The Jay Street sidewalk in downtown La Crosse bears an imprint expressing a sense of communal awareness and appreciation for the beloved and undeniably impactful waterway flowing a few blocks to the west.
“In a deep, quiet place in the spirit of the people of La Crosse, we know that the Mississippi River is wiser than us all.” -Joe Gallagher
Suffice to say, anglers competing in this week’s tournament understand this thought, at least in actionable principles.
Deflection Delivers
Alabama pro Garrett Warren nailed it with his straightforward summary: “Current is king.”
As Warren explained, his strategy involved looking for areas where significant current breaking objects like the big laydown that produced several of his fish. Such spots redirect water flow and provide ambush feeding opportunities for bass positioning on the down current sides.
Good news for anglers: From laydowns, to points, to island tips, to wing dams, the Mississippi River holds a broad array of current-deflecting objects and the ceaseless current delivers food 24/7.
Find the diner and you’ll find hungry customers.
Depth Preference
One of the key storyline points this week is the falling water. Significant depth loss has relocated a lot of fish, but that’s part of river life and the fish know what to do. The good thing is the upper Mississippi is a relatively shallow fishery, except for the main river channel, and the sprawling vegetation fields offer fish plenty of habitat options.
Several anglers mentioned their fish had pulled out of the shallow inner areas to set up closer to deeper edges. Day-1 leader, Chris Beaudrie found his better bites by locating ditches and deeper edges adjacent to shallow grass beds.
Opportunity Abounds
Reports of keeper catches spanned the entirety of tournament boundaries from Pool 7 upriver, through Pool 8 where the tournament site is located, and down to Pool 9. Pool 8 seems to deliver a good mix of quality and quantity, but anglers seeking more solitude often visit the upper and lower pools.
Doing so requires lock passage and the requisite time management to allow for the occasional slow moving barge (commercial traffic takes priority). Long waits are part of the process, but the waters outside the lock are fair game and savvy anglers fill this time by keeping a bait wet.
Cody Meyer, who placed fifth on Day 1, caught all of his keepers in Pool 8; but while his early plan to visit Pool 9 failed to deliver, the trip actually benefitted his cause.
“While I was waiting for the lock, I drug a bait around and caught a 3 1/2-pounder,” Meyer said. “I ended up culling out everything I caught in Pool 9, but if I hadn’t gone down there, I wouldn’t have caught that 3 1/2.”
