• Blog Post by: Carl Spande
• September 21, 2009 - 11:10 AM

I had two great days of fishing last week with completely different experiences. The lake, conditions, water clarity...each was different and affected decisions such as my lure choice and presentation. Bass fishing can really be great right now with the lower boat traffic, and recently, our stable weather.

Day 1 consisted of driving 40-50 minutes north of the metro to a great little lake. This lake was ultra clear and thankfully it was an overcast day with about a 5-10 mph wind. I started the day using a white and yellow swim jig. On my first two casts, I caught fish using a steady retrieve, bringing my bait just across the tops of the vegetation. My father-in-law and I also caught fish using a crankbait that dives only 1 foot deep, a spinner bait in white and smoke, and also bright colored swim jigs. It was a fun and furious day of fishing. We boated close to 40 fish, bass and northern pike, and it was a blast for the 4 hours we were there. It was also our first trip to this new-found lake, and I am excited to get back up there and fish again.

Day 2 on the water last week I was fishing a club tournament on Lake Minnetonka. Since I had some success fishing swim jigs for the past few weeks, I decided to try them again. I didn't catch one fish on a swim jig in 8 hours! Needless to say, I ditched that swim jig and started throwing a weightless stick bait under and around docks. I caught a quick limit of five small bass in a few hours so I was doing okay. With 15 minutes to go in the tournament, I stumbled upon a pattern that I wish I would have found a bit earlier. We were on the outside weedline in about 10 feet of water. I cast my black and blue jig and would let it fall completely to the bottom. Then I would reel extremely slow and drag the jig across the bottom, bumping rocks and vegetation along the way. With 15 minutes to go, I caught my biggest two bass using this technique and I was able to bump up my overall weight by a few more pounds to slide me into second place in the club for the day. It was a fun day on the water with my dad as my fishing partner and it was fun to be out on the water as always.