O.k. gang,
I’ve got a good theory question where I have my mind made up on this topic for the St. Croix at least…
The question is for best spring fishing or for your most memorable spring fishing have you caught those walldads in high water or low? Was the year a high water spring or a low water spring (as we will have this year)…
Keep catchin’
Turk
Turk, for me on the upper part of the Mississippi it would deffinately be high water in the Spring. With the high water and volume of the flow it kind of narrows down the locatin of the fish to classic current breaks along the main and side channels of the river. When you find a fish or two they are schooled up in large numbers and can be a real blast. The key is finding the more active schools and once found the fishwill hold for a number of days depending on how the water levels fluctuate.
Easy one for me…..HIGH.
I love fishing ‘bass cover’ and catching big eyes.
Beav
Hey Turk,
I like our pool at about 11-12 feet. Thats about 4-5 feet above norm. I’m looking foreward to it again this spring. All of my biggest eye’s have come in high water.
ec
I have to agrea with Dustin on this one. Some of the best experiances I have had on the river were high water. My biggest stringers have been pitching jigs to shallow points and wood, and trolling cranks in deep current breaks.
Bring that high cold dirty water!!
I hear ya Predator2! I would love to have some dirty high water. But I don’t think this is going to happen for us this year. Unless……. maybe you and your dad get together and do a mega rain/snow dance! Possibly that would help out mother nature for us all!
maybe its just me… I like high water… but I like “average” high water… not crazy high water like last year… for one thing… when its THAT high they wont let you fish!! and for another it puts it into a dangerous dimension anyway……
but yeah… high water is a good thing.. on the Croix as Im sure Turk and many others know even better than me… if the water is not high enough it seems most of the fish clear out of the upper river BEFORE the season opens… so the opener is really slow… and then for some reason it just seems to carry on from there… I dont know why… perhaps it has something to do with forage… or perhaps a number of mississippi fish move into the croix and stay if the water is really high… but usually on a year when you have very high water you have a good fishing year on the croix…… well.. thats my experience anyway… I suppose others mileage may vary…..
On the Mississippi River high water usually means good spring time fishing and subsequently though the summer, the fishing seems to always remain noticeably better than it does in low water years. Why? Don’t have an answer for you…. lots of speculation of course, but nothing I feel a guy could hang his hat on.
This past season was a prime example as far as I was concerned. We had incredible fishing as soon as the Corp. would let us back on the water and the fishing remained way better than normal without a real let-up until late August – early september…. which is always the worst time of the year for putting numbers of fish in the boat, for me anyway.
For sure the high water. Some current breaks are more pronounced, some are less, but it seems that my luck is always better in the spring with high water and in the summer and fall with low water.
Hey dustin it sure wold be nice.
April always brings rain, and winter is not over yet, so ya never know what mother nature is going to dish out.
Hey reef runner what do you think about high water and pigeyes?
High water is good until they pull the plug on your pool and draw it down a couple feet. 
Oh well at least they are improving the habitat for the future years. I look forward to the benefits of the drawdown. High water is good because the fish have lots of places to go and bunch up. Low water seems to spook em and scatter em a bit I think.
Hey EC, I agree with you on high water in pool 10, but I haven’t had much success at the 12 ft level. I think maybe my talents are only 10ft tall LOL!!
Turk,
Speaking only to the St. Croix. A moderate to below average spring flood sets up a god bite on the river opener (Last Saturday in April) and the better than average bite in the predicable locations through out the season. Last year just stunk on the Croix from the opener all the way till ice up!! Sure, there were days, but overall success way down!
What did you find in your boat?
J.
Without a doubt its high water. Rising water turns the fish on.
I’m going to have to go against the grain on this one. I’ve never had the big fish more predictable than in low-water early spring. I remember 2 years back in March and April that you could pull several big fish a day consistantly out of pool 4. Also remember loosing to James and Hougie who claimed the trophy with 5 fish weighing something around 20lbs.
Oh, without a doubt, low water springs are murder on big fish that become really easy to coral on main channel current breaks. If the water doesn’t get high and push the majority of the fisherman off the water and move the fish into locations that most guys don’t look, its just a heck of a lot easier for the masses to find these huge fish and stand on ’em than it can be in high water. I thought the discussion was more about how low or high water early in the season affected the bite during the rest of the year.
High water springs seem to result in better fishing through spring and into late summer. Low water springs typically see the bite get a bit tough early in the summer…. and really tough by August and Sept. this is one heck of a generalization but I thuink it accurate enough to throw out here.
Regardless, good point Jeff.
I’m with everyone else on this one…nothing better then a spring with high water.. couple years back the river was closed because of the high water..but nobody knew it was only closed for commercial boats..(barges etc.) so me an my brothers slayed them off a big current break up by the dam called a auxerillery.caught a lot of pigs..snapped a picture an let em go
Flick
Perhaps alot of us do good in the high water springs because we usualy have high water springs. A normal spring on the missisippi puts water over the banks and in the woods sending logs debrie crusins down the river usualy by late march or early april…When the water first starts to come up fishing seems to be good. Then as water rely flys up things seem to go into a funk. Fish are moving like crazy. The walleyes dissapear into their spawning haunts sometimes miles from the main channel. As the spawning ends we all have spring fever and are anxious to get on the water no matter what! We do yhis yaer after year. I Know from past experiance what I am going to do on the water long before I ever launch the boat. Late April early May can be an awsome time to catch those drop back females. As the water comes out of the woods and lays just in the banks (as it dose almost every year) we are there to reap the benefits.
So I guess all I am saying is that high water is a normal thing most years. We have all fished that scenario more than the other and that may be why most of us like the high water for a great bite. I know my heaviest bags bags have come in high dirty water.
James hit a good point. ” High water springs seem to result in better fishing through spring and into late summer.” I totaly agree with this statment. As I look back, the best years of fishing were those that had high water that stayed a little longer than normal and or the years when the water came up high in the middle of summer.
I like little baby ducks,small pick-up trucks,and high water…
I like to go where others won’t and my service man knows that best..I like changing props cutting downfalls and getting out and pushing my boat in knee deep mud…All I know is that I like fishing current and high water brings good flows in high water timber..I like fishing in the woods…caught some of my biggest walleye’s under some huge cottonwood trees…I just hope my new boat doesn’t sink when I’m back in the woods this spring!!!!!!! The biggest thing I hate is FOG!!!!
Hey Greg I like the pic.
Is that a dead rabbit on your head?LOL
maybe a racoon jumped him while he was back in the trees??
That’s my sponsors hat Bunny Baits!!!! You guys are Funny…
KMA…..LOL……. P.S. I’ll have you know that is a Sauger that I got on a bunny bait with a Secret Partner…in a deep hole down River……
ReefRunner
Open a window when you pour lead..
ReefRunner
ProV and Predator2 paid me to do it!
One quick question about the hat…. does your Lund go faster when you’re wearing it? I’m wondering if once you get your boat up on plane if those “ears” don’t flap in the wind and create just enough “lift” to help get the nose of your boat to come up a bit further in the water….?!
He is cute isn’t he?
Well James they are sure getting their money’s worth….Just remember I don’t get ahead I get even I owe you one>>>No I can’t leave the ear flaps unsnapped..cause the Lund is not rated for flight…and my Pilot license is expired..
I thought those were wings to help you keep your boat up high enough so you could get back in the sticks this spring with the low water we now have! Maybe you could have Hawger sew a EFN patch on the front and start a fad. You would be the only guy with a flying EFN hat that comes with wings and all. Couldn’t help it Bud, I just couldn’t resist. Sure glad I don’t need anymore baits for this year or you would probably sell me ones that SINK instead of float hey! Bill
Hey guys don’t be so hard on ReefRunner—-There’s not that many people that look that good with ROAD KILL on the head!
Yup, ReefRunner (AKA “D.B.H”) owes me big…. and I deserve it too. My defense is that once I saw the pic I simply could not resist temptation. But don’t forget the guys that put me up to it when it comes time to playing pranks!
And to Turk…. an apology for side tracking the topic he started. As soon as I saw Predator2 toss the bait by saying “Hey reef runner what do you think about high water and pigeyes?” I knew we’d be off and running…LOL
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