A Repost from Yellow Dog Guide Service

There are many many new to the river fisherpeople out there today as in every year.
Doc’s post isn’t meant to call anyone out, just to inform folks new to fishing the great spring bite on Pool 4 of the Mississippi River.

Yellow Dog Guide Service
By @DocFrigo

Here is an example of a sauger caught from the pool 4 scour hole at Redwing MN.

Walleyes and saugers caught from 30 plus feet of water are going to die. This is barotrauma.

Those that fish this spot will catch many in a day, releasing them to die. It’s a prime example of people not respecting the resource. Why do they fish there you may ask? It’s easy fishing and sometimes only thing going during the daytime in clear water time periods. They catch small saugers all day, letting them swim away to die.

I have been very vocal on this issue for years and will continue to be. If they just slid down river 50 yards to 25 feet of water they would 1) catch bigger fish and 2) they would be releasable. Unfortunately, many will sit all day in that 40 foot hole and needlessly kill all those small fish thinking it will have zero impact on the fishery. It’s a wintering area for many of the juvenile walleyes and saugers for the river system.

Unfortunately, there are some out there that condone this, or at least turn their back to it. Yellow Dog Walleyes does not.

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Amen. This cannot be shared enough.

I’d argue that your likelihood of catching larger fish goes up as you go shallower from now right through the spawn.

For every x1 – 18+” fish I’ve caught on the river in 20+’ of water……..I’ve probably caught x50 – 18+” fish in water less than 15′.

Glad you’re bringing attention to it Brian. I see it with crappies on ice, guys muscle them out as fast as possible from 30 ft holes. If the eyes are bulged you might as well keep it and fillet it, otherwise it’s incredibly wasteful.

Shallow water walleyes, in my experience/ opinion, are also more aggressive and fun to catch. I don’t even see a point in fishing tat deep of a hole.

If someone tells you they “caught a lot of shorts” you can pencil them in as dam bumper boat participants.

buckybadger wrote:

dam bumper boat participants.

That’s kinda the main reason I reposted Doc’s write up. New people to the river see a bunch of boats in a fairly small location with a rod bending here and there and they want to get in on the action. It’s normal, more so for the fella new to the river or new to the biology of the scour hole.

It’s legal to fish there. But please take a look at those eagles watching you…they are over weight!

For those of us who are new and don’t want to be part of the problem, can you elaborate on where the scour hole is? I don’t see anything deeping than 33ft on navionics web app. I don’t coordinates, just a more gerneral idea.

Navionics mapping stop a good way below the dam.

The deepest spot in the scour hole is around 70+’ deep close to the dam.
I can’t draw a map here, but if you see where the 300′ set back ends, the scour hole ends about 100 yards down stream of those signs.

The “scour hole” in general is the deep water that is scoured out by the dam.
Maybe someone can post a map with the hole highlighted.

Good Question! We sometimes take a lot for granted!

I would say a “scour hole” is when your fishing 30′-70′ hole on a river system. Should not be that hard to tell your fishing in that deep of water! ON a map or not.

Guess I can make a crude one.

From the dam down steam to the dotted line is the 150′ no go zone. Dangerous
From the dotted line to the black line is the March/April no fish zone.

Roughly 100 yards down steam of the no fish zone is where the scour hole ends and you’ll see it on your graph. It comes up quickly.

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Brian Klawitter wrote:

Navionics mapping stop a good way below the dam.

The deepest spot in the scour hole is around 70+’ deep close to the dam.
I can’t draw a map here, but if you see where the 300′ set back ends, the scour hole ends about 100 yards down stream of those signs.

The “scour hole” in general is the deep water that is scoured out by the dam.
Maybe someone can post a map with the hole highlighted.

Good Question! We sometimes take a lot for granted!

Excellent! Thanks for the description. That helps a lot!

Dan Baker wrote:

For those of us who are new and don’t want to be part of the problem, can you elaborate on where the scour hole is?

It’s right up by the dam, you’ll know based on the depth.

I feel like these posts are good, but like the Don’t Litter on the Ice posts, the people that need them don’t see it or won’t care.

Rivergills, how long have you been fishing rivers?

I do appreciate the help. I can obviously tell the depth on the water, but I have never been on pool 4 so If I saw a ton of boats on a spot, i’d be tempted to check it out. This helps me at least not waste time going to that general area.

A lot of dead baby saugers in front of the dam by the entrance to the vermillion. I don’t remember that water being that deep but it was 35’in spots. Lotta guys parked there ripping small fish out of deep water in about 3 seconds.

Good time to be an eagle, bad time to be a 10” sauger.

51 years

BigWerm wrote:

the people that need them don’t see it or won’t care.

I hear ya Werm. But I’m a believer. There will always be some…and many that do know better that will still continue to pull fish out of the depths, but much like catch and release fishing it will catch on with some.

I truly believe in the newer folks to the sport.
I believe talking to people on the water in a none threatening manner helps too. They can tell me to go suck on my new used Keen Work Boots, but at the end of the day, I can say I tried.

Rivergills wrote:

51 years

How did I know that?
If I told you to go down the back channel, take the race track and fish the Y at third cut, you would know exactly where I’m talking about. People that are new to the river wouldn’t have a clue.

I talked to a guy that’s been coming up here for well over 20 year a while back. I talked to him like an experience P4 angler because he is.

When I finished he asked me where the scour hole was. He never heard that term before although he knew what I was talking about once I explained it to him.

As I said before, we take so much for granted.

Matt Moen wrote:

“wing” dam by the entrance to the vermilion.

Thanks Matt, I forgot about that area.

What’s the reason that the DNR doesn’t just extend the area off limits to fishing below the dam? Is there too much logic involved in a simple change protecting young vulnerable fish? The handful of fines each weekend day from March-May would give them more than enough profit to increase the signage.

I don’t have any direct knowledge of why not Buck.

I do know that both MN and WI would have to agree on the change. That’s a rabbit that would need to be chased down the hole on both sides of the river. It can be done but no small task.

It’s like… where did all the big sauger go!?

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Good info for people that don’t know and a good reminder for those who still think it’s ok.

Every dam on the river has a scour hole just some extend farther down river then others like the P4 dam. Many are shorter and stay with in the boundaries of the extended spring time 300 foot margins.