After a very long absence from fishing the Mississippi River, I was anxious to get down to my cabin in Prairie Du Chien, WI and begin pre fishing for the Walmart BFL tournament. This is my first of three tournaments on the Mississippi River that I'll be fishing over the next 11 days! The main components that the bass needed to have in an area were clean water, vegetation and close proximity to some form of current. Through pre fishing I located several of these areas and had a milk run set up for the tournament day. We caught a significant amount of bass throughout the day, but I kept searching all day for that big bite. My main presentation for the day was tossing two different colors of Snag Proof Frogs, including the Ish's Phat Frog and Tournament Series Frog. Making long casts to cover the maximum amount of water was crucial to getting the maximum number of bites. I put the new Seaguar Kanzen Braided line (65 lb. test) to the test and it performed amazing. This braided line will turn many heads, as it is strong, but yet casts smooth and doesn't fade or fray like other braided lines. Using a 7'2" Wright & McGill Tessera Series Frog rod was helpful in giving my baits the right action, along with giving me the backbone to haul bass out of the very thick lily pads and grass we were fishing. Many times these bass would hit and I needed to pick up the slack in my line quick, so using a high speed 7.0:1 gear ratio reel, like the Victory Series from Wright & McGill also proved key. A key piece of my equipment that I utilized once I located an active pod of fish in the vegetation or had a blow up that I needed to throw back in on, was my Minn Kota Talon. With my wireless remote, I could deploy the spike anywhere, anytime I wanted and would stop in place. This allowed me to make precise casts to my target. Here is a recent video that shows some shallow water bassin' and how the Talon helped me out. My three-fish limit weighed in at 6 lb's, 9 oz., which put me in 63rd place, this wasn't the finish I was hoping for, nor the start to my three tournament stint down on my home water. On Sunday, I fished the local Bass World Sports team circuit and was able to connect with a few fish just below 3 lb's, but had two that were right around the 2 lb. mark. My partner and I fished the same pattern and tactics as I did during the BFL. Our final weight for a 5 fish limit was 12.40 lb's and put us in 13th place. Well now on to begin practicing for the Country on the River tournament this is next Saturday. This is an event that I'll be fishing with my brother, so it will be a good time regardless. The water is dropping and the fish are on the move, so it will be a busy week of practice. Thanks again to everyone for their support; I've gotten a few e-mails and comments in person about this blog and my website.