Help with Jigging on the Rainy River

I have been to the rainy once in the spring and we spent 2 days trying to figure out WTH we were doing. We tried anchoring and using jigs up to 1oz but they were still sitting at a 45 degree angle. after hours of trying that we tried using the trolling motor to slip drift with the river and produced a few smaller sauger and it was only when we put 3 ways on that we started catching fish. we are heading up the week of 10/20 so I had a few questions:

my question is what is the proper way to get your jig as vertical as possible?
do you pitch jigs upstream and pop them off the bottom back to the boat?

any tips or hints are much appreciated.

This may help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liLL9jr09Rc

-J.

This may help also. This from early November last year.

I’m not a jigging expert but you shouldn’t have the flow up there you had in the spring. Bring a wide variety of weights of jigs and give it a go again.

Fall is different than spring.

In the spring the walleyes are attacking everything in sight with a vengeance. I don’t thing they’re necessarily in the mood for eating but the seem to attack just about anything. The one main thing to identify is current breaks. The big fat females are looking for the path of least resistance to head up river and spawn. I almost exclusively cast at a 90 degree angle and pull across the current with a 5/16 or 3/8 jig during normal flow. Bigger plastics like pulse-r or moxies. Plastic is way better than live bait, for me. I quit bringing meat two years ago.

When I say current breaks, I mean inside turns of the river where the water is just slightly slower than the rest of the river. These areas are typically very large and can be the size of a couple football fields. They can be tough to spot if you don’t know what your looking for.

In the fall its a similar deal but I think that slack water like eddys are even better. The IDO crew did really well fishing the sand dunes. Basically sand bars that fluctuate in depth 3-4 feet like waves. The fish settle down in those waves to get out of the current. Watch your sonar for a wavy bottom when you’re on plane traveling from spot to spot.

I found frozen shiners and fatheads outfished plastic about 10:1. The presentation is much slower as well. I cast out at a 45 degree angle and let the jig drift behind the boat while anchored. Then slowly lift and retrieve or slowly lift and fall and wait for the fish to come to you. Much more subtle than in the spring.

I’m making plans now to go up at the end of the month. Looking forward to my last big trip before the new baby.

We will be up a week later. Frozen shiners and gold strobe jigs are what they are using in the lake out in the lighthouse gap and nearby. Fish the lake early and river after noon. You can sort through the 12″ saugers and fill your limit if that is what you are after. You can stumble on a big girl staging in the lake but if you want trophy caliber fish, the river is where you have best odds. Vertical is key if you want to drift or anchor in the river like most of the locals. Pitching plastics is what I plan on doing 80% of the time and I will try jigging raps as well if the current is strong. You WILL catch multiple 25+ inch fish if you stay at it, they will be there. I don’t plan on going too far down from wheelers point as that is close to the entrance of the river. Some of the best fishing is right off the docks a stones throw from the launch. I dont recall that much current in the fall as opposed to spring snow melt but there will be some so pack different size jigs. Just whip them out into fishy areas like seams and slack water and snap them back. Pitching rubber works great in the lake too if you ain’t in 20′ or more. The resorts will tell you shiners but that is for numbers. If you are after a PB, plastics give you the best chance not every time but dam near. Let us know how you do, I hope to hear some reports from guys on this forum….14 days and counting! Some boats will troll but we have never had to. Plus that smack on a vertical jig is waaaaay better than dragging one behind the boat. Hope this helps and good luck.

If the minnows were out fishing the plastics 10:1, maybe you were fishing the plastics too fast.

I’ve found as long as you keep you jig in contact with the bottom it doesn’t matter if it’s vertical or not. We just got back from there and yes, there is still too much current to keep a 3/4 oz jig perfectly vertical in most areas. Don’t fight it, just keep contact with the bottom and the fish will bite.