pool 4 fishing report Sunday March 29th

headed down to pool 4 this afternoon, fished from 4 till dark, a lot has changed from last Saturday.worked the shallows pitching tried everthing from blades,pattletails,ringworms,and even K-grubs. Worked 3 or 4 different current seams not one bite tonight, kind of frustrating but I know its tuff fishing right know with the water temps so low the fish to me just don’t seem very active.Does anyone have any good advise as to what presentations work best in these conditions, any help very much appreciated.

Try dragging real slow the smallest jigs you can get by with on small plastics in slack water areas, atleast that was the ticket for me on sat and last few times out.

Btw just wanna know how everyone else did this weekend? Any biggies landed?

There is not much else you can do. Work super slow and small…The water temps have gotten regressively lower for almost two week and no relief in sight. Looks like daily snow predicted through next Sunday…
How were the current and water conditions? The ice water continues to enter from up North and fish simply are lethargic.
I know earlier there was talk of pulling 3 ways but I am dubious that fish reluctant to eat a minnow on a bare hook will chase a trolled Rapala…

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I know earlier there was talk of pulling 3 ways but I am dubious that fish reluctant to eat a minnow on a bare hook will chase a trolled Rapala…

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You would be surprised how many times walleyes & saugers will eat a small rapala when they won’t go on other techniques. There have been plenty of times when we’ve caught walleyes & saugers in the dead of winter on 3-ways when water temps were hovering around 33-34 degrees.
Two weeks ago when we were at Everts, we had a hard time getting them on jigs/plastics or blades. Our best technique was 3-ways and #7 rapalas.

Tough bite may be an understatement! With that said,as always,someone always does put together a successful program.One of our regulars had 16 keeper sized fish yesterday using a Dubuque rig.Orange jig,3/8 or 1/2 oz with a firecracker chart tail special K grub and a plain hook n minnow on the top.There boat also managed to boat a 30 inch 13.8# fish this weekend.

Tough weekend for my boat. We did manage some keeper size sauger but not much else. The afternoon bite was better both days. Once you got any place with current 3 waying was almost impossible due to the amount of leaves and grass in the water. Hopefully everything is getting flushed out and it starts to settle down. It was still a fun weekend seeing alot of familar faces and catching up with the guys. I really think this was the lull before the big walleye storm and we are in for some very good things here shortly. I’ll be back on the river Thursday through the weekend.

Sunday was extreme toughness. I was out there around 6:30 and the lines would not stop freezing to the guides. We did pretty good once we figured they wanted a smaller presentation. We lindy’d with a hook and minnow. Managed a 2 man limit this time of 15-18″ mixed bag. Fished between 15ft and 5 ft, most coming in shallow. They weren’t taking any hairs or plastics for us. The bite slowed once the sun fully peaked out.

There boat also managed to boat a 30 inch 13.8# fish this weekend.

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Dean, are we gonna see photos of this fish? Just wondering…

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You would be surprised how many times walleyes & saugers will eat a small rapala when they won’t go on other techniques.

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Right on, Joel. That’s a reaction bite, not a feeding bite, but a bite is a bite, right?

We’ve done exceptionally well on 3-ways with F7s under these types of conditions. If you’re in the right spot (like on a good current seam), the fish will be there but not necessarily on the chew. No bites on hair or plastic? Pull an F7 upstream past them, fast. 1 mph or even a touch faster.

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There boat also managed to boat a 30 inch 13.8# fish this weekend.

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Dean, are we gonna see photos of this fish? Just wondering…

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Waiting on them to be emailed,and permission to post!

Fished Thursday to Saturday from the dam to Youngs cabin… Needed slack water. Was my first time there, and while we boated several fish (about 20/day), most were small and saugers at that. Warmest water was 39.5F. Had to break skim ice to get in Saturday morning. Fished with jigs (both hair and plain with plastics- ringworms, paddletails and fatheads). Also used Dodge rigs for the first time and had some success with those. Caught several on three ways with #3 (yes #3) raps… but all in slack water. Wish I had more time there, I can see what the hype is about, just off in my timing! Couldn’t get enough of the eagles and never seen so many. Lucky locals, can’t beat seeing those! Hope it warms up for the rest of you!!

Walleyewon (Dan),

Welcome to IDO,

Very nice first post, and hope to hear more from you. The next 2 weeks we’ll see the biggest fish of the year.

Again Welcome to IDO.

Jack

Thanks for the updates guys. Wade and I delayed coming up a day and also added a couple days to the end of our trip. I’m rigged and ready for some 3-ways if the bite remains tough. We’ll head up Wed. night after the storm blows through and hopefully we’ll see the bite gradually improve while we’re there for the week.

Ben,
Looking forward to meeting you after reading all your reports. I will be rolling into Evert’s Thursday morning and will be staying through Saturday or later. I think your timing is going to be about right. The water is starting to warm back up and the river is showing signs of stabilizing.