Rock River Spring Walleye River 2003

hey jeff, whats the reasoning for going out at dusk? are you looking for the big mommas?

Notice!!!:
Thousands of dead fish washing up along the shores
of Koshkonong, Photos and Info at http://www.rkld.org

thats too bad about these fish. what a waste

Sounds like the big Kosh is going to be the big stink soon, too bad!

Froze our butts off today, but had fun anyway. Fished 11:30-2:30 between Kmart and 106, lost about a 16″ sauger at the boat but boated one sheepshead again. Both on a 3/8 oz. green/glow Zone-R & large fathead in 3-4 fow. Took an hour break to warm up then fished from 3:30-5:30 between 106 bridge and Bark River in 10-12 fow. There’s was a considerable more action but the strikes were short and light. I did get 1 12″ walleye, others in the area were just catching shorts too. I’ll be back to try it some more tomorrow afternoon, hopefully in warmer and less windy conditions. See you all on the river!

Gregg

Tried it again from 11:30-2:30, just a couple sheepshead. Struck out on eyes for the first time this spring. Did get one nice hit after replacing my fathead minnow with a Berkley white 2″ grub then got buzzed by a parade of boats heading back to the launch and the wind switched to the north so we called it quits too. I guess we should have been out earlier, it seems the bigger fish have been biting before noon at least for me. I might be able to get out Wednesday morning, otherwise it’s looks like I’ll have to impatiently wait until next weekend – bummer.

Wheres all the reports from this weekend? Must have been slow i take it. Headin up to the Fox in the morning to try for a wall hanger. Will let everyone know the report tomorrow.

Mike fishing has slowed up for me. I have tried everything, night fishing, shallows and nothing. Well I get one here and one there. But nothing like the weekend you were at the Rock last time. One nice female this morning in the shallows about five foot of water. I guess I have only fished two or three hours at a time so its been hard to get a pattern going. I hope I bust out of this slump before the weekend. Water temp still hanging at 42 to 44. You can get small fish in the deep holes but that’s not what I’m looking for. So if you guys are looking to have a fun time and catch lots of throw backs, fish the deep holes.

Tried it today from noon to 2:30. Was fishing on the north shore between ft and kosh. Nada. Went to Jefferson and tried it along river street(??). Couple bites..Went up to the dam, had a smoke, and watched about 6 or 7 unders get caught…..Went home….Be back sometime next week, hopefully with a better report….

Late post, fished Sunday 1-7 again all shorts, 1 cat ~4#. Think I seen databoy by K-Mart, was gonna stop and say hi but I don’t want to disturb anyones fishin. Tried out the new boat I was in the Stratos fish n ski. Can anyone enlighten me on the river up stream from the K-Mart launch? Does it stay shallow? Any difficulties taking a bigger boat up that way? I want to try something different to see if I can locate bigger fish and look for some future cat holes. My kids love fishin for catfish. Tight Lines.

FSHRMN, you should’ve stopped you wouldn’t have been disturbing much on Sunday though there was some light action just before I got to the 106 bridge where there was about 4-5 other boats sitting for awhile. If I remember correctly from past canoe trips the river stays shallow for a ways upstream from Kmart. I’m not sure if there’s any holes and how deep it stays in the channel. It looks like I’ll have some time to get out Wednesday morning, I wish I was out today cuz it seems like the best day of the week. Anybody catching any today? Anybody have any suggestions on places to try tomorrow, I think I need to test a new section of river?

I recomended not going up river unless someone is with you that knows the river. About two miles up river there are rapids, lots of rocks. If you can get by them your in good shape.

Well i decided to hit the rock today instead of driving to the Fox. First things first, i should have went to the Fox. We caught lots of fish but all little ones. Tried many different spots and techniques and could not find any fish over 14. I tried shallow, deep, different colors, size, shape and the only results were small ones. Has anybody found any good sized fish? The only place i have not tried is North of K-Mart. Has anybody done anything up there. I know there is good fish down river but they must be in secret hiding or sick of getting hit in the head with jigs. Sounds like everybody is having the same problem. Hopefully the big ones will start popping. Oh well, beautiful day to be on the river. Lundmann23

Mike was there lots of boats out. I will be out with Barry from MW Marine Wednesday Morning from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Mike, I no what your going through. I’m having trouble getting keeper fish also.

hey Jeff, ya there was pretty many boats out for a weekday. I would say i counted atleast 50 or close to it. About 90% of the boats were in the deeper holes so when i went off by myself,i had the whole river to myself. I found fish pretty much everywhere but no big ones. This year seems to be tougher than years past. I think this weekend i’m gonna start out up river. I need some different scenery. Maybe i will find some quality fish up there.

Is there a decent landing between Jefferson and the rapids besides the one below the dam in Jefferson? Or a place I could just throw in my duck boat? Jeff, would I be able to toss my duck boat in right at the rapids? Seems like they could possibly stack up there before heading up river.

I finally got my dad out for a couple hours this morning. We hit the 12′ hole south of 106 bridge from 7:30 – 9:30. No fish but we were getting light hits from small fish. I decided it probably wasn’t worth pushing it longer, the weatherman goofed – it was kinda chilly again. At least I had fun with my dad, now it’s time to work on getting my boys out. Anyone having any luck at that? I guess it’s time to head back the direction I started, I had better luck there – not as many bites but the fish were bigger – shallow water!

jeff, how did you guys end up doing today? did you find anything worth keeping?

whens the fish fry?

FSHRMN, if you talk to the people at ROX bar and they say it’s ok you should be able to put your little car topper in there. There is no deep water before the rapids for them to stack up or I would be fishing there. When the water is higher I always fish up there. I have never did real good but it’s a change. You pick one up here and there. Most of the fish stack up past the rapids up river about two mile on the first bend you come to. If you can get to that hole now you should be able to get some keepers. But like all deep holes you will get lots of small fish. But if you fish in the shallow around the deep hole, that could be a different story. Good luck and be careful around the rapids.

Mike I started fishing around 8:30 and fished to 11:30 and got one nice 20″ female walleye and CPR that fish. I also got two small eyes and two big carp. As far as the fish fry, I’m looking around May when the white bass run is on. I would like to get you, we fish, databoy, tout, and some of the other anglers that would like to come. We will start off with a free guide tour to find white bass then fish for a while until we get enough white bass for a fry. Then we will go to my house for the big bash. I would figure we will need four to five rigs with two to three anglers to the rigs. You guys follow me and I will get you on fish.

Jeff, sounds like fun. I may have plans to spend the opener up north and will definitely be up there Memorial Day weekend, but one of those middle weeks if fine. Some guys may have problems with mom’s day too so if you wanted to remove most hassle that’d leave you with the 3rd weekend in May. Just a thought, I can accomodate most any time and I’m sure the weather will cooperate.

Between the rain, wind and cold and my schedule I’m probably done for a week or so. Keep me posted on how you do, that’s as close as I’ll get to fishing until the 10th or 11th.

Jeff, not a fishing report but a suggestion. I’m ordering some Fin-Tech jigs for my trip to the Little Wolf River next weekend and would like to take a variety of colors along. It would be really nice if Fin-Tech offered a 20-30 pack of assorted colors all the same size. I figured with your connections you may want to suggest it.

hey jeff, that fish fry sounds like a blast. you can definately count on me being there. glad to see you atleast got one nice fish yesterday. more than most of us can say. anyways, i’m gonna try to get out this weekend. its suppose to be cold so maybe that will keep some people at home. of course that will probably turn the fish off to. you gonna give it a try this weekend? Maybe i will see you out there.

i almost forgot to tell everyone not to use the new launch under the by-pass. nice launch but not enough water. thank god we had my buddy’s boat or we would have had some major problems.
jeff, have you ever tried ring-worms or super-doos out here? was thinking of ordering some. they look pretty good. maybe they would get the big ones snapping. seems like thats all they use in red-wing. i gotta get up there soon. they pull hogs out of there all the time.

Mike I will be out all day Saturday 5:00 AM to 2:30 PM rain or shine or cold or warm I’ll be out. Hope to see you out there. Sunday I will be at the deer & turkey expo until 2:00 PM then hope to get out on the river for a few hours before dark.

Good question lundmann. I have been watching your guys reports and have seen very little on plastics. I dont fish the rock but on the croix and mississippi they cant be beat. I would think they would work over there also. A nice way to build confidence in these baits is when you are on a good live bait bite or even when you find a few fish in a area try switching over to a plastic and see what happens.
I am looking forward to fishing the upper croix this summer with plastics. I got going on them about the middle of the summer last year and by the end of the year minnows where few and far between in my boat. I did have my first bag of ringworms in the boat for almost a year before that. It took me awhile to get going on them.
The whities and smallies will take them also. My first fish on a ringie was a 10# that took it at the side of the boat.

One last note. The jigs that you put the plastics on should have a wide gap. I think you will miss a few fish if they dont.
Good luck fishing

definately wanna give these ringies a try but i think i have to find some active fish first. or like i said before maybe these plastics will get them snapping. i would love to not have to bait my hook after every fish.
Hey Mike W, i have fished plastics out here with minimal success. but, 2 weekends ago we ended up getting into some nice fish on jig and twister combos. tried the same spot and presentation this week and didn’t even get a bite. oh well, i still have a lot to learn about this river. i’ll figure it out one of these days,or not!!!!

jeff, hope to see you this weekend. the only thing that will stop me is the rain. good luck if i don’t see you!!

Mike did you get your boat regristration yet so you can put your numbers on. I have not, its been long time. They should be coming soon I would think. I know when I saw you last you did not have them yet.

no, i never got my registration. i sent my duck boat registration in and got it back in about 10 days. kyle at mw told me they were running 6-8 weeks before you got them. oh well, as long as you have your paper work, your alright.