If you feel compelled to appease the river spirits by donating several lures, tie on a red/yellow or chartreuse tandem spinnerbait, and it won't take long for a pike to collect your offering.

Pike will also eat spinnerbaits in more natural hues preferred by bass. But you'll likely tangle with several bucketmouths before paying this inevitable toll.

A spinnerbait is hands-down the best way to cover water and establish the feeding mood of bass in the Winneshiek on any given day. Weeds and wood are major keys to bass location here just about anytime.

Although bass can be swimming virtually anywhere weeds adjacent to at least 6 feet of water hold enhanced potential. Any point in weed growth or transition between different types of foliage is always worth a couple of casts, as is any point where two channels split as the river subtlety finds its way downstream.

Virtually any deadfall or stump has the potential for holding fish, even with adjacent water only a couple of feet deep. This is especially true if current flows close by rather than slack water.

Find a fallen tree surrounded by weeds with at least 6 feet of water and a little current nearby and its wise to have the landing net handy before you toss that first cast.

On the Mississippi, fish tend to congregate near optimum cover with greater density than at Iowa lakes. A spinnerbait is a good way to find out if anybody is "home" generating a strike as the lure pulses past with minimum potential for hanging up.

Once you find the fish, several bass may respond to the spinnerbait. Switching to a plastics presentation or a nearly stationary surface-bait can yield several more.

The first spot I showed Chad Morgenthaler last summer was woody cover not far from the excellent boat ramp west of the Lansing bridge. By starting with a spinnerbait and switching over to a blue/black 4-inch Sweet Beaver marketed by Cottonmouth Lures out of Carterville, Ill., Chad boated and released over 18 pounds of bass, which would have been enough weight to qualify for advancement during the approaching tournament, in just 20 minutes.

If you know where you're going on this water the entire Winneshiek can be negotiated with the boat up on plane. If you don't know where you're going the stage is set for considerable gnashing of teeth and general despair.

Experience has taught the value of redundant preparedness when venturing here. Take plenty of fuel, food and water. Throw some tools, means of starting a fire-including tinder (hint: toilet paper can be worth its weight in gold!) and communications capability. Having both a marine radio and cell phone in the boat is a good idea.

A GPS can be valuable in retracing a safe path back upstream -- and revealing where you went wrong. But a GPS is not a reliable navigation tool under some weather conditions -- most notably dense fog.

The term "pea soup" doesn't do justice to a dense summer fog on the Mississippi River. No one should try to navigate this water at speeds above idle under foggy conditions.