Pool#4 11/29

  • mojogunter
    Posts: 3289
    November 30, 2011 at 2:28 pm #1333275

    Hit pool#4 for the first time this fall on the 29th. What a nice day on the river. I was very surprized how few boats there were out there. We did well with no big fish but plenty of 14″-18″ fish, and a lot of dinks as well. I like to take home fish to eat, and do eat fish often. I was fishing close to a boat with 4 guys in it that looked to be catching a few little fish, and it seemed every fish went into the box. My guess is that the average fish they were keeping was about a 10″ sauger. I guess better to keep tiny ones like than big fish, but how much meat could you really get from such a tiny sauger?

    Chuck Melcher
    SE Wisconsin, Racine County
    Posts: 1966
    November 30, 2011 at 2:33 pm #1013237

    Sort of like keeping an average or better sized perch… see guys doing it all the time down on pool 4.

    stuart
    Mn.
    Posts: 3682
    November 30, 2011 at 3:22 pm #1013250

    I like to keep fish for a meal every now and then.I prefer to kill one 19 to 21 inch eye than kill six 14 to 18 inchers.That leaves five fish to maybe grow into a 30 inch fish.

    bret_clark
    Sparta, WI
    Posts: 9362
    November 30, 2011 at 4:39 pm #1013285

    Quote:

    Sort of like keeping an average or better sized perch… see guys doing it all the time down on pool 4.

    You see it on pool 8 a lot also and I don’t have a problem with it. Most of these fish are being caught out of deep water around here and I prefer they keep them anyways, otherwise they just become floaters.

    85lund
    Menomonie, WI
    Posts: 2317
    November 30, 2011 at 4:45 pm #1013292

    We saw quite a few dinks go in the box on Monday too. It is the anglers right to do it if they want with the saugers. I am lucky and get to fish pool 4 a lot, so I know I will have another chance at some eaters in the future if they aren’t cooperating on any given day.

    mojogunter
    Posts: 3289
    November 30, 2011 at 4:55 pm #1013295

    I don’t have a problem with anyone keeping a small legal fish. My thought was more along the lines of it doesn’t seem worth the effort of trying to get what little meat off such little fish there may be. They were from Iowa, so maybe there are very few quality walleye lakes in Iowa. I wouldn’t know because I have never been fishing down there, although my neighbor is from Iowa, and he is a bullhead slayer.

    glenn-d
    N C Illinois
    Posts: 760
    November 30, 2011 at 6:54 pm #1013342

    There’s alot of good walleye lakes in Iowa !!!! And the Mississippi River all along it’s eastern border is good too. But who would turn down a chance to fish Pool 4 if you had it.

    Steven Krapfl
    Springville, Iowa
    Posts: 1718
    November 30, 2011 at 7:40 pm #1013358

    Never caught a walleye in Iowa. First one ever was when I went to Pool 4. Actually, Pool 9, above the Iowa line, is where I caught my first walleye. Nothing down here…

    hairjig
    Cudahy, Wis.
    Posts: 937
    November 30, 2011 at 9:15 pm #1013388

    Maybe they were from IOWA, I’ve witnessed some of those guys take anything that comes across the gunwale……Not all, just some PIGS !!!

    tom_gursky
    Michigan's Upper Peninsula(Iron Mountain)
    Posts: 4751
    November 30, 2011 at 9:25 pm #1013391

    If we trust the fisheries dept, the Sauger 15″ minimum was eliminated some years ago because they were out-populating the Walleyes by a considerable margin.
    So, though my personal opnion relates to yours, they should be helping balance the fishery… but after picking a couple 18″ Sauger out of the bucket to the fillet counter…a 10″ does look pretty tiny against the 9″ fillet knife.

    drew-evans
    rochester MN
    Posts: 1099
    November 30, 2011 at 10:26 pm #1013419

    i fish pool 4 often myself and tend to have meat fisherman along with me quite often, i tend to try and fill their limit with 12 to 16 inch saugers before i get into any nice fish. and if i am keeping fish i would rather have 6 12″ saugs than 6 16″ eyes, i fish alot and prefer fresh fish and i, and my fiance cant eat 6 or even 3 16″ eyes so the little guys are perfect for us!

    mojogunter
    Posts: 3289
    November 30, 2011 at 10:58 pm #1013427

    I am not trying to start anything here with the fine people from Iowa, but your comment made me laugh a little. I just read a book called “They used to call us Game Wardens” It was written by a Mn game warden, and several stories he talked about how people from Iowa were some of the biggest offenders of fishing laws when it came to over limits. He said that if he ever saw a boat covered up headed back home with Iowa plates, he would always stop and search them, and more often than not there would be some type of violation to write them up on. His stories were from the 60’s and 70’s, but it still made me laugh. It is worth a read if you come across the book.

    Quote:

    Maybe they were from IOWA, I’ve witnessed some of those guys take anything that comes across the gunwale……Not all, just some PIGS !!!

    cdm
    Oronoco, SE. MN.
    Posts: 771
    December 1, 2011 at 12:20 am #1013445

    Quote:

    i fish pool 4 often myself and tend to have meat fisherman along with me quite often, i tend to try and fill their limit with 12 to 16 inch saugers before i get into any nice fish. and if i am keeping fish i would rather have 6 12″ saugs than 6 16″ eyes, i fish alot and prefer fresh fish and i, and my fiance cant eat 6 or even 3 16″ eyes so the little guys are perfect for us!

    Why not just keep 2 16 inchers instead of six sardines ??? That way your’e only killing 2 fish

    paddie333
    Posts: 19
    December 1, 2011 at 2:09 am #1013468

    From Iowa, been fishing pools 13 and 14 for the last two months.We have been catching our limit almost everytime out. We have a standing rule of no saugers under 14 inches stay in the boat. The only punks I seen kept this year was when we were up at pool 4 for three days. Saw alot of punks kept there, mostly by boats with Minn. stickers on the side of them.There is always a few bad eggs.

    drew-evans
    rochester MN
    Posts: 1099
    December 1, 2011 at 2:27 am #1013476

    little sardines taste better than old fat eyes, and once they are 16″ their half way to 32″ and they only thing to kill that fish is you, me or a realy big pike, or kitty cat….. or one of those iowegens no but seriously you are right i do keep 16″ and even a 17 7/8″ every once in a while but if its over 18 he/she gets to swim to see another day.

    drew-evans
    rochester MN
    Posts: 1099
    December 1, 2011 at 2:33 am #1013477

    Quote:

    From Iowa, been fishing pools 13 and 14 for the last two months.We have been catching our limit almost everytime out. We have a standing rule of no saugers under 14 inches stay in the boat. The only punks I seen kept this year was when we were up at pool 4 for three days. Saw alot of punks kept there, mostly by boats with Minn. stickers on the side of them.There is
    always a few bad eggs.

    i wouldnt call them all bad eggs you wait tell spring when people start to b**ch about people letting all those little saugers go after pulling them out of the scouring holes just to see them come up floating a 100 yards down stream, they are the same size as any perch you would keep, so keep them instead of kill them and the 6 you decide are big enough for your frying pan……. now if you are catching these fish in shallower water then hell ya let em go so they can grow…… if you want.

    Brian Klawitter
    Keymaster
    Minnesota/Wisconsin Mississippi River
    Posts: 59992
    December 1, 2011 at 2:33 am #1013478

    I still think the 14 inch sauger is purr-fect size for eating.

    Unfortunately people are people no matter where they hail from…just that some get caught more than others.

    Glad you had a good time Mo.

    …except for Rookie, he’s an Iowa bad azz.

    jason-pitts
    Des Moines, IA and Hager City, WI
    Posts: 196
    December 1, 2011 at 12:05 pm #1013534

    Quote:

    I still think the 14 inch sauger is purr-fect size for eating.

    Unfortunately people are people no matter where they hail from…just that some get caught more than others.

    Glad you had a good time Mo.

    …except for Rookie, he’s an Iowa bad azz.

    I agree with BK’s 14″ rule…this really only applies to crappies and perch. If you are going to clean any fish from P4 (or anywhere else), clean the big flatheads…there is no better seafood than flathead cheek meat! They are like giant scallops (only better) and the rest of the flathead makes for great trapping bait. Us Iowans sure wish the bullheads would make a comeback on P4.

    Brian Klawitter
    Keymaster
    Minnesota/Wisconsin Mississippi River
    Posts: 59992
    December 1, 2011 at 12:20 pm #1013538

    See? Told ya.

    See you Saturday big guy! Those snaugers are a snapping as Mojo said!

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