NNPBS Tournament #3 of 5 (Adjusted Due To Flood)

 Longer Days

The sun has started its spring and summer routine and the river comes back to its iceless life!

River Strategy For Spawning Bass  

The backwaters start to absorb the sunshine from longer exposure to the plant growing natural light.  Consequently, vegetation and oxygen levels are on the rise.  This draws in the bass as they start to exit winter slumbers and focus on spawning.

Flats and hard bottomed areas of the river see more largemouth by the day.  Rocks along the inward paths will be good choices as they keep the warmth longer than the earth or plants around them.

While smallmouth are finishing their spawn and go into recovery mode, largemouth bass begin their exit from the deeps and migrate inward.  Points will hold the fish not ready to commit as well as fish that have finished spawning and begin to recover.

River current remains a major factor, as the bass use it to create cover and ambush food.  Part of recovery is to feed once things have settled. Conversely, these current driven staging areas are also the last meal spots before largemouth move into spawn.  No matter the situation, the bass will feed here and use current and depth as structure.

Migration routes will see boats planted on them as the fish become concentrated.  Look for the slopes off the points and the bass rigs sitting on them for long periods of time, this alone will clue you in on what stage the bass are in.  It’s also common for knocked down timber to hold heat.  So finding some knock downs near or on a point can be an excellent choice.

Those who plan their areas well and slow down to the conditions will have the most success.

Who Is NNPBS & How Does It Work?

No Nonsense Prairie Bass Series (NNPBS) kicks off their third year of Mississippi river bass tournaments!  Launching from Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin, these have become very popular tournaments as anglers must stay on Pool 10.  Your chances of winning go up when the big sticks from Pool 9 and 11 won’t be able to lock into their honey holes.

NNPBS is a points based series that rewards the top 20 point leaders to fish a “Classic” event at the end of the season.  This Classic is a no entry fee tournament and only the top 20 teams are allowed to fish.

New for 2023 is the “Wildcard Tournament”.  While yet to be defined, this event is likely a last chance for the non top 20 teams to get into the Classic.

NNPBS History

NNPBS showed no signs of a sophomore slump in their second season of tournaments.  The number of boats continued to exceed 60 in most events and even 70 in others.  Eric Johnston and Adam Farmer team up with their immediate families and close friends to put on an extremely well organized bass series.

Organized

Launching orders are decided via random draws that are live on Facebook the Thursday before the event.  This normally takes place at one of the sponsors facilities and anglers attending often get up to 15% discounts.

Launch and weigh in procedures are well organized.  Anglers are asked to arrive early and get their bass boats in the water to avoid delays.  Weigh Ins are prompt, organized and again live fed from Facebook.  A large LED sign shows the weights as the fish cross the scales and Eric is easily heard via a microphone and speaker.  The calculations are fairly timely considering there are over 60 teams and winnings processed at the events.

This series continues to impress and the NNPBS founders remain angler oriented while loyal to their sponsors.

No Nonsense Prairie Bass Series Full 2023 Schedule