gold among the green
W hen it comes to bass fishing , the Upper Mississippi is a veritable gold mine . Whatever you like – largemouth or smallmouth , rocks , wood , current , grass , flipping or winding – the pools that played home to the 2021 Tackle Warehouse TITLE offer those things , and so much more . You may not find many trophy-sized bass in the multifaceted waters around La Crosse , Wisconsin , but the Mighty Mississippi sure shines for its sheer quantity of multiple species of bass .
Many anglers – like Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit rookie Cody Pike , pictured here – tend to hunt for their gold among the green on the Mississippi . Frogging and flipping the varied vegetation just makes sense , like taking a drink of water when you ’ re thirsty .
Pike ended up finishing 41st , but Zack Birge ( third ), Mitch Crane ( fourth ), Skeet Reese ( fifth ), Josh Weaver ( sixth ) – the list goes on – all took advantage of the many types of grass the Mississippi has to offer , from submerged eelgrass and coontail to duckweed , leaning on a hodgepodge of techniques along the way to get the job done .
As the old saying goes , when in Rome , do as the Romans do . And when on the Upper Mississippi … well , grab a frog rod or a flipping stick and go find some grass .
PHOTO BY ROB MATSUURA
OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2021 | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM 11