Skunked on Pool 9!

This is slightly dated, as the fishing occured Wednesday evening. My buddy Larry and I agreed that some time on the river was much better for the mental constitution than work, so we blew out a little early and headed north.

Being new to the river, each trip is an adventure, and this one was no exception. We decided to try some sloughs near a place that was called Heytman’s Landing. After driving some gravel backroads through some of the most awesome scenery I have seen in the Midwest we arrived at our destination.

Despite a decent concrete ramp, the landing was heavily silted in. We pulled both motors up and literally poled my 18′ roughneck through the small lagoon to the slough! We had to repeat the poling procedure when we came back in! If you have anything other than a flat-bottom, avoid Heytman’s.

After getting through the salad bar, we found a channel and started longlining some cranks on the sacred 10′ contour, with the sonar occasionally showing walter or sylvester cat hugging the bottom. We tried different speeds and colors but could not raise a fish.

We headed to the end of the slough and fished a closing dam, but the most excitement was a hard short on a clown husky-jerk. As the sun sinked lower in the sky, the bluffs on the Wisconsin side went from a golden tan to a soft pink glow. Our only company was in the form of soaring, majestic bald eagles and great blue herons stalking fish in the shallows.

Other than the closing dam, it seemed like a better panfish/pike/bass slough than walleye water. Looked like a potentially great duck hunting and ice fishing place too.

So, we came home empty handed. But, we are slowly learning the water a little more and were treated to some of the most beautiful vistas I have had the good fortune to witness through these two eyes. You just have spend time on the river to develop a list of good fishin’ holes. I can’t excpect to have the knowledge of someone who has fished the river for walleyes for years only during my second month on the water. The fringe benefit of seeing all the wild-life and scenery is satisfaction enough.

I may head north to DeSoto early Saturday morning, or fish out of Noble’s, or (if the river calms down) try my luck in pool 10 or 11. My oldest boy, JoJo (who is 5) wants to join me on this next trip, and when’s he’s along, we usually do pretty well…

Peace.

Joe Jiacinto

P.S.-Sorry this is long, but I like reliving the day through the written word!

Hey Joe, how was the water clarity? Did you see anybody doing good on panfish?

Thanks
Dave

Dave:

Nope, we had the slough to ourselves. I think we were technically in the extreme upper end of Harper’s Slough, along the Iowa side. A few lily pads were starting to come up and every now and then there was some minnow spray near the weedlines, indicating feeding fish; probably large panfish or bass. No swirl seemed quite big enough for a northern, but I wouldn’t doubt they’d be in there too.

Had we pulled some small jigs or fished some crawlers under bobbers, I’d wager we’d have gotten some nice ‘gills or perch.

Now, remember, I am new to this system so my opinion may not be the best, but the water seemed just a little off-color. It was not what I would consider muddy by any means.

Regards,

Joe Jiacinto

Thanks for the info Joe, hopefully I get over there this weekend. Just my opinion, Im sure others will disagree, but Ive always had better luck on upper pool 9 than the lower part. We usually put in at blackhawk park, or the new albin landing.

My son and I may drive most of the way tonight; camp out in the tent so we can get put in at first light. I’ll probably launch up at Blackhawk.

Campgrounds will probably be full or close to it with the Holiday weekend, I know they have tent sites at Blackhawk, but it would be good to have one or 2 backups if they are filled up. Do you know if there are any other campgrounds within 20 miles of either Blackhawk or New Albin?

Regards,

Joe

One last minute idea is this, At the desoto bait shop they have cabins, and im pretty sure they only charge like 30-40 a night. I think they have a campground to, if you want to check it out the number is 608-6483635. And, if you want to save 5 bucks, launch at the first boat ramp in blackhawk park, the one that goes into victory slough. Cuz if you put in at the the one at green lake, you have to pay 5 bucks.

Dave

I caught lots of perch and big bluegills anywhere a dirty stream was coming in. I do not recommend Mississippi river sports to anyone. When our houseboats were there, the manager followed all of our guests to our boats and demanded parking money from them or to leave (2 dollars or else). He also burned our docks that we built and paid for and cursed out my mother. Not a very pleasant sod to do business with. Blackhawk park is an awesome place to stay. So it Zitners which is right outside Blackhawk park. I hope all of you continue to not fish the southern section of 9. It can be a challenge at times but I get good fish there most of the time.