Walleye locations and paterns

Just wondering, how many of move out of the river system and go to the lake and fish that, or do you stay in the river system and back waters?

It seems that alot of the bigger fish stay in the river system?

Not looking for you to name your spots just your thoughts

This is a very good question!

On pool 4 the vast majority of the walleyes move back out into the lake after spawning. Some do remain in the river as resident fish.

I prefer to stay in the river fishing the backwaters and side channels where current concentrates the walleyes. Out on the lake the walleyes are much more free to roam with no current (no significant current) to dictate their location or feeding patterns. This makes the walleyes harder to pattern in my opinion. One day you knock the heck out of them. The next day the fish are nowhere to be found.

If I grow tired of fishing uppper pool 4 in the river I’ll run down and fish the wingies south of the lake. Again, back in an area where the current dictates fish location making it a little easier to pattern the fish.

There’s an enormous number of big walleyes out in the lake and at certain times of the year the odds tip in the favor of the angler. There are a couple patterns I do enjoy fishing out on Lake Pepin. The month of June and July can be very consistent for the trollers pulling cranks behind boards for susupended fish. In the fall, starting in mid to late september guys casting crankbaits and hair jigs to rip rap or natural rock shorelines can consistently catch numbers of big walleyes.

But day in, day out, the river is the place for me. The current dicatates where the fish will be and that narrows the search area down considerably.

If I needed to catch 40 fish tomorrow I’d go hit the lake for sure. The numbers are certainly there. If I needed to catch 20 fish tomorrow with 2 of them 6 Lbs plus… I’d hit the backwaters just above Pepin.

Please pass the willowcats.

It will be interesting to read about some of the guy’s favorite or most consistent big fish patterns out on Pepin.

Thanks James, it seams that the river system is more technical to fish

James, what do you look for this time of year to concentrate fish?

#1 – current.

With falling water levels fewer and fewer areas in the backwaters will hold fish. Grab a map and look for turns in the side channels. These areas will be loaded with submerged timber, funnel the current and concentrate the available fish. Straight section in the side channels will be shallow and largely silted in giving fish few holding / resting areas so these areas are of little interest to me.

I’ll often catch fish in the backwaters as shallow as 2′ deep but rarely will these active feeding fish be far from deeper water. Deeper water to me is any area that can offer 5+ feet of water on upper pool 4.

Thanks!!

I stay on the river for the most part.I fish alot of wing dams and back waters also. I do have one lake here on Pool 9 that I will fish and it dose hold some nice eyes.On this lake I fish 5ft of water to a rock bar with 1ft and a half to 2ft of water flowiing over it.On the backwaters I also like to troll straight stretches that will come to a bend in the slough.Were the bend is,there usually a drop off.You could be trolling 4ft of water for the most part and hit the bend in the slough and it may drop off from 4ft to 8 to 12ft or more.That sometimes will also hold some nice fish on the break.Also this is a good spot to fish alive bait rig.Anchoring up like you would a wing dam and work the hole.I also look for clam beds and a good hard bottom if I can find it,such as sand. Don’t get me wrong with the right current mud can produce some good eye’s also.pretty much anything with some flow in the summer is what I look for,and the deeper holes.Reason being is the water is cooler.Also insted of trolling these areas try driffting them with live bait.It can be deadly and produce alot of fish.

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I stay on the river for the most part.I fish alot of wing dams and back waters also. I do have one lake here on Pool 9 that I will fish and it dose hold some nice eyes.On this lake I fish 5ft of water to a rock bar with 1ft and a half to 2ft of water flowiing over it.On the backwaters I also like to troll straight stretches that will come to a bend in the slough.Were the bend is,there usually a drop off.You could be trolling 4ft of water for the most part and hit the bend in the slough and it may drop off from 4ft to 8 to 12ft or more.That sometimes will also hold some nice fish on the break.Also this is a good spot to fish alive bait rig.Anchoring up like you would a wing dam and work the hole.I also look for clam beds and a good hard bottom if I can find it,such as sand. Don’t get me wrong with the right current mud can produce some good eye’s also.pretty much anything with some flow in the summer is what I look for,and the deeper holes.Reason being is the water is cooler.Also insted of trolling these areas try driffting them with live bait.It can be deadly and produce alot of fish.

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Tony P

It sounds like you and I target some very similar type of habitat and throw simialr presentations at the fish. I just love poking around in the shallow backwaters all summer long. The absence of the big cruisers makes it all worth the extra time and effort.

Tony P & James,

Good info. Do you find any current in these backwater areas or is it just dead calm? If its no current don’t the fish really spread out and become tough to catch? i wish i lived closer to pool 4 but hey only an hour from Mille Lacs so i will shut up.

Tim

As the water levels drop in the summer the flow tapers off but I always seem able to find an area or two that have 1+ mph current… and the fish are usually clustered nearby.

James it is a blast fishing the backwaters.I am very lucky to live here on pool 9.For we have alot of them, I sometime can get my fishing partner turned around there is so many.I have been fishing pool 9 all my life,and have been lucky enough to learn alot of them. It always seems like you find something new every time out that is what so unique about them to me.

T Ellis. Back on your subject about finding current in the back waters this is what I have found on some.Alot of times you enter a slough it is narrow than the main channel.Which sometimes the current will be faster than the channel.Its kinda like taking your garden hose and putting a spray nozzel on it.When you open the handle the water is forced threw smaller holes to make it faster.same thing on the river your taking a large amount of water and forcing it threw a smaller channel,which in most cases it will be moving faster .