Wednesday, Mississippi River, La Crosse, Wisconsin
Dan writes:
Much to my surprise, only about 35 boats locked upriver this morning. Fishing was so good there on Monday that I had assumed we’d have a hundred today. Not so. In fact, though I was boat number 120 taking off, when I arrived at the little stretch of grass line in Lake Onalaska where I’d caught the five-pounder and the four-pounder the other day, I was all by myself.
I had been hoping for sunshine and calm winds, for those were the conditions here on Monday, but my luck didn’t hold out that far. Though the sky did brighten, we had a pretty good breeze blowing in on us and we fished that grass line for an hour and a half without a bite. This was disappointing, but I am attributing the slow bite to the wind. I tried switching up baits, but the Gambler 4″ tube sprayed with Bang Fish Attractant is what caught all of my fish in practice, so I just kept coming back to that. That was my confidence bait.
We moved off to my second spot, where the fish were not biting either, but a half-hour later the wind laid down for us and I figured this may be a good time to return to our original grassline. Almost as soon as we arrived I got bit on my Gambler tube, and boated a 3+ lb. fish. About three casts later I boated a 2 1/2. That’s great – two fish that weigh almost six pounds, but that was it for two more hours.
We eventually moved off and tried a couple of other places, but got nothing, and returned to our number one spot. Once again, when I got positioned just right, and I mean I’m casting to within thirty feet of where every one of these big fish has come from both Monday and today, I got bit and it was another three-pounder. Ten minutes later I caught a two-pounder, and my partner caught the biggest one of the day, almost four pounds.
We stayed on it another hour before deciding to give this spot another rest. Besides, the wind had started up again and it was really cranking now, with white caps all around, and it was difficult to even keep the boat positioned. We left and tried another area, and this time we found a couple of fish – my partner got a fifteen-inch’er and I pulled out a fourteen. With this pound-and-a-quarter fish I now had to make a decision – do I keep this fish and quit for the day, or throw him back and hope I can catch a bigger one? I had about ten pounds in the livewell with four fish, so I decided to gamble on catching another, and tossed this one back.
We returned to our number one grassline, where the wind was howling now, and parked. We beat that place to death this time, but there was nothing left. Actually, I think there’s plenty left, but because of the wind they’re just not biting. We weren’t due in until 4:00, and at 1:30 I made the decision to abandon these fish and start working Plan B: cranking the riprap for smallmouth. My confidence area for this is about thirty miles south, through the lock, but we’d have to lock through anyway to get back to the weigh-in. I decided that the extra hour’s boat ride was worth it – all I needed was one more fish, and I’d have about a little more than an hour on my riprap to catch him.
It didn’t work out that way – when we arrived at the lock we were held up there waiting, and it took almost an hour before we got through to the other side. On top of that the south wind was blowing straight up the river, which would make for a slow and uncomfortable boat ride. I started scrambling instead for one last fish, looking at every piece of riprap I could find, ignoring it if it didn’t have the right current flow or the necessary depth, fishing it with my little crankbait if it did. At 3:15 I caught him, a sixteen-inch smallmouth. I splashed him into the livewell, threw my rod down on the deck and my hands in the air, and proclaimed “I’m done!”
After that I cut my crankbait off and gave it to my partner, and told him I’d take him anyplace he wanted to go. He opted to stay on that same piece of riprap, and that’s where we finished out the day, him cranking for a last minute fish, me just sitting down up front, thankful that that decision to throw away the fourteen-inch fish this morning didn’t come back to haunt me.
Annie writes:
Awoke at 3:58am with Daniel. I rode to the launch ramp with him so I could take the truck, which would allow me to go to the weigh in this afternoon. When we got close to the ramp Dan informed me that he had butterflies in his stomach, after 6 years of being a professional, that is very unusual. I watched him until he was out of site, then unhooked the boat trailer and headed back home.
I was wide awake, so I did some laundry and washed the truck. I was a bit nervous, thinking I was turning into a morning person, which I have never been. However, by 8:30am, I was exhausted and had to take a nap.
I was so excited, nervous, and hopeful throughout the day, that I was at the ramp this afternoon a bit earlier than usual, and watched the first three flights come in and around 12 pounds was leading. This was great since Dan was catching 12 pounds easy throughout the week. The guys around me started talking about how tough it was, and how things changed today. My stomach began to cramp up, finally four o’clock came and I saw Dan coming around the corner. I met him at the shore, and didn’t dare ask. It was about two very long minutes before I could get up the nerve to ask “how did you do?”, he just nodded his head yes. I said “did you catch them good”, another nod yes. He asked me what was leading, and I told him around 12 pounds. He then told me he thought he had 12 pounds. OK, at this point my heart was racing. He weighed in his fish, and due to a eight ounce penalty for a deceased fish, his total weight was 10 pounds 15 ounces. He finished up in 10th place for today. We were very excited, but this is only day one, he needs to catch five more fish tomorrow to be able to make the cut to Friday.
I was a little edgy tonight due to all the emotions going through me. I am so extremely excited for today’s finish, he did a superb job and really showed that he could do it, I pray he can do it again tomorrow. But, the other side of me is saying, don’t get over excited, because if something happens to change tomorrow I have to be the supportive person to bring his spirits back up, so I am trying to keep my feelings on the back burner. I do hope that he has a good tournament tomorrow and we can celebrate, tonight, I am a little apprehensive.