Rock River April Fishing Reports

The walleyes are running, get out there and get us a report IDO

Hi, Anyone going out this weekend? Any docks up yet?

Hi Denny,
Me and databoy will be out this weekend. As far as I know there is no docks out yet. Since I saw you last time the water has went up a foot if not more.

Hoping to get out somewhere, but gotta se how things go. I’m going thru Rock withdrawals, and suffering thru a lot of anxiety, figuring you guys aren’t going to leave any for me . So is the current running fast and furious, or pretty manageable??

It’s fast and high but on a decline which is good news. When the water rises it gets brown and the visibility is as bad as ever, but when it starts to drop it starts to clear up and we can get back to catching some fish. This weekend may still be a challenge but it’s suppose to be back down in time for the bunnies to scatter their eggs. Lots of crawlers out lately.

thanks Greg…been out of touch with the river, so that helps. Fast, high, and muddy don’t sound inviting. May get out to the harbor and chase browns on Saturday, if weather allows.

Hi Everyone,
Two weeks ago we were fishing in their backyards, What’s it going to be this weekend.I might be out Saturday for the challenge. Good fishing to all……….Denny

well it looks like fish slyr and i will be out tommorow around 1 till dark looking for some eaters and maybe a couple nice ones pitching shallow. we will be in a red and gold alumacraft navigator 165. stop and say hi

well we made it out today. and all i can say is it was slow. although fish slyr missed a fish almost everytime he dropped his jig down we caught 5 total with one legal. fish are all over the river. we actually fished the vfw by ourselves today with hardly anybody else around

Yes we also made it out. Nice day to be out but NO fish. We tried the K-mart area to 106 bridge with nothing to show for it. At least got some minutes on the new motor.

At the dam in jefferson saw one walleye caught about three pounds and several white bass with a couple over ten inches.

Thanks for the report dilligaf, welcome to IDO

Hi Everyone, Hows the river look down by blackhawk island? Are their any docks up yet where you can launch easier?

No docks, it’s still slightly flooded so it’ll likely be a couple of weeks before it drys out enough. One 18″ female last night that still had a firm belly so they still need to do their thing. 48 for a water temp.

Hi, Glad to see a couple of you guys out there today. It was really slow but I did manage to get a couple of shorts and this 21″.( C P R ) I really did’nt see alot of fish caught. Anyone else do anything today. Good fishing to all….Denny

I can’t get bit anymore. The only fish I saw caught was by a pelican but he lost it then another pelican ate it before he could get it back. I did a side scan from my Humminbird sonnar and up and down from Jones farm to the mouth and wasn’t seeing a lot of fish, certainly no congregations of fish. 47 for a water temp today – was out from 10-3 pm.

I did a last minute solo trip this afternoon, and fished from 2 till 6. . Launched the 12ftr at k-mart and played in a few spots up and down from the launch. Only got 4 white bass, and that’s it. Nice afternoon, though, and felt good to get back on the river.

Nothing for me, couple shorts that was it

Heading out tomorrow afternoon to see what happens.

D

Went out fishing and to put some hours on the new motor. Wow both sides of the lake were full with anglers and boat traffic. Looks like everyone are catching fish that are working for them. I would say no limits but just enough to keep an angler interested. I did more scouting than fishing, couple shorts that’s about it. I saw all techniques catching fish.

Diesel you do any good?

Hi Everyone, My son and I went out yesterday around noon. There were alot of boats everywhere. I saw a few keepers caught , but most were shorties. We caught a 10-lb. flathead and a half a dozen shorties. We had a great time even without any keepers. Good fishng to all……..Denny

Thanks for the report Denny.

I am computerless for a while so sorry for the delay. I did not end up on the rock.Took a buddy of mine who will miss the next couple of month fishing due to surgury to Monona for a two man limit of gills and crappie. Was fun but not the rock.

D

Got out for 3 hours this afternoon. Launched at the bypass, and putted up to just below the VFW. Worked a few areas back to the bridge, and called it quits with only two hits and zero fish.

You picked the right time but the wrong place. I fished 9-4 yesterday and just after noon there was an hour or so window when I saw some nice fish caught in one small area. I ended up with a 18 & 23″ a short and a handful of whitebass all within the little bite window all in the same area though I tried everywhere. Wind was tough fishing in the am especially near the mouth, made it chilly everywhere else. Once it shifted in direction just a little at noon the bite switched. Big fish came on Gulp after I ran out of crawlers.

That figures…I thought about heading to the mouth, but only had the 6 hp /12 ftr, and didn’t want to take the time. Only had a few hours to fish, and had to get back home for family stuff. did you notice if the Riverfront bar launch is open for business??

I’ve never launched there so I didn’t pay much attention but it didn’t look like there was anyone using the launch yet.

River front not ready for launching yet.

When I was out Friday they were working on the ramp, looked like they had it in pretty good shape, so maybe soon.
As far as fishing, was out from 10:30am to about 3pm, fished from the VFW all the way to the lake. Only managed two walleyes…. a 12.5″ and a 18″. I also caught a 1lb river clam, actually had to pry my jig out of it’s mouth, he wanted the Gulp alive emerald shiner I was using. Caught the walleyes on a orange stand up jig, one on a leach and the 18″er on a half crawler. Was a really nice day out and got my first real sunburn of the year but man that wind was rough, even with a couple drift buckets out I had to power my way downstream at times. Missed quite a few bites because if you had more than about 18″ of line out of the water the wind would blow the line so hard it would put a big bow in the line. I lost alot of leaches and crawlers this way, of course I only had 2 stinger hooks in the boat and I lost them both in about a 20 min period…. .

Water was down alot, NOAA site had it well out of flood stage but there were still SNW signs at the launch so not sure if it’s still in effect or not… I imagine with this current rain it’ll go right back up again.

Hi, Anyone been out this week down by Blackhawk Island? I might be out tomorrow to give it a shot. Any docks up yet to launch at?