Pool 4 Dec 5

Tried to pitch riprap early – followed Steve’s advice but only got two eyes and a 20lb carp. Carp actually sucked down a Kgrub. Switched over to the dam nothing going until 2pm then it was almost nonstop. Mostly sauger and mostly 12 to 14″ but afew in the 18″ size. Got 4 more decent walleyes just around sunset. Could have caught more but had to head home. Walleyes came off the the end of a wingdam. Sauger were pretty much all over – bigger fish in 12 to 16ft depth smaller fish deeper. Charteuse was the color 1/4 oz head. Had to hold the bait still off the bottom – no jigging. If I went more than a few minutes without a hit one big rip of 6ft then holding steady would trigger fish. Also dragging slowly along the bottom was working. Fun day. Thanks Steve for the color tip – didn’t have firetiger on board but it put us in the right direction. The carp really liked the pearl chartreuse K Grub color if anyone feels like chasing carp

I can echo Stanman’s report. We were on pool 4 from about 8:30-3:30. We were one of three boats that all launched at the same time and had problems getting their motors started! Well, I think we all solved our respective problems and hit the water. Over the course of the day we boated about 20 saug-dogs (13-17″), a couple of just-legal eyes, two small sturgeon (a pic of one is attached), and a clamshell with about 5 different pieces of mono and old hooks snagged in it. Most of out bites came on meat on a 1/4 oz orange or green jighead, essentially fished motionless just off bottom. Once we figured out that program, we took some fish on 3-ways with a 6-inch dropper. Everything we boated came from the 25-30 ft range. Action was best when the sun was behind the clouds. Another great day to be in the boat!

I also fished on sunday from 7-1:30. Caught over 20 sauger, 3 walleyes, and a 18″ smallie. Caught the smallie pitching jigs. Too bad the water was so cold because she didn’t fight much. The wind out of the east/southeast today was not much fun. Had to be on the trolling motor all the time. Caught the walleye and sauger on chartruese or pro blue ringworms, and oytstershell paddle tails. I also had good lucking just holding the ringworm/paddletail still with occasional jerks upward. Most of the fish I caught hit the plastics pretty hard. Looks like thursday would be a good day to fish this week.

Hit the water Monday afternoon. Thought with the cloud cover and drizzle there might be a good bite pitching. Picked up 10 nice walleyes for the day 18-21″ and one smallie. Wing dams were the key with Pearl Blue K-grub early and Char Pearl later. About 4:30 fish really turned on with a bite on almost every cast. No biggins but a great day when you can fish without gloves in December.

Thanks for the report Schmidtty. One of these days I am going to have to take off work and go down there during the week when there’s less fishing pressure. Dustin will probably put in a report this week with more big fish during the week again too. So jealous as I work away!

Went out today (12/7) from 7:30 – 11:30. Fished primarily at the dam working depths of 17-28ft vertical jigging superdoos. One trick I found to trigger bites was to give the jig 2-3 quick twitches and then let it sit still. Had several fish smack the bait with this technique. Managed to catch around 30 fish – kept a few for dinner. Biggest sauger was 22 inches with most in the 12-14 inch range. There were only 4 or 5 other boats fishing up there today. This is more than likely the last trip for the year. Good luck to all those that venture out later this month.

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Dustin will probably put in a report this week with more big fish during the week again too.

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Whish i could tell ya………..”yes I am” but have not been on the water since my last report. I will not have another chance to get on the river until the middle of the month if I am lucky

Don’t worry Dustin, i’ll go out this week and catch em for ya. If ya want, I can superimpose your face on the picture holding the fish

We were out on Tuesday too. That was about the lest amount of boats that I have ever seen there. We managed about 50 suagers with about 8 ‘eyes mixed in too. Saugers were best in the 18-24 foot range and the ‘eyes were shallower. Clown colored fireball jig tipped with a minnow. Caught them all the way from the dam down to the “Y”.