Rock/Kosh 2019

Hey Bola or Databoy, what’s the river look like in Fort? Is the ice gone? Anxious to get my Ranger on the upper river!! See you soon!!!

I haven’t gone down by fort or Jefferson yet. But up here north of Lebanon, it exploded. Yesterday the surrounding fields are flooded out MILES off the river bed. Saw some ice jams in the woods about a mile off the river, so the deluge is on its way.

Additionally, if you caught the floods in fondulac in the news….what doesn’t flow to Bago, goes south to the head of the rock

Going to be interesting to see how this plays out especially since water stored in the soil hasn’t released yet.

Looks like typical early spring flooding with lots of debris and ice chunks. Water level already made top 10 high. Bait Box is selling bait out of the back of a truck.

All 3 of my boys were on spring break this last week, so we fished 6 of the 7 days, lol.

Monday 3/25 (9AM-3PM). We started near the VFW and worked our way towards the lake Our first fish was our biggest fish, a 20″ female walleye near the VFW (released). Boxed two 17″ ish saugers just above the hwy 26 bridge, and then 8 more in the home run stretch near Blackhawk Island, released 3 legal saugers in the home run stretch as well, in the 18.5″-19.5″ range. The only walleye we caught on day 1 was near the VFW, all the rest were saugers. (14 total fish over 15″, 4 cpr’s) (Water Temp 40)

Tuesday 3/26 (8AM-3PM). Launched at K-Mart and worked our way to town. Immediately caught a 21″ female (released) right at the 106 bridge, and then nothing but shorts for the next 3 hours, 20-30 fish, all 9″-14″ male saugers and walleyes. Almost forgot, the highlight of the day, a mammoth flathead that MAXXED out our 50lb scale!!! (See Pic) Pulled out the boat and drove to Groeler, launched around 12:30PM. Between 1PM-4PM it was hot. We boxed 10 saugers between 16″-17.5″ and released 2 in the 18.5″-19.5″ range. (13 total fish over 15″, 3 cpr’s). (Water Temp 41). Once again, no walleyes near Blackhawk. Side note – had the entire family over for a fish fry Tuesday night and lemme tell you. I’d put these fish up against any fish, anywhere. They’re ridiculously good out of this system .

Wednesday 3/27 (8AM-3PM). Launched at Groeler and headed to the home run stretch. We released our first 3 fish, all female saugers in the 18.5-19.5″ range. Ended the day with 7 saugers in the box, all in the 16″-18″ range. No walleyes on Wednesday. (10 total fish over 15″). (Water Temp 42)

Thursday 3/28 (8AM-3PM). Launched at K-Mart, worked the stretch from the VFW all the way to the K-Mart launch in search for some walleyes. After catching 15-20 shorts we finally found a few walleyes in town. We were able to catch 10 legal fish pretty quick when we got on em. 5 walleyes & 5 saugers, 9 were bewteen 16″-19″ and we released a real nice 23″ ish fish. We released all the walleyes and kept the saugers. (10 total fish over 15″) (Water Temp 42)

Friday 3/29 (8AM-4PM). Launched at K-Mart and headed for the in town bridges. This was our best day for big fish by far. We caught 11 legal fish, 6 were cpr’s, 5 between 20′-23″ and the highlight of the day was my 10 year old sons PB 27.5″ – 7 lb 14 oz walleye (See picture). We kept 5 saugers between 16″-18″ for the peanut oil. (Water Temp 43)

Saturday – took the day off

Sunday 3/30 (8AM-4PM). Launched at K-Mart and headed for town. 15 mph winds with a high in the 30’s, and the water temp dropped 3 degrees, this all made for a tough day. Fished with a good buddy, nephew, and my oldest. We caught around 30 total fish, but only 5 legals, all 16″-18″ saugers. Had another ridiculously great fish fry with my sister in law and her family. Yummy!! (Water Temp 40)

The water is pretty darn clear for how high it is, natural colors worked best all week. All female saugers and walleyes that we caught all week were still firm and holding eggs. No males milting. Planning on fishing Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday, this week. (Pending rain)

Good Luck to everyone on the water!

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That’s making the most of it! Looks like the kids loved it!

Kemos and Parsons episode of the Next Bite on the Rock River is out. Show is on Waypoint TV app. I made it on the show, that’s my white van watching from the road at the start of the show.

The Bait Box’s Rock River Walleye League starts Monday 4-23 so we were out pre-fishing the past 3 days. Here’s my report:

Friday 4-19-19 (9AM-4PM) Launched at the Carp Pens around 9AM. Our plan was to start near the Island bar and work our way back to Newville. We timed the trip from the interstate bridge in Newville to the Island bar (No wake to the lake, 52-54 mph across the lake, no wake to the island bar, 42 minutes. We started from the big hole to the lake, tried everything in my arsenal from 9:45AM until around noon, ZERO fish. Headed to the rock pile, fished for a hour or so, ZERO fish. Headed to the mouth at Newville, bingo, found some fish. Fished from the mouth to the interstate bridge until around 4PM, pretty sure we boated 12 legal fish, biggest around 18″, all released.

Saturday 4-20-19 (11AM-5PM) Launched at Dallmans around 11AM, flew across the lake to the upper river. Wow what a difference 24 hours can make. We only caught 6 fish in roughly 4 hours of fishing, but they were 25″, 25″, 25″, 23″, 23″ and 20″. Talk about blowing up. I saw an 80 year old man catch a 28 incher on a beetle spin!! That thing couldn’t have been anywhere near the bottom, he was in 16′ of water when he hooked up!! All fish released. We flew across the lake at around 4:00PM to give Newville a quick try, yep, still fish, caught two 17 inchers on the first drift. All fish released.

Sunday 4-21-19 (7:30AM-1:30PM) Launched at Dallmans around 7:00AM, flew across the lake to the upper river. Fished from the big hole to the lake from 7:30AM to around noon. From 8AM to 10:30AM we boated 5 fish, 14″, 18″, 22″, 24″ and 26″, never had a bite from 10:30AM to 12PM. Headed to the rock pile around noon, pulled Salmos behind boards until around 1:30PM, caught 3 fish, 17″, 17″, and 18″. All fish released.

My prediction for tomorrow’s Monday Night Walleye League: I have no fricken idea!!! There’s big fish up at Blackhawk, but it’s not fast and furious, it was just over 1 fish an hour for us the last couple days. Newville has the most fish by far, but they’re small like always and it takes 25 minutes to get to the mouth from the island bar. Trolling on the lake is just heating up, I would guess that the guys who head out trolling will weigh the most fish, but the biggest will come from the upper river. Whoever gets those big bites in the upper river will win. Couple 23-25″ fish paired with an 18 incher will likely take it. Prediction, winners weigh 10.5 pounds with 3 fish. My live well pump went to hell yesterday, blew every fuse I had in the boat, has to be a bad pump. Hopefully RR Marina can get me in right away in the morning. Good luck to everyone!!

Tight Lines!!

Jason

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Past 3 days have been superb using all techniques. Jigs are slowly becoming dominant. I expect the heavy bag in tonight’s walleye league to come from the upper river. If the Gorske’s win on the lake trolling I’ll be shocked and very impressed. But…. I might make a trip to the lake myself, got into some big fish yesterday, in 3 feet of water!!! Should be an interesting night!!

Tight Lines

Jason

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Hello,
Been long time. Hope all are shooting straight. Water conditions here at highest since spring. Spring and fall flooding can only help the fishery. Good luck fishing as the future is bright.

Sincerely
bola

Hey Jeff,

Good to hear you are still around. Miss all yours posts but then again I haven’t fished the rock in a several years now.

Derek