Yes, “them cats are crazy.”
8:04 am – Top Bass at 2-6 (17.5″) on a buzzbait
Top 5 Results – I fished two pools and caught all three bass on the first stop before rowing through a tube and failing to get a bite on the other side. Two of my three bites were “keepers” (12” or better) and provided a boost to my Top 5 for the pool. Prior to the trip my Top 5 on the stretch sat at 11-0. Landing bass weighing 2-6 and 1-14 bumped up my weight to 11-13.
Winning lure
I had not fished this area in over a year as I had already achieved my goal of posting a ten-pound Top 5 during the summer of 2024. As a result, I have chosen to spend my time on The Canal on stretches where I have yet to hit the double-digit mark. The tough part is that I now must drive quite a ways to the east to find a pool that is lacking. We’ll see if The Canal comes into play as the year winds down and I chase my goal of ending the year with a November bass. But I am getting ahead of myself as there are plenty of October bass to report from two recent trips to Lake Storey. Talk to you later. Troy