Sunday was my first club tournament of this year on Pool 2 of the Mississippi River.  Because this is a special regulation continuous catch & release body of water, our tournament is a paper tournament, where we measure the length of the fish, have our partners verify the length and then convert to pounds back at the landing.  It was only about 45 degrees when we launched in the morning, I am really learning to appreciate my new Akinetix Gear (Beanie, Gloves & Long Sleeve Shirt) to keep me confortable no matter the conditions.

My partner John Haynes and I were able to get out prefishing, so we have a pretty good idea of where we wanted to start and fish during the tournament.  The first area we started was a small pocket not very far off the main river.  Two other boats also started in and around this cut, John managed to catch 2 largemouth pretty quickly on a 3/8oz Sunfish Tru-Tungsten jig, and I launched a 12″ bass over the boat on the hookset, which came off.  After that, the bite slowed.  We continued to fish this cut and fish behind other anglers and as the sun came up, we picked up a few fish, my first fish was a 12″ smallmouth on 3/8oz PB&J Tru-Tungsten Jig tipped with a green pumpkin chunk.  About the time the last boat left, we got into a couple flurry where we each boated fish on jigs as well as a tube.  Including a very chunky 18.5″ smallmouth on my jig.  On the way out of the pocket John nabbed his limit fish on a Sexy Shad Swimbait and I caught a small keeper smallie on an Ima Flit Jerkbait.  On to different water to look for some bigger bites.

The next two areas did not produce for us, they both areas that we had really not fished before, sometimes when you swing for the fence you strike out.  From there, we decided to make the run into Moore Lake.  We each caught a couple upgrade fish in Moores, John on a CreatureX and I on a 4″ Black Blue Yum Tube with 3/8oz Tru-Tungsten Flipping Weight and 3/0 Youvella EWG hook.

Time was running out, so we figured we should hit a few areas in Grey Cloud soon.  The first area we wanted to hit was covered up by another club member’s boat and he was measuring a 17″ largemouth as we went by.  In the next area, John culled two fish on his CreatureX texas rig.

No fish pics, but here are the actual tubes & jigs that I caught all my fish on.

We then decided to make the long idle to the very back of Grey Cloud, and I was rewarded with a nice 17.5″ largemouth on the same tube rig, but now with a 1/4oz weight.  We caught a few more fish and missed a couple chances, we wanted to spend more time in the area, but had to get going.

We did hit a couple more areas on the way back to the ramp, had a couple taps, but no hook-ups.  Both John & I had some opportunities that we did not convert on, but sometimes that is fishing.

My best 5 measured out to 14.99lbs for 3rd place and John had a respectable 10.82lb limit.  I wished I could have fished a little cleaner, had plenty of chances to catch the fish to take 2nd, but I do not think i was on the fish to win this tournament, as it took 5 smallies for over 18lbs.  Most of the better bags were caught on soft plastics and jigs in this tournament.  All in all, I am very impressed with Pool 2 as a bass fishery, I will be back for more!.

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