REDCREST 2019: Low Water Levels Causing Shift in Strategy
LA CROSSE, Wis. – The Upper Mississippi River that the 30 anglers competing in REDCREST Presented by Venmo have fished in previous years has now disappeared. Thanks to falling water levels, the Upper Mississippi River is not the same body of water that many of the anglers knew heading into the final event of the year.
Shallow Shotgun Round Awaits
Casey Ashley has been to La Crosse countless times and fished pools 7 and 8 more times than he can count. Even with all of that experience, nothing prepared him for what he would experience in his practice rounds.
“Practice was pretty frustrating for me because the water is so low,” Ashley said. “It’s lower than I’ve ever seen it. It makes it hard to navigate through the river and get to things you used to fish and trails you used to run. If you get caught in an area that’s too low, it may take you 30 to 45 minutes just to get out. I used my practice to find out where I can and can’t go, so I’m hoping it works out.”
The National Weather Service released a report on Tuesday morning saying that Pool 8 was cresting at 6.35 feet, but significantly lower in other places in the pool. Stephen Browning used his practice time to find out where he can and can’t go during his Shotgun Round on Wednesday.
“You’ve got to know when you’re making the right turn or the wrong turn out here,” Browning explained. “You can get yourself in a bind really quickly if you’re not careful. The tough stuff is about 18 to 24 inches deep. Anything that is less than 18 inches and you’re going to be in a lot of trouble. A lot of the places I thought there would be fish turned up dry for me because I think the fish have left the really shallow areas.”
Making New History
As MLF analyst JT Kenney prepares to break down the action during REDCREST, he has also noticed just how low the Mighty Mississippi is looking. Kenney knows from his time fishing in La Crosse and the time he’s spent observing the 30 pros this season that this isn’t going to be the same place that they’ve grown accustomed to.
“All of the history some of these guys have here isn’t going to matter because it’s fishing like a completely different body of water,” Kenney revealed. “There’s not going to be current where there used to be and there’s going to be grass growing where there didn’t used to be grass. The tactics and techniques that these guys used in the past should still work well, but their spots and areas they like to fish won’t be the same.”
Still, even with the falling water levels—the NWS expects the levels to fall below 6 feet by Sunday’s Championship Round—Kenney expects the pros to dominate this body of water just like they have all season.
“I think we’re really going to see this week how fast these 30 guys can break down a body of water,” Kenney predicted. “These are 30 of the best anglers in the world, so they’re still going to catch a bunch of fish. It will be a good mix of largemouth and smallmouth caught because the low water level is going to group those two species together.”
REDCREST begins on Wednesday with the Shotgun Round. The 30 pros will go lines in at 7 a.m. CT.