Destination: Mississippi River

EverStart Series, Northern Division, June 26-29

Tom Monsoor won the EverStart Series Northern Division tournament held last June on the Mississippi River out of La Crosse, Wis., and he’ll be looking to defend the title when the popular circuit returns to the Mississippi River June 26-29, this time about 90 miles north out of Red Wing, Minn.

Monsoor, also a three-time Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League Great Lakes Division points champion, predicts the tournament will be won with a mixed bag of smallmouth and largemouth bass plucked off assorted structure and cover such as wing dams, rocks, stumps, laydowns, eel grass and coon-tail moss.

“The smallmouth should be on the wing dams, and the largemouth will be moving into their weed patterns,” Monsoor said. “I don’t expect the weights to be as heavy as they were at La Crosse because there aren’t as many fish at Red Wing. But it’ll be a good tournament with good numbers of fish in the 3- to 6-pound range weighed in.”

Shad-pattern crankbaits, Rat-L-Traps and top-waters worked along the rocky wing dams will pay off with some quality bronzebacks. There also will be some solid smallies taking tubes and jigs pitched around laydowns and stumps on the main channel.

For largemouth, Monsoor suggests concentrating on backwater weedbeds, stumps and laydowns in 1 to 4 feet of water. Swimming jigs, spinner baits and tubes will be among the top producers, especially in areas where there is an active mayfly hatch.

“One of the big keys in this tournament will be to lock out and go south,” Monsoor said. “That’s where 99 percent of the field is going to go. The farther south you go, the better the fishing will be.”

– Matt Williams

Links:

EverStart series to visit Mississippi River
Tournament details and cash payouts
Pro field
Co-angler field