River basics (long winded)

Hello all. Forgive me if this has been posted elsewhere. My search skills aren’t the greatest.

New guy here. From the North Carolina. Moved to Minnesota last year. Fished for crappies and flatheads and the occasional striper down south all my life. Was a nightmare to the crappies.

Live in NW metro of Minneapolis, a rocks throw from the Sippi above Coon Rapids Dam. Have an interest in chasing pool 2 walleyes.

I’ve heard the smallie fishing above CR dam was great. I love smallies but hate large mouth.

Anyway, bringing my boat back to MN after a trip to NC in June. I know enough to feel confident in chasing flatheads in the St Croix, Mississippi and certainly the MN rivers. The location changes but the fish don’t.

Would love to learn to fish walleye. I feel like I could find them in a lake. Most fish all want the same basic principles. Most of my time will be spent on the river though, as it’s closer than most other decent walleye lakes (from what I hear?)

Not looking for hot spots, but I just would like to learn what basic needs I need to cover. I have a variety of rods/reels to cover most situations. Doubt I’ll do much river trolling, as I only have a 50hp mariner and electric trolling motor. No kicker, but suppose I could use the electric motor in the river depending on current.

Just curious as to what rigs are recommended and in what situations in the rivers.

Would like to start stocking up on terminal tackle and standbys. You guys up here not only talk funny but yall fish funny. MNs one rod rule and such ;).

I see a lot of mention of three way/Lindy rigs… Or just jig heads with leech or minnow or plastic of choice.

Walleye prefer rocky structure? Do they orient to wood too, or are current breaks just current breaks no matter what causes it, and good ambush points.

I’ve heard leeches and crawlers in spring and minnows later?

To have so much confidence when I fished in NC, I’ve never felt so out of place fish wise as I do asking about walleye lol

Thanks in advance.

There’s tons of info on this site and others if you check back.

For starters though, jigs are king for river walleyes. Tons of other ways to catch them as well but jigs are the day in day out go to. Weights from 1/8 to 1/2 oz will cover almost every situation.

As far as location it is of course dependant on many factors. Things to consider are time of year, water temp, river level and forage. Most important to me are the last too and they usually are related. Find the food, find the walleyes.

I moved from farther north in MN and kind of feel the same way about the Mississippi. It seems specialized and a bit intimidating. My plan is to hire a guide a time or two and keep my eyes and ears open. Two things seem pretty universal to me: 1. fish eat rapalas 2. a jig and minnow works well.

One thing I found out from hiring a guide on pool 2 was when jigging we were in way shallower water than I would have ever tried ,I may have pitched to these locations but we would just hover over these fish and did quite well. There are alot of great sticks on this site that fish pool 2 that will maybe chime in at some point. Mike W on the site use to guide pool 2 I don’t know if he still does but he is pretty good.

Seems the Walleye guys all are pretty darn good with a jig.I would suggest mastering that. They are cheap to buy compared to crank baits. If you get a chance to spend a afternoon at Everts you will glean a lot of info from the IDO members down there and also might even catch a open seat.

BTW, don’t worry about your accent, after 15 or 20 minutes we will figure out what you are trying to say.

Sounds like I need to invest in jigs.

Thanks for the help guys. Yeah not looking for spots, just trying to figure out where to start tackle wise and what to look for when chasing them.

Spring time is a good time to to get your legs wet so to speek. Stick close to shore casting up or trolling along the shallow depts using jigs, rapulas(black and silver shad rap is a staple in my tool box) or even river rigs tipped with minnows or leeches, I prefer leeches (river rig is lindy style but with 3/4oz barrel weight). Stucture like holes,steep breaks sand flats, river inlets even culverts are good at times, like you mentioned breaks in current can be awsome. The low water levels this year will take some time to figure out where their at.

As far as jigs go grab an assortment of 3/8oz in different colors.Gold has been the most productive color for me this year and last year,black has also been a good color.Minnows in spring and fall,leeches/crawlers in summer and crankbaits allmost anytime.I mostly jig fish in early spring and once I find the fish start hitting crankbaits I switch to them either trolling or casting.Rite now for me its been a mix of jig/minnow or crankbaits and I’ve found fish allover the place-rocks,sand,gravel,wood in areas with heavier current or barely any current and in depths ranging from 3 ft to 23 ft.

Thank you gentlemen. I’ve been researching over the weekend. I think I’ve browsed through about 40 pages of walleye threads. Mostly skimming for the jigging threads.

I guess I’ll start with trying to gather what I need for jigging since its most recomended and most familiar to me, and go from there.

Thank you guys. Still trying to sort through basic colors and weights to start with.

Black, orange or chartreuse for jig colors. For vertical jigging and a lot of pitching 1/4 ounce should do fine. Little heavier or lighter depending on depth or flow.

While you are picking up those jigs pick up a couple of # 7 flicker shads or smash smash shads to. Those will come in handy for throwing at rock piles or long line trolling. Blues or fire tigers are good colors.

Fleet Farm is a good place to stock up on a lot of river tackle. Think the crank baits might even be on sale now. I like to find about the best prices possible for a lot of my river tackle as the river seems to like to keep a lot of it.

Next step is go hit the river. No better way to learn it than get out fishing. Sounds like guys are all ready finding walleyes after the spawn on pool 2. For you guys that are new to pool 2 keep in mind it is open for walleye and sauger fishing year round but also catch and release only on those species.

My plumbing business has been keeping me pretty busy so havent guided the last few years. Dont even seem to get out as much as I used to. If you do run across me while on the river stop by and say high. Im always happy to try to get people on fish.

In the 4th post down on this link, I have compiled links to some great discussion on fishing blades. That is a part of my arsenal that I never go to the river without

http://www.in-depthoutdoors.com/community/forums/topic/ftlgeneral_1322968/#Post1322984

Do yourself a huge favor and hire an IDO recommended guide just once to kick start your adventures. Even if you are too proud you can handle one guide trip and if you go with one of the guys around here you wont be dissapointed. Then you will have a platform to launch from. It’s not like they just show you an area or a technique or two. You have consulting privileges. Hours to ask all the questions you want WHILE fishing. Go for it. It will take years off your learning curve.

Justin, all good advise above…

Here’s and outstanding article on trolling, when your ready for it.

Dale’s River Trolling 101

Thank you all. I haven’t had a chance I go over the links posted yet. Put in 12.5hr yesterday and probably facing that much or more today. Gotta make hay while the sunshines.

I known with crappies there were a million colored heads to choose from, yet I always came back to three basic colors and typically it didn’t matter as long as the jig was where it needed to be at the speed it needed to be there.

I almost feel like those principals would apply here.

Unpainted
Chartreuse
White
Orange
Black
Maybe a blue?

In try not to over complicate it with intricate colors.

Justin Karriker wrote:

Gotta make hay while the sunshines.

Heck Yeah!!! Just think of it as more fishing stuff, gets me through

Haha I wish. More like righting the wrongs of a failed marriage and gold digger ex wife

Since we are regulated to one jig at a time and I fish by myself 90% of the time I keep the jig color that works for me tied on.I returned the gold jig to my tackle box that I was using early this season that caught my first walleye over 30″ and many other nice ones.The teeth marks on it make it look like it was drug across the blacktop and I wasnt fishing rock at all.Whether it was jig color or finding hungry fish I will never know,they may have hammered a purple jig better.So I guess go with the colors you like best if your in the rite spot they will eat it if they want it

Thank you for all the replies. Sounds like I need to invest in a new jig mold (as if I didn’t have enough) and some flicker shads. Can probably get by on what rods I have for now.

I could see myself dragging cranks for when I’m too lazy to fight the river and current and jigging . Carries over from trolling for crappie I reckon.

The trip swap forum is a great way to learn things from fellow fisherman too. Then I would seem in their own boats weeks later and we would share info on the bite while on the river.

I used to pick up someone once a month or so and show them around. Now that I am boatless, I hitch a ride with someone I met here about 10 years ago when I can.

Thanks guys! I wish I could say more. Right now I’m boatless until Mid June once I bring it back from NC. Work has me busy until then.

Think I’ve got jig rods covered.

Still need to invest in jigheads or a mold/plastics.

Got some flicker shads while Dicks has them on sale.

Would it be wise to go ahead in get leadcore set ups or spend my money elsewhere?

Got some cabelas gift cards I’ve been sitting on, but can’t decide whether to invest in leadcore rods or what. I could see the majority of my fishing being in 2, 4, or possibly smaller lakes (fish trap lake).

I love leadcore, but if I had to choose, I’d probably start with some telescoping trolling rods with line counters. You can use those on almost any body of water you fish, and can add snap weights etc… to get deeper until you can add leadcore to your arsenal.

Regular trolling rods will allow you to run cranks from 2′ deep to 20’+, allow you to troll harnesses, pull bouncers etc…

Leadcore can do some of those things, but is a more specialized technique. A lot of guys will tell you to go buy $150 linecounters, but if you’re truly just starting out, a few of the Cabelas linecounter combos will serve you well enough for a few years. If you watch for them, they go on sale about once a month for about $50 for rod and linecounter. That might leave you a little left to get some more cranks, and maybe a few planer boards.

If you’re going to start fishing bigger water and tackle lots of big fish down the road, then you will want to upgrade at some point, but I give this advice to many as you can always use those as backups later if you upgrade.

A good book to read is Infisherman walleye wisdom. It has a lot of info which applies to MN lake and rivers

I’m one of the guys running the St.Croix walleye league this year and feel free to check the website for updates on what is working as far as rig and techniques. (Scvwl)

We will be starting on the 19th. If you can find a boat and a person to fish with stop down and fish. We have a great group of fisherman.

Thank you for all the tips and advice. I won’t have time to fish much until after I get back from NC in June, even if I could find an empty seat lol. Work is busy and gotta get it when I can, slows back down to 40ish hours during the winter ;).

So you’d hold off on the lead core for now?