coldweather walleyes – help please

Today one of my techs and I busted 2 – 3″ thick ice off of 35 yards of boat ramp in order to get my work boat in on the Osage River in Missouri. My back and arms are killing me. The place where I exposed the ramp is known as a walleye and sauger hotspot, or at least someplace very near there is. (Of course, a walleye hotspot in Missouri is like, say, a catfish hotspot in Colorado – not likely to be blueribbon water, but still worth wetting a line.) I’d like to reward myself this weekend by putting my personal boat in and catching some walleye and sauger. Problem is, I’m not much of a river walleye angler, and how to catch them in the cold will probably be different too. So can some of you pros of the cold rivers give me some basic tips on what kind of habitat to find, depth to fish, fishing techniques, etc, enough to give me half a chance at boating a fish? I have some big chartreuse jigheads, and I have some stinger hooks. I was thinking of putting minnows on the jigheads and fishing them with the stinger hooks. I know some people here fish in a similar fashion, but I don’t really know how or how big a jig they use. The mouth of the Osage, where it joins with the Missouri, is close by. The Missouri tends to be a lot muddier than the Osage. I’m thinking of fishing down near the mouth, and also thinking of fishing a spot about two miles from the mouth where the water comes off a very long and very shallow area and suddenly becomes about 20′ deep. The bottom in that part is large rocks and some gravel. There is also another spot a few miles upstream from that where I would have to put in at another ramp to get to because of shallow water. There you could go upstream as far as a low head dam. There might be some walleyes below the dam?? Thanks for any help for a catman that wants to see a few walleyes for a change.

Carptracker

Thanks, Tom. I’ll give those things a try. Don’t plastics stay too stiff in the cold water?

Plastics work great in cold water. No problem with being too stiff. I use plastics in coldest conditions on the Miss, never too cold!
Rooster

Plastics “Shine” in cold water! I don’t use them much in the summer, but once the water temp hits 40 degrees, it’s time for plastics! Nothing wrong with the jig n minnow combo either. As mentioned earlier. Lighter is “usually” better. Boat control, line diameter, type of line, bulk of bait, and more boat control are the key factors to downsize enough and still be enough! One small tip I personally would offer is to fish whatever you’re fishing slow. No need for the aggressive jigging action. Let us know how you fare. Good Luck.

Thanks for the tips. I won’t be able to get my big boat on the water because the water is too low, and on my small boat I can only get the gas engine or the trolling motor on, not both at the same time. So I’ll be out in the little boat with no trolling motor, which will be a pain. Honey, time for a new boat. None of the ones we have now is perfect for all situations!

Well, I spent a lot more time getting the little boat ready than I did fishing. A lot more. Changed lower unit lube, struggled with the trailer lights, cleaned the plugs, figured a way to get my trolling motor on as a bow mount, etc. Now the little boat is ready to fish. I only got about an hour and a half on the river, and that was with my 9-year-old daughter, and she did most of the fishing. I mostly kept tieing new jigs on her line. She loves to fish,and actually has caught quite a few very nice fish with only coaching from me, but this turned out to be a bit difficult for her. Then I had to run back to go to a scout meeting so I had to leave just before the magic hour at dusk. Thought I was marking some fish, anyway, there at the end. I have a better idea where to go next time anyway. Then I had a blowout on the trailer on the way back and missed most of the scout meeting. Guess what – all that time prepping the trailer and I forgot to throw the spare trailer tire in. I had to call my wife to bring the spare down and rescue me. That’s what made me late to the meeting. You asked for a report, well, it could’a gone better. But we did see a bunch of eagles, and the engineer in a train (track runs along the Osage River) was waving to us like we were old friends. Daughter liked that.