Thanks Red for the engaging conversation....I'm giving quizzes at school today. I have never really run around enough on the river in the fall (October-December) to find those spots where the bass hang up although I can guess where they are. I've been stuck around the Warren Dredge since up until recently I fished from a canoe. It would be a fascinating study to actually tag a few and track them. I'm really curious to see if the bigger bass actually ever show up in numbers this year. I totally agree about the walleye and I've had increasing success catching them as they have somewhat replaced the bass in that particular area. Many years ago, that area had a much greater population of walleyes (at least based on what I caught), for what ever reason. I really do think though that the straw hat guys have really impacted things. The number of fish I saw on stringers in the last few years has really skewed my opinion. The same issue comes up on a few local lakes in my area so it really is a sore spot with me. It does look like I'll have to wait awhile to have lower flows which means more time on the Lower River. It was interesting to see the USGS gage at Warren have a lower value than the dam output at one point today. Enjoy the heat wave.