Sunday, Mississippi River, La Crosse, Wisconsin
Dan writes:
Three practice days left. A friend of mine from New Hampshire, Scott Parker, is fishing this EverStart tournament trail also, and the two of us have decided to team-up and work together. Scott arrived in town last night, and the two of us continued where I had left off yesterday. We covered miles and miles of backwater sloughs, but by mid-morning had come to the conclusion that the lake I had been fishing yesterday was somewhat unique. What was worse, the water was draining out of the area so quickly that it was almost impossible to find a place where it was not flowing. I did manage to get six keeper bites (my hook point was covered up so as not to stick the fish,) and they were all good solid fish, but the water draining out of these areas really has me worried. If it continues, then these points where the fish are sitting now will be too shallow by Wednesday. Still though I think I know what to look for in order to find them again, so if we find nothing else in the next two days of practice I think I can come down here and catch 10-13 pounds.
The last thing we did before quitting for the day was to search for a place to fish while waiting for the lock. It’s entirely possible come tournament day to leave the backwater and race back up to the lock, only to be faced with an hour’s wait for the gates to open. Fortunately, it took us no time at all to find a section of riprap where I caught two keeper smallmouth in about five casts. That’s a nice little backup area to keep in the back of my head.
Annie writes:
I spent my hole day on the computer trying to work on sponsorship letters again. It is so easy to get discouraged and just stop doing them because all we are getting is letters saying “sorry, at this time we are not in a position to sponsor you”. But, if we give up sending them we definitely will not find a sponsor. So, I am back at it and working very hard on cover letters, which is the most difficult part of the resume.
Dan called me during the day again today to tell me that he is catching them. For him to be on the water, calling me by noon time to tell me he has already caught a good limit, that is very exciting. I pray that it will hold out for the week.