11-14-04 Pool 12

Spent a few hours out below the dam at Dubuque yesterday with a couple of my buddies. Since we were not in my boat we pulled double rapalas because that is the way the other 2 guys wanted to fish. In any case the rapala bite was hot yesterday. We boated an almost limit for 3 guys in about 3-1/2 hours. All but 2 of the fish that we kept were over 15 inches with the other 2 being over 14-1/2″. Very few short fish caught. One sauger went over 19 inches with 3 or 4 over 18 inches. There did not seem to be a preference on colors or size as everything we tried seemed to work. I was jumping to try vertical jigging as I am sure that bite is going strong as well. The average size of the saugers this year is much larger than last year and it all has to do with the closed area(s) below the dam at Dubuque, Belevue and Clinton. The areas are closed to fishing from December 1st until March 15th of the following year. In 3 or 4 years the average size of the saugers should really increase.

Eyehunter

If you think 1 year is going to make that much of difference you need to have your head examined. Don’t you think a good year class could be it instead of the closure for 3 1/2 months.

I agree with you eyehunter, the closed areas are already helping. According to the DNR 1/2 the saugers die in any given year. That’s hard to believe, but the guy I talked to insisted that’s the case. Lots of boats fishing in deep water pulling those little cigars up with their eyes bulging out can’t be a good thing. Thankfully, the Iowa DNR has passed this most modest of regulations. Let’s hope they are encouraged by this experiment and are a little more aggressive in protecting the fish we all love to catch.

I agree with eyehunter it might have been only 3 1/2 months that it was closed but now you are catching the fish that made it through a whole nother year,and these extra fish that are still swimming and not caught by December 1’st will have the chance of making a better year class,year after year,the more fish left to spawn means alot more Fish.

I also agree with eyehunter, I’ve seen a solid increase in the size and number of saugers this year. Still have a lot of little ones, just more larger ones survived last winter. I think we do have a strong year class as well, walleyes too for that matter, but that does not explain this much of an increase in population throughout the size spectrum.
We are going to have some awesome fishing here in the years to come!

I would have to disagree. I fish pool 6 quite often and the sauger are running quite a bit larger this year. In fact some of the nicest saugers I’ve seen in years in that pool. We have no special regs so I conclude it is due to the year class. Most likely 2001, when we had the flood. Just my opinion. I guess we can all think whatever we want. It is nice to see larger fish no matter what the cause. Can’t wait to hit the water again.

The size of the sauger this year, at least at Dubuque, are larger, on average, than sauger in years past. While this can be attributed many things, such as a good year class. The closed area could very well be a major factor. In years past there would be dozens of boats up below the dam at Dubuque on the weekends. It was easy to go out and catch upwards of 50 fish in a day per person. You would have to weed through the small fish to catch a limit of decent sized eaters. Even last year, before the closed season, it seemed as if you would catch 5 or 6 short fish for every one you kept. Many of these short fish would come up out of the deep water with their swim bladders sticking out of their mouths. Most of these fish became eagle food. This past Sunday we were catching very few short fish compared to the number of keepers. Maybe one short fish for every 3 keepers and the keepers were all nice fat fish. Of all the fish we kept maybe only 2 were under 15″ and not by much. I realize that it has only been one season with the closed areas but it has to make a huge impact on not only the size but the numbers as well. Thousands of little cigars were left alone to feed and grow in the deep waters below the dam. This had to have had a huge impact on the numbers of fish this year if not the larger size of the fish. Next time you are out on a weekend below one of the dams fishing for saugers, count the number of boats. Multiply the number of boats by the number of short fish caught in your boat for that day and it will give you a rough idea of how many short fish were brought up and released. At Bellevue this time of the year it is not unusual to see upwards of 50 boats on a weekend day. Figure that a boat with 2 people catch and release 25 (very conservative) short saugers. Take the 50 boats times 25 fish and you get 1,250 short saugers released in a single day. Many of these fish will not survive as they are brought up out of deep water. There is a difference in the average size of the saugers (at DBQ) this year and I believe that the closed area below the dam has already had some impact on the fish. I haven’t talked to anyone fishing below the Guttenburg dam as of yet but it would be interesting to see what the average size of the saugers is up there where there was no closed area last winter. I am just curious. The Iowa DNR should have some numbers to look at after this season with their creel counts in Bellevue and Guttenburg. Maybe there won’t be a noticeable difference for this year.

Eyehunter

I totally see your point. I don’t know about the rest of you but I personally try not to pull fish out of water any deepre than 20 – 24′ feet of water. If I catch a single fish and see the bladder I move to shallower water. I do see a lot of boats pulling short fish out of 30 plus feet of water and throwing them back. NOT GOOD! I think the dams should be closed all the way up and down the river for a period of time to protect the fish. It would have to have a positive impact as you say. Anyway, happy fishing!!!

This is getting off the topic a bit, but I fished below the 11 dam from shore for the first time this weekend…right off of the Eagle Point fishing barge. Fishing seemed to be slow while I was there, but the boats started to pick some fish up as the afternoon wore on. My personal results were less than encouraging to say the least. I probably spent most of my time snagging up or retying. Does anyone have any tips about fishing from shore? I would love to catch a few sauger or walleye, but with my limited knowledge it just doesn’t seem like it is going to happen. I am used to fishing the Wolf River where snags are limited and most of the time I am drifting a 3-way rig with a minnow along the current. Any information would be greatly appreciated. I am hoping to get out again this weekend before that area is closed off for a while.

Thanks

I did notice a few people on the barge this past Sunday. I haven’t fished off of the barge in many years. From what I remember there are a ton of snags around the barge. If I were to fish off of the barge I would probably use a blade bait like a Sonar. Casting and dragging jigs with minnows will only get you snagged. If you vertical jig you have to have a pretty heavy jig because of the current. Fishing from the shore is probably your best bet. Use a light weight jig either tipped with a minnow, plastic or both. The jig weight should be just heavy enough for you to be in control and feel the bottom. You want the current to push it along a little which makes it look more natural to the fish. Try not to cast too-much upstream as this will get you snagged. You will be fishing shallower than the people on the barge or in the boats which means you will have a better chance at catching walleye than saugers. Just work your way up and down the rip rap. There is a pretty good spot where the rip rap ends downstream from the barge about a couple hundred yards. There is a deep hole there with a current break that can be fished from the shore. If you want to fish the deep hole use a heavy sinker on a 3-way rig and cast out as far as you can. Fish with a floater and a minnow or just a minnow on a plain hook and you should get into a few sauger. When you fish this way you want to cast more downstream than straight out into the channel. The guys fishing from the shore at night have been doing pretty good on the Iowa side from what I hear.

Good Luck!

Eyehunter

Fished today off of shore below and above the Eagle Point fishing barge. Nothing doing below the barge. Above it I managed a perch and two small walleye. A large improvement over my last trip. Right before dusk there was a pretty good flurry of action from the guys on the barge, boats and guys on shore. Seemed like for every two little ones, a keeper would be caught. Eyehunter, thanks for the advice once again, it helped tremendously.

Since the park area is going to be off limits after the 1st, are there any more areas where a guy could fish off of shore and have success? I know there are some barges in the upper pools, but I was wondering if there was anything a little closer to home.

Thanks, Sledge