Please Critique my tecnique

Hello All,

This morning, I fished the Mississippi River from 494 north to the Hidden Falls area. This was the first time I have fished the river around here since moving here a few years ago. I am hoping that all you gurus here can help me out w/ some general information so that my future trips may be a little more prosperous…

What I did this morning was to find rip-rap shorelines and either:

a. troll cranks in 8-20 feet of water, or

b. cast the same shorelines with yellow twister tails or chartreuse tubes.

Basically, I worked areas from a little north of 494 up to Hidden Falls, using these techniques. If it wasn’t for the White Bass, I would have been skunked !!

Could someone give me a few general hints on what (if anything) I was doing right, and a few locations I might want to try down the road. I would probably target Smallies or Pike more than ‘eyes at this time. However, picking up a nice eye certainly would make my day. Thanks for your help !!

Final Score

Mighty Mississippi – 2 Cranks for it’s collection

Nubbin – 1 White Bass.

Was that you with your wife and two kids? If so, I was the guy in the little 12′ alumacraft boat. I didnt do much better, but I have been catching some eyes and sauger from the MN River to the Ford Dam(see pool 2 reports, that is the part of the river that you were fishing). All have come in 6-8′ on cranks or a few on jigs and fatheads. For jigs, you need to know the area a little and focus on the current break (Ford Dam, eddys, inlets) and pound the bottom. Only pick the jig up 3-6 inches at the most. For cranks, I have only gotten fish shallow and only when I feel the bottom with relative frequency. Unless they seem pretty spread out, but the faster or slower parts of the river seem to produce more fish than the normal current.

Hope that helps a little. I know that people that fish the area are getting fish(some real nice)-but I dont know of anyone really getting lots of numbers.

No, I was by myself in a Sylvan Sea Troller