Guttenberg-Pool 11 Report-SM Bass-No Walleye or Sauger

They managed to get 1/2 days work out of us yesterday before we split and headed to the river. We fished from about 2PM-8PM and the weather was simply awesome, and beleieve it or not, we actually caught some fish!

Here’s the tally:

Rod:

Rock Bass (2)

Carp (1)

Joe:

Smallmouth Bass (2)

Rock Bass (1)

Lacking a trolling motor makes boat control nearly impossible in the swells near the wing-dams and below the gates. I already knew this, but that reality was reinforced yesterday. I ordered a Motorguide DS82 (82# thrust) and 2 Interstate SRM-27 batteries on Monday. I should be rigged up within a couple of weeks.

Now, back to the fishing. Because of the boat control issue, we pretty much fished slack water. There is a small pool between the float and the rock edge of the dam where we had seen people catch fish b4. We spent most of our time in there.

Only one of the bass was a keeper, but it was a fat female. She went about 17″ and was a beaut. We released her. I caught her (and all the fish) on a flat-foot 3/4oz jig with 6″ purple BFT ringworm, slowly vertically jigged on the bottom. Purple was the color of the day. They did not seem interested in Chartreuse. I don’t know much about the walleye and sauger, but we did not see any caught except for one small sauger that was not a keeper. There was word of a monster walleye caught near the lock, but other than that, I did not see the numbers I saw two weeks ago in the high water.

The smallmouth bite lasted for an hour, others were catching them as well, but not many were keepers. Panfish were plentiful, and one group was hammering the bluegills with pieces of nightcrawler.

Still have yet to catch my first walleye or sauger, but we at least caught some fish for a change!

Regards,

Joe Jiacinto

Hey Joe,

Been there and done that. I have always found walleyes to be a challenge which is why I have become more specialized as a cat angler. Trying for them without a good boat positioning system is very hard. Many a good experienced walleye angler has gone home empty handed. The great thing about the river is that sometimes the planets align and you can really get into them. Those days make up for the slow ones. Try to look for walleye water where there isn’t 50 fools already hammering it. The best day of walleye fishing I ever had was fishing the front point of an island in 4 feet of water. I had just left an heavily fished area not a quarter of a mile away that had 15 boats on it. I caught 20 that day that were over 20 inches on night crawlers.

Kev:

I hear ya, part of my problem is probably that I am trying too hard. I have never caught a walleye or sauger in my life, so its something of a personal challenge. But, I have to be realistic, too. I am in a totally new part of the country with new waters, new climate, and new species.

I’ll figure Mr. Walter out sooner or later…

I’m just happy we caught some fish for a change!

Regards,

Joe Jiacinto