Pool 14

Was wondering if anyone has been out on pool 14? Is there any action ? What do you think the best bait would be ? Any info would be greatly appreciated. I’m heading that way thursday for 4 days. Jim

Must be something wrong with pool 14 —-Nobody fishing it.?????

I’d rate it fair to good. Fish have been running real nice size for me, just not getting big numbers. Catching fish in the 21 to 24 inch range , along with some 14 inchers. Not a lot of slot fish so far, which is fine by me since I don’t clean many anyway. Had a 6.0 lb walleye Saturday, but only had 3 fish in 3 hours. I’ve been fishing wing dams. A good spot one day is dead the next day, so I’ve been moving around alot to find fish. There was about 65,000 cfs of flow which was getting close to good wing dam conditions, but now we are seeing a slow rise, so I wouldn’t look for much improvement on the wing dams this week. I’m catching equal amounts on jigs and crankbaits. Another guy I know is catching a few on crawlers and leeches, but no more than me. Some fish being caught on clam beds, but not a whole lot. I’ve been in the Clinton area, perhaps they are doing better in the lower or middle parts of the pool?? Good luck

i think j tucker went out today. well at least said he might last week. i didn’t go out today, thought the storms were closer, fooled me. last week did okay on leeches and crawlers, with lots of floating grass. no trolling motor last week so not much on the cranks. had to hunt for them pretty hard though. not always on the same dams every day. i sure hope mn. and wi. didn’t get much rain this past week, the river is just getting back to normal.

With a GNWC tourney this weekend,alot of info will be held back as will mine.There has been a spotty bite to say the least and the water riseing will scatter fish around again from since the last time I was out. Sorry I cant help you out more but it sounds like we are fishing against each other this weekend.

fishing upper pool 14 today was tough. i was with a friend
today who won that tournament last year. he’s prefishing like everybody else. said if it didn’t get anybetter he was going to save his money. he lives this pool and first time i’ve heard him say mmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaannnn where are the fish. there there just not biting. i’m sure it will pick up by sunday. water is on the rise and lots of floating weeds and grass. i think maybe they are expecting a 12″ raise. don’t quote me on that one. you could count the boats this am fishing on 1 hand. i’m sure the big wind had most people land bound. good luck guys in the tournament this weekend.

Hey 3WAY, what kind of boat where you in? I was one of that handful out there yesterday. Fished from Albany to the upper end of Clinton. It has been a fairly tough bite for numbers of fish. My experience has been similar to RandyK, the fish I’ve been getting are either 12-14″, or 20-26″. I have not been able to put together any consistent pattern, with fish here one day, gone the next. Occasionally getting into a pocket of fish and doing o.k. for numbers, but for the most part, they are scattered. Talked to one local guy in a Ranger that seemed surprised I thought it was a tough bite . He is fishing the tourney as well, and has been getting his fish from wings. With the flow increasing as it is, I am afraid the wings will be dying out again.
Good luck to all. It should be an interesting tournament!
John

Well John M. I was just looking for a little info and got what I wanted . It was a little but little is better than none.That is what prefishing is for. Yes sounds like we are fishing against each other . Hope you do fine and I do great. hahaha I may be wrong but I think you bought a trolling motor off me a few years back. Hope it worked out for you. Don’t forget be a friend say hi. later Jim

Hi Jim.The trolling motor is still on my boat and in use. I will be fishing out of my partners boat. Good luck in the tourney and see you there.

John I too will be fishing out of my partners boat. Red Lund pro v with 200 Merc. See you there. Jim

A question for you tournament guys. I was once told that the Iowa DNR would not permit a summer walleye tournament on the river due to high livewell mortality with the warm water temps. Did Iowa reverse their stance on this? Just curious.
RLK

I am just speculating, but think maybe that is why the tournament is launching from Albany, Illinois. May be easier to get permits in Illinois.

John is correct. That is why it is out of Albany IL. I also recieved a note from the director that it is our decsion to release or take fish home. The warm water will make so so fish hard to release back.

Don’t you think that iowa has a point of not allowing them to launch in there state. So it defeats the purpose if illinois allows them to launch in there state but are from iowa. I am not against tournaments but i have seen them release them right next to boat ramp before and there go half of them floating away. Or maybe they should lower the limit of fish kept , you know it only take one.

You are correct regarding Iowa not allowing walleye tournaments out of Iowa ramps during the months of June, July and August. They will not issue a permit. You can hold a tournament but it has to be a catch, measure and release tournament where the fish are released from the boat as soon as they are measured. The lengths are then converted to weight at the end of the tournament. You can fish a tournament out of a Wisconsin or Illinois ramp during the same hot-weather months because they do not have the no tournament law like Iowa does. There has been much discussion on this over the years whether or not the Iowa DNR could enforce the law or not on the Iowa side of the river even if a tournament is out of another state’s ramp. To the best of my knowledge they do not enforce it.

Walleye survival during a summer tournament depends on many things. The water and air temps, the length of time a fish is in the livewell, the size of the livewell, how the fish was hooked, etc… In hot weather your livewell needs to run constantly. Even then if you are going to bring the fish in to a weigh in you may as well keep them. I’ve fished many summer tournaments and many of the fish released after a weigh-in just don’t make it if the water and the weather are hot. June may not be so bad but in July and August tournaments are really hard on the fish.
I would think that any tournament fished in hot conditions would best be a kill tournament if you are bringing the fish in to weigh. Releasing fish that are going to die just isn’t very good publicity for walleye tournaments.

Eyehunter

Interesting way to get around the Iowa rule. I guess every angler has the right to take home a limit of fish per day, whether in a tournament or not, as long as they follow the state rules. And I suppose that would have little impact from smaller tournaments. Larger tounaments may be a different matter. Hopefully the State would have enough sense to consider denying a permit to a “large” walleye tournament in summer. At least that my two cents. But then again, I think it is unethical to sight fish Bass off the beds in spring. Yet, it is legal and even highly promoted in some areas. Good luck in the tournament. Hope you guys “kill em”. Oops, I mean “knock them dead”. Oops, well have fun anyway, watch out for floating debris.

Iwas on pool 14 Sunday and Monday and with the river flowing as fast as it is and increasing FLOW every day,I really don’t think that there will be that many fish caught that could hypothetically be caught.I think that the guys that are on their game are going to catch fish,but they are not going to jump in the boat. there is a high pressure system moving through which will help,but the river is really moving even in the sloughs and side channnels.

Good Luck Rick,

You guys are right – Iowa will not issue a walleye tournament permit during the months of June, July or August due to the high mortality from handling these fish in warm water temperatures. Our regulations state that anyone fishing a tournament in waters under the jurisdiction of the State of Iowa must have a permit if there are more than 20 boats involved. Even though they launch out of IL – tournament anglers are NOT ALLOWED to fish on the Iowa side of the main channel. If they do – they are in violation and subject to a citation.

Thanks for the clarification Fishsqzr. I hate to wish a citation on anyone, but sometimes it is necessary to write some tickets so the word gets out that the the law is being enforced. I’m glad Iowa took a position and wish Illinois would do the same. With the nature of wallyes to bite so well in the cold water months, there is more than enough time to have tournaments September through May

AMEN TO THAT GUYS. IS THIS A IOWA BASED WALLEYE TOURNAMENT OR THEY FISH OTHER STATES TOO?

So much for thinking small tournament. Just saw a walleye boat going back to the motel with a number on its motor, and unless my eyes deceived me, it was number 152. When you do some math (OK, assume the river is lower and fishing is normal), the number of dead walleyes can be pretty significant, especially if it is a multi-day tournament.

What are water temps?

The Iowa DNR studies and surveys indicate that there is a ‘knee’ in the walleye mortality curve that happens at 70°F. Walleyes caught and kept in a livewell experience very low mortality in cooler water, but once the surface temp hits that magic mark, mortality skyrockets and a large number of the fish released don’t make it more than a day or so (delayed mortality).

With the cool spring and all the rain they’re having up north, I’m just wondering if the walleyes didn’t dodge a bullet.

Gianni,
Looks like 76 this morning. It was up to 79 before the last cold front, dropped to 74-75, now is starting to increase again.

I believe there will be in the vicinity of 50-60 boats in this tournament, a one day event. 300 fish caught and killed would be the max, which probably will not be much different than any other weekend day on the water. I do believe this should be a “catch and clean” affair, but it is left up to the individual boats as far as I know.
Interesting that the teams could be ticketed for fishing Iowa side of the channel. I do not think they are aware of that possibility . It seems to me the two states need to get on the ball with the reciprical regulations agreement, making it complete in every way possible, or make some other agreement concerning tourneys. Walleye tournaments, I would think, are only going to become more popular as the fishery improves.

I didn’t realize that the tourney was for an Iowa club. Seems unfortuante to say the least that the tourney directors skirted the Iowa regs by hosting the tourney out of Illinois. Anyone fishing the Iowa side would have technically been DQ’d for failing to follow all local laws and regulations, but I’ll take a stab and say that didn’t happen.

I’m surprised the water temps are that high. Makes me think I need to get out and hammer some pike and crappies.

Even small tournaments with less than 20 boats cannot legally be held out of an Iowa ramp in June, July & August. The no tournament law has been in force for several years now. It really hasn’t cut down on the number of hot-weather tournaments. The tournaments are just held out of Illinois or Wisconsin ramps. Technically I think the Iowa DNR has the right to issue citations for fishing on the Iowa side of the river but I have not heard that they have done so. For many years I fished club tournaments every month. When Iowa initiated the no tournament regulation the club went to catch, measure and release tournaments in June, July & August. This worked surprisingly well but there were too-many members who refused to fish tournaments where the fish were not brought in and the numbers of boats fishing tournaments was cut in half. After 4 or 5 years of tournaments with as few as 5 boats the club decided to hold their June, July & August tournaments out of Illinois or Wisconsin ramps and have weigh-ins again. Participation in the tournaments doubled. I have not fished any club tournaments in a couple years now but when I did we never had any problems with the Iowa DNR for fishing the Iowa side of the river. There are many summer walleye tournaments out of Wisconsin and Illinois each year and they fish both sides of the river. Places like PDC, East DBQ, and Albany seem to have a tournament just about every weekend during June, July & August. If the Iowa DNR wanted to enforce the law on the Iowa side of the river they could have a field day just about every weekend. It is just too-difficult and costly for the DNR to enforce this without the cooperation of Illinois and Wisconsin. The Iowa DNR is short-staffed as it is.

Eyehunter

After fishing the tourney this weekend,pool 14 is alive and kicking with fish. Either we got slot fish or short fish.We caught and released over 50 walleyes that were 14″ yesterday. It kept us WORKING ALL DAY. We were exhausted at the end of the day. I dont think the tourney had any impact on the fishery there.

Interesting, normally there is an “all encompassing” rule in each tourney rule set that states that all state and local regulations must be obeyed and violations will result in immediate DQ. I was watching Redfish Cup fishing one day and the leaders got canned for not obeying a no-wake zone (cost them 100K, too).

So I went out to walleyecup.com and searched the 2005 rules, without finding one. It states that the tourney director can DQ someone at his discretion for violating their rules, but nothing about state regs.

My friend at work had an encounter with the tournament just before weighin. He was in a pontoon boat in the edge of the channel and was passed by a tourny boat 30 feet away. Then, a minute later, he was passed again, this time at 10 feet. Both him and his wife were spashed by the other boat hitting his wake. He tried to get the boat numbers to report to the DNR but was unable due to the speed and close proximity. My friend would like to call the tournament director and discuss boat safety and courtesy. If anyone has the tourny directors name and phone number, please post it.
Where one tournament starts, more are sure to follow. Just look at Pool 13 and the explosion of bass tournamnents out of Savana in the past 10 years. While this one tournament may not have huge impact, walleye tournaments are growing rapidly in size and frequency, according to the walleye cup website. If the pool 14 summer walleye tournament follow the same craze as the pool 13 bass tournaments have, there will be an impact. Spring and fall tournaments have minimal impact on the fishery due to low mortality rates. Illinois will eventually have to look at the big picture, not just one weekend.

http://www.walleyecup.com/staff.html