After my August 23 Lake Storey visit, I made arrangements to borrow Dad’s truck for the week and haul the little johnboat home in anticipation of hitting The Canal. This report covers the first of three consecutive days on the old waterway. On this specific outing, my aim was to boost the Top 5 Weights of a pair of adjacent pools into double digits.

6:59am – Top Bass weighing 2-4 (16.5″) on a spinnerbait

Stats
Date: August 28
Location: Hennepin Canal (2 pools)
Time: 6:40am-9:10am, 9:20am-12:05pm
Totals: 9 bass, 1 crappie
Weather: Sunny/calm
Water temperature: Not available
Lures: War Eagle Spinnerbait (chartreuse/white) with BPS Double Tail Grub trailer (Houdini) – 7 bass, 1 crappie, Booyah Buzz Buzzbait (snow white shad) – 1 bass, Z-Man Chatterbait (sexy shad) with BPS Speed Shad Trailer (sight fish) – 1 bass
Top Bass: 2-4 Spinnerbait
Top 5 Weight: 8-2 (2-4,1-13,1-9,1-6,1-2)

Winning lures

Notes and Nonsense

Pool One – Entering the day, my first destination sported a Top 5 Weight of 9-6 anchored by a Top Bass weighing 3-10 (tied for my all-time Top Canal Bass). At 6:59am, I landed a bass weighing 2-4 on a spinnerbait to meet my goal in culling a 1-1 and moving my Top 5 up to 10-9. The quality early catch left me with a dilemma. Stick around on the pool to see if I could get additional boosts or take the victory and move on to the next pool. I opted to stick around for a couple more hours and fooled several more bass including a 1-13 and 1-6 that boosted my current Top 5 on the pool to 11-5 (3-10,2-4,2-4,1-13,1-6).

8:41am – Bonus crappie “accident” weighing 1-1 (12″) on spinnerbait

Pool Two – This pool had a Top 5 of 8-12 (2-5,1-12,1-11,1-8,1-8) to start the day. It did not seem to be a tall order to knock out the pair weighing 1-8 and a couple just over two pounds would get the job done. However, close to three hours of casting only produced four bass and the best I could muster weighed 1-9. So, while I did get a boost, it was the smallest boost possible, a single ounce. My Top 5 on the pool now sits at 8-13 so it will require a return visit.

8:49am – Top Bass Runner-Up weighing 1-13 (15″) on a spinnerbait

Things started well but the quantity and quality of bites did not keep the pace as the morning progressed. The Canal is an interesting place as the two spots I fished are only separated by a tube that runs under the county road, but the mood of the bass can change from side to side. You just never know and that’s why you keep on casting. And that’s exactly what I did for the next two days with solid results. Stay tuned and talk to you later. Troy