4 Rivers in 4 Weekends

 

Fall in Northeast Iowa means one thing to me...time to get on the rivers as much as possible.  While thinking back this week, I realized I have fished four different river systems in the past four weekends...something I have never done before.  It started off on the Mississippi River near Lansing, then the Maquoketa River near Manchester, then my adventures took me to the Cedar River near Waverly and of course, lastly the Wapsipinicon River in Independence.  All four of these are very different, however there were definitely some similarities at each river that will always be consistent.  River bass love Texas Rigged Hot Rod Baits tubes, they love IMA crankbaits and they love current.  These are all things I have come to find out over the years and in the fall it can be no truer.  October is special time on the rivers of Iowa, smallmouth bass really start to show up like no other time of the year.  As the water temperatures dip into the low fifties and high fourties, the smallmouth start feeding up, they know winter is around the corner.  The weather patterns are a bit behind the typical year, this past weekend the Wapsi River still had water temperatures around 54 degrees.  It is close to the prime time of the year, but not quite there yet.  It does make for some fantastic fishing, and applying those baits with a proper Quantum combo just makes things that much sweeter.  

I have started to see the bass slowly get out of the current, several weeks ago on the Cedar River, anywhere that you could visually see current, you would catch bass.  More recently on the Wapsi River, the bass are not currently in those current areas.  I do believe as the cooler weather moves in, the bass will rush to the current areas once again for some easy food, and then start to migrate to their winter haunts.  

It is an exciting time of year to chase bass, and any day could be your best day of the year.  Get out when you can, the days are numbered.