Open water, not grass may be key to Mississippi River Super Tournament
Frogs, punching gear and swim jigs – that’s about it in terms of a checklist for most Mississippi River tournaments. Thing is, the upcoming Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine Great LAkes Division Super Tournament may not be a typical event thanks to the system’s lack of grass this year.
Tournament details
Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine Great Lakes Division Super Tournament
La Crosse, Wis.
Sept. 21-22
About the fishery
There are few fisheries that can rival the size of the Mississippi River and its 2,340 miles. Obviously, anglers won’t be able to fish all of that for this derby, though, instead confined to pools 7, 8 and 9.
That’s still plenty of water for anglers to spread out, whether that’s hanging out on the main river chasing smallmouth, working the endless matts of grass or trying to get sneaky and find hideaways.
Up in Pool 7, Lake Onalaska’s endless eelgrass fields, mats and stumps offers more cover than any angler may be able to hit in a lifetime. Down below in Pool 8, the Black River, especially the spillway, can be quite the player. And in all three pools, there are endless sloughs, laydowns, wing dams and more. Basically, both largemouth and smallmouth have plenty of places to call home in the fishery, allowing anglers to fish however they like.
What to expect
This spring and early summer was a wet one for the Midwest, with significant flooding pretty much everywhere in the region. Needless to say, the Mississippi River was impacted, and with that, the grass.
“From Minneapolis down to the Quad Cities, the weeds are way back from where they normally are this time of year,” said Mike Feldermann, who has multiple wins up and down the Mississippi.
Now, “way back” on a place like the Mississippi still means plenty of grass all throughout the fishery. However, Feldermann said it’s not matted up near like usual, which takes two of the main staples for the fishery away – frogs and punching gear.
He says it’s also going to make running certain areas far more treacherous, as in the past, an angler had the matted vegetation on the surface to guide where not to go. Now, he says anglers are going to have to idle a lot more in certain stretches of the river or risk losing a lower unit to a stump.
Fortunately, with the weather starting to get colder, the shad population is starting to school up out on the wingdams and main-river points. That means the smallmouth will be schooling up with them, which could be a key player for anglers.
“If someone gets on the right school of smallmouth they can put some big ones in the boat pretty quick this time of year,” Feldermann said.
However, he doesn’t expect anyone looking to reach that 17-18-pound mark to contend for the win to do so with one species. Instead, he figures they’ll have to spend time out in open water and find some ways to catch some green fish up in the vegetation to put together a winning bag.
“Despite the grass, the river has been fishing pretty good,” Feldermann said. “So, I’d expect the weights will be tight. Smallmouth will probably anchor the winning bags, but they’ll still be mixed bags.”