I know I dont know what I’m doing (walleye help!)

A couple buddies and I hit Pool 4 yesterday Sat. 4-20. We fished from 6:00 AM to 3:30 pm. 2 fish. 1 sauger and 1 walleye. Both under 15″. Let me explain what we did, and can any of you tell me what I did wrong (I have my suspicions)

We started shallow with plastics/hair jigs & minnow… Then went to drifting points just below the ‘Y’ by the lock and gate on the west shore. I wanted to try to find some good fish early. Only 1 fish boated, and its now pushing 8:30… So up to the gate we go…. In with the other 40 boats. We boat 1 small walleye in 45 minutes (drifting/vertical jigging)… Off we go down river. We basically vertical jigged the following:

Rip rap by Bay Point Park.

Shore line from hwy 63 (right at Red Wing) down little river, all the way throug the rip rap near Colvill Bay.

Then we trolled the rip rap near Colvill Bay.

Dead Slough Lake.

Goose Lake.

Finally hit the Wisconsin Channel near Kuhns Lake.

We didnt catch a fish after 8:30 am. I know we moved around alot, but its hard to stay put, when you can’t boat a single fish. We fished in 2 feet of water up to 30. We fished fast moving water and barely moving water.

Was it our location(s), method(s), or both?

I talked to a boat at the landing that fished near the dam all day and caught about 20 fish.

Any feedback anyone?

Thanks in advance,

John

Flyboy,

If fished up near the Dam all day on Friday. I boated nearly 60 fish. In the mornig when I got up there the action was SLOW. I was getting ready to move and decided that the sun was just starting to peak a little so I would give it an extra hour to see what happened. I am glad I did. We limited out in the next coulpe of hours with descent sauger in the 16-20″ range. Our biggest key was that we were using trailer hooks and 90% of the fish we caught were caught off the trailer hook. I think the biggest key when you are vertical jigging is boat control. Make sure that you keep your jig straight down, once your jigs starts falling back you tend to run into snags and your senstivity is less. I also noticed that some of the saugers and walleyes were losing there spawn so maybe they just in that in active stage yesterday. I hope this helps.

Thanks firefly…. Were you control drifting or anchored? I think I should have stayed at the dam a little longer

-John

i am almost positive he was control drifting, anchoring when a lot of other guys are trying to drift right through that spot is not a good idea.

Ive anchored up there before… its not something typical for me.. but when the river is up like this there are a couple of current breaks the fish really stack up on… so I will anchor in close to the bank and cast out and work the “current break”… sitting on the fish like that you can really hammer them…… and sitting off to the side makes it so drifters can still fish the spot too…..

yeah, i meant like if you anchor in the area that everyone is drifting, if you are out of the drift pattern then most guys don’t have a problem with that, it is when you drop the anchor so everyone has to maneuver around you, that is what i meant.

I personally think you were doing the right things. We fished alot of those same areas on friday with little luck. We marked fish right on the edges of current breaks and had a couple of decent fish get off. I think they just aren’t real active in those areas right now and as the water starts back down later this week the fish in those areas will start to get active. I’m sure you can get numbers at the dam, but the bigger fish, in my opinion, are going to come from some of the areas you were trying. good luck.

labsrule

We fished Pool 4 for the first time Saturday and didn’t do much better than you did. We started out by the dam but the current was a little much for us so we headed down to the y. We found a nice current break on the Lock side that looked good and we caught 20 or so walleye and sauger-all about 12 inches long. We tried several other places with no luck so went back to the Lock spot in the evening and caught a 17″ sauger. Not sure if it was the weather or our inexperience, probably both. I really liked the area and Everts was very helpful so we will try again under better conditions.

Flyboy, It sounds like you were at the right spots. The cold front slowed the bite down and your problem may have been more of a change in presentation.

I fished out of James Holst’s boat Saturday and we initially encountered the same things you did, a few small fish on jig/minnow combo and a couple pulling 3 ways.

James decided to get away from the crowds so we dropped downstream and fished the current breaks with brite-colored ringworms on 3/8 jigheads…..really slowed down the presentation to a crawl. The sun came out and we put over 20 nice Sauger and Eyes in the boat in the next few hours including a big bonus Flathead(on a ringworm!). As Jared said,boat control+presentation=fish. Keep fishingI

larsonlawyers,

you have a good point anchoring up there is a hassle to anyone that is “drifting thru the area… it really works out well when you have a lot of boats and they “make the run/drift through” and it goes pretty smooth if everyone is doing the same. The problem I have is that I own a 20ft jon and when poeple anchor it is like an obstacle course so if it’s busy I go elswhere… It makes it twice as hard in my boat when it is windy.. I am afriad of bumping one of them nice rigs so I don’t fish it…. I am not saying don’t anchor to anyone that does… I know that many poeple simply prefer to fish that way…. to each is own…

sorry it is kinda long winded but I just thought I would expand a little on your posts explaining “why it is not a good idea to anchor”

Thanks for the help guys.

The river hasn’t won yet, it looks like I’m going to hit pool 4 again tomorrow. Maybe there won’t be as many boats, and I can anchor anywhere I want!

Thanks again,

John

My tips on anchoring is that you dont have to anchor directly upstream of the spot you want to fish.. this will most likely anger vertical jiggers… particularly if they are already fishing the spot….. if your the first on the river then you have at least some prior claim….

but in anycase… IF I anchor… and as I said I dont often do so…. I will anchor to the side… usually with the water this high I will be within maybe 10-20 feet of the trees in 6-8feet of water (maybe even 3-5′).. I use high vis line…. cast my jig upriver let the current drift it down while I slowly work it across the bottom… Ive caught many fish doing that….. and you should not make anyone mad (excpet maybe someone who wants to anchor in the same spot!)…. the only possible “danger” is if there is someone who is a big enough jerk to anchor right over the spot your casting too…… it CAN happen…. but since by doing so they anger you AND all the people drifting through they usually get enough scathing comments that they move before too long….. sad to say that some people are sooooo rude……. but thats life I guess….

it is more or less common courtesy to the other fisherman, i gaurantee you there are a lot of fisherman that get pissed off when you anchor right in the middles of a drift, and it is always where the fish are, good suggestion like mentioned above if you are going to anchor anchor off the drift and cast out into the drift. This makes both parties happy!!

I have fish quite a bit in my life for Walleyes in Northern Minnesota and river fishing was new to me. Instead of beating myself to death for the next 5 years trying to figure out the river, I used a guide. For the $350 I have spent for 2 guide trips I have learned more in those 2 trips than I probably could of learned in 5 years of fishing the river. I have used Dustin Stewart and would recommend him to anyone. I was one who at one time said I would never use a guide, but it is money well spent. My results when I have been on my own have a direct result of the knowledge I have received from Dustin. Also would like to thank all the information that people post on FTR. Remember to throw back the spawners and big ones. Chacago

Flyboy

Keep at them….

I was down at Pool 4 on 4/20 with my father and we caught 50+ Sauger and a few Walleye up by the dam on the WI side and on the lock side and fished water from 4 – 15 feet. We mainly used bucktail jigs and plain lead heads. If fishing in the deeper Water try to keep your Jig as VERTICAL as possible as others have stated this allows for the best sensitivety and control of the jig. When in the shallower water try casting and letting the bait wash down current and get swept by fish. I do and would recommend if you are having a tough time and locate a good area to anchor and fish it extremely thoughrly. I think that anchoring in areas can be highly benefical and allows a person to work water very thourghly.