Last Monday, I had a few hours to get away before I had school pickup duty for one of the boys, so I decided to hit The Canal looking to boost the Top 5 on a stretch into double digits. A quick start did not lead to a banner day as described in the report below.
Stats
Date: October 27
Location: Hennepin Canal
Time: 11:00am-2:00pm
Totals: 2 bass
Weather: Sunny/very windy, 53-61F
Lures: War Eagle spinnerbait (chartreuse/white) – 2 bass
Top Bass: 1-3 Spinnerbait
Top 2 Weight (only two bass at 12” or better): 2-5 (1-3,1-2)
Starting Lineup
Tune of the Trip
Take the Long Way Home – Supertramp (1979)
I did the opposite on this trip as I took the long way to the fishing hole. This time of year, I am in no big hurry as a later start lets things warm up a bit and often the bite is better as the day progresses. In addition, as the fishing year begins to fade, I like to take the scenic route to reminisce, jam on some tunes, and generally escape.
Notes and Nonsense
Top 5 Quest – The stretch that I chose had an all-time Top 5 Weight of 7-15 (1-15,1-12,1-9,1-7,1-4) so a couple good bites were needed to reach the ten-pound mark. The area has lots of good-looking wood cover, but I had not been able to find any big bites during two previous visits.
11:00am – First bass at 1-2 (12.5″) on a spinnerbait
Beginner’s Luck – My sixth cast of the day resulted in my first bass while casting a spinnerbait to shoreline wood. I run on the low end of the cautiously optimistic scale, so I seldom start counting my chickens (or bass) too soon. However, the pool featured an abundance of similar targets on both sides of the waterway over roughly two miles of water. Thus, I would have ample opportunity to duplicate the catch with three more hours left to fish.
Wrong Wind – On most stretches of The Canal that I fish, unless the wind is a direct east or west hit, you are sheltered thanks to timber lined banks. On this outing, I took a chance that the predicted east winds would have a bit of a southerly bend, but such was not the case. The weather forecast was right on the money, and I battled a stiff east wind the entire time. The only benefit was that it assisted my drift and row back to my launching point after plowing against it upstream for over a mile.
1:28pm – Last bass at 1-3 (13″) on a spinnerbait
Letdown – Fighting against the wind on the way out and being swept downstream on the way back made lure presentation a challenge. As a result, I relied heavily on a spinnerbait worked tight to every piece of wood cover I could hit. After all, that was a winner right of the bat to start my day. I would only land one more bass during the next three hours.
Winning lure
2025 on The Canal has seen its share of ups and downs. Overall, I have managed a respectable Top 5 but haven’t really ended up with a solid, patterned bite all year. As I often say, that’s fishing. Fortunately, other fishing holes have taken up the slack. My sights are now set on the annual goal of a November bass. Whether it comes from The Canal, another body of water, or even comes at all remains to be seen. Talk to you later. Troy