July 25, 2016
By Dr. Hal Schramm
Old Man River. The Mighty Mississippi. A rich history, indeed. "Mississippi" in Ojibwa means father of waters. To FLW Tour pro from LaCrosse, Wisconsin Tom Monsour, Mississippi means a bounty of green and brown bass. "And," quipped Monsoor, "the bass fishing just keeps getting better and better. Last summer, fishing was stupid good. We had catches of 20 to 200 bass from single groups of fish."
LaCrosse, Wisconsin sits right in the middle of this summertime piscatorial paradise. According to Monsoor, "It's a wonderful area, lots of beaches, excellent restaurants. Kind of like the good ol' days or northern vacations."
"The bass bunch up at the edge of weeds and are easily fooled with a topwater, a finesse jig, or a swim jig," Monsoor said. White, black/blue, or green pumpkin are good jig colors. Monsoor prefers Yamamoto single or twin tail grubs on his swim jigs. There's a lot of weed edge, so I pushed him for some details to narrow the playing field. "Look for points or indentations in the weed line, stumps at the edge of the weeds; look for something different. The fish will bunch up, so fish fast until you catch a bass, then work the area thoroughly.
The current is generally slow in the summer, and moving water is a big deal, especially for bronzebacks. Look for current and edges of current. The bass will also start schooling on young shad as they get larger, so look for shad schools and surface feeding on shad.
"Did I mention that the area also is home to giant northern pike, jumbo perch, and excellent sunfish fishing?" asked Monsoor.
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