pool 14

Was wondering if anyone had any report on this pool for this week, What working and whats not flats or wingdams
Thanks to any one that can help

I’ll be listening in on this one, too.

As some of you know, I won’t be making it to the GTG this weekend, as my wife has been pretty sick; but its a good kind of sick, well sorta. She’s pregnant and is going through the nausea and morning sickness phase, so with two little ones whose main function in life is house wrecking and Lori unable to keep up with ’em, I’m only allowed out for part of the day. No GTG for me.

But I am wicked thankful that she is letting me fish that much.

I fished pool 14 the last 3 times, and pool 9 before that. This weekend, I think I am setting my sights on pool 10.

Regards,

Joe Jiacinto

I made it out for a while Thursday morning, the clam beds still are holding fish, but the current has been cut in half and the water has dropped considerably, so you have to look a little harder. It should stabilize somewhat now, but with the springs hatch of bait fish reaching eatable size, it will probably slow some. This has been the best summer for walleyes I have ever experienced, but, I believe it will be a little tougher from now until fall.

Wingdams are still holding fish, just not stacked like they were. Most of the wings in this pool have been really hammered the last month or so, and now a lot of the “fair weather” guys will be moving on to other things, so the fish will be less plentiful, but the fishing more enjoyable. Should not have to fight so hard for a spot on a wing dam, or an area of the clam bed. I would suggest trying a little closer to the channel if you fish the clam beds, trying to find the seam between current and slack water. I did catch about a dozen fish in two hours on the beds, but many where small ones, and one was 24″ slot fish,one 2#smallmouth, and one 5# flathead.

Good luck if you make it out farm, and congrats to you Korn King . Nothing more special than watching a little fish partner develope!

John

No reports for pool 14 that I have read but I went out on pool 12 twice this week. Out on Monday night for a couple hours. I usually go out on Monday nights after work because there are fewer boats out. However, this past Monday night there were almost as many boats out as there are on a weekend. I went to 3 of my favorite spots right around Dubuque and there were boats on all 3 spots so I tried elsewhere. I fished for only about an hour and a half and caught 2 walleye and 1 nice sauger. I always release the fish I catch when I go at night because I don’t like having to clean fish at 10pm. I did not make it out this past weekend but I heard a couple local reports that the bite slowed when the river dropped so fast. I went out again last night (Thursday) after work and fished for about 2 hours. Pretty good bite going on last night. Several walleye and a nice sauger. One 23-1/2″ walleye. I have been getting all my fish off of wingdams over the past month. Now that the current has dropped to almost nothing look for the fish to be out on the ends of the dams where there is a little more current. In the early mornings and again in the evenings these fish move up on top of the dams to feed. All the fish I caught last night were on the top of the dam in probably less than 4 feet of water. During the greater part of the day the active fish will be deeper on the face of the dam or in the trough in front of the dam.
Try to concentrate on the area of the dam with the most current. For middle of the day walleye try the deeper dams that have 10+ foot of water in front of them. I know there are many walleye fishermen that hate low water and low current but I like these conditions. The low water seems to concentrate the fish in areas with the right conditions (cuurent, water depth, structure).

I would imagine that the bite on pool 14 is fantastic. I have not fished pool 14 yet this year but it has been the best pool on the river over the past few years. I keep thinking I will make it down there but the bite has been so good right here at Dubuque that I just can’t justify driving that far. I see that some of you have been vertical jigging over clam beds. I love to vertical jig but only in the cold weather months. I have tried it many times in the spring and summer but with limited success. Fishing wingdams and riprap puts many more walleye in the boat than vertical jigging does this time of the year for me. There are some killer wingdams in pool 14. I’d tell you where to go but then I might have to kill you. I will tel you that a good way to locate active fish this time of the year is to pull deep diving cranks like wallydivers in front of wingdams. Just move from dam to dam until you locate the active fish and then concentrate on them with a 3-way rig. This way you can cover alot of ground in a short amout of time. Knowing how good pool 14 is I don’t think you will have to go too far to find fish.

Drive safe and watch for deer.

Eyehunter

Thanks for the reports guys, you’re making my decision on where to fish Saturday morning very difficult!

From where I am in Iowa, its almost the same drive time to get anywhere on the river (because of the way it curves) from Guttenberg to Muscatine. Dubuque/Massey probably edges out as the closest (~65 miles), but there seems to be an armada of cigarette boats in Dubuque on the weekends, so I have been avoiding that area. Pools 9 and 10 are a little further, but there seems to be an endless supply of wingdams; the scenery is awesome, a little more room to spread out, and Cabela’s is just a great place to spend my hard earned money!

Yes, Rooster, it will be interesting for sure! I already have 2 little guys, the oldest caught his first walleye this year and if he was just a little older, I’d be bringing him with me to the GTG, but he’s still a little young for a long day on the water. I try to keep it fun for him. When my wife found out she is pregant, I told her I would need to get a bigger boat, she just rolled her eyes.

Regards,

Joe Jiacinto