Pool 9 report, then question for river experts

The past few weeks have seen a little walleye action in the winnishiek slough just south of the bridge dragging jigs/crawlers in 10 to 12 fow. When you find the fish you’ll pick up 3 in a row, then you might as well pick up and hit some wingdams as it seems to die off rather quickly with pressure.

Question for you river guys, will the heavy rains, which seem to be bringing pools 9 and 10 up about a foot, affect the walleye mood? I guess rising water is bad, but does it take more than this?

Thanks.

the ripper

With the water on the rise it can be a good thing for us walleye guys. It will concentrate the fish more so they are not so spread out…….depending on how much the water levels and flow increase in your area.

Look for larger openings in the slough area you are fishing where the water will slow down…….a GPS comes in real handy for this. The fish will also move tighter to shore in a lot of areas.

The wingdams should hold more fish until the water gets raging high. The fish that are more main channel right now should get sucked in to the protection of those dams.

Higher water might make the fish a bit harder to find but once you do, there is a lot more of them V.S 2 or 3bites and having to cover a lot of water to get consistant action.

Hope this helps

The fish you’re on now still have to eat but in all likelyhood, they will move on you with a rise of 1 fot or more. That’s why most guys will tell you that the fish go into a funk on a rising water level. It’s usually not true… the fish moved, the fishermen didn’t.

Alright guys, good to know. I have been fishing deeper holes (relative to the surrounding areas), sounds like that may not change a whole lot, especially with a small rise in the water.

Looks on radar that the rain is pretty much over out there.

We’ll see what we find and report any good, or bad, details.

Personnally I like fishing high water as long as its not chocolate milk. High water pushes fish out of the channel and into slack water areas, which are pretty easy to find.The water this spring on pool 2 was high but very very muddy which really made for a slow bite.The mississippi above Anoka in high water is fabulous because its a straight flow with few eddys, if you find the slack water you have it made.

Not one of your experts, but I fish pool 9 a bit. On pool 9 when the water goes up the fish move north towards the dam. Just might push the shiners up to spawn and everything will follow..couldn’t agree more with the above posts with a huge emphasis on the chocolate milk comment. If it is chocolate milk and lots of junk floating it can get tough. Don’t forget to change to the bigger,brighter,louder stuff.
The water clarity can change drastically, and quickly but with the very clear water we had yesterday we might actually see an improvement with a little color.

I agree, the water has been very clear, hence why you seem to get in a few passes before the fish wisen up.

How does the river look? Anybody been by there?

Caught some nice fish today…fish really hadn’t moved much yet…with the exception of bigger numbers on shorelines.

I am familiar with the slough you reference. Have you tried to simply slide in shallower towards the railroad rip-rap and trees. Some of those fish will likely seek protection from the rising flows around that “structure”.? OUT…