Guttenburg/Prairie

I will be at the trailer in Guttenburg from the 21st until the 1st and am looking for suggestions on walleye and bass fishing. We are still new to the area, and now that we have the family/fun things scouted out, this will be the first chance I have had an extended time to try and learn the river for fishing. I know the weather is less tham ideal but this is the time I have. Assuming I need to target early and late day, what techniques are the best to try? I have had a little luck with most techniques, but nothing consistant. Live bait or cranks and plastic? Shallow or deep? Main channel or backwaters? I know this is pretty general, but always confused on where to start. I might have an open seat Friday morning as well.

RFahr

The spillway area is usually pretty good this time of the year for bass when the water is low like it is now. Try throwing a white fluke or slug-go up in the shallow rapids for a smallie, this area is most productive in the evening. A couple more areas to try for bass are bussey which is right above the dam, usually good in the morning throwing some sort of scum frog in the weeds along the dredge cuts, and swift slough which is almost directly across from the boat ramp. Gonna head up thursday and try for smallies, i’ll give you a better report then.

Dubiceman

For walleyes, with the low water, I’d stick to the main channel. For techniques I’d troll cranks and cast cranks to wingdams.

I fished pool 11 (below Guttenberg) this past Saturday and pool 10 (below Lynxville) this past Sunday. The walleye bite was definately better on pool 10 than it was on pool 11. The walleye I caught were on the wingdams with the heaviest current on them. Early morning and again in the evening is the best this time of the year. As the morning wears on the fish will work out to the outside of the wingdams. In the evenings the fish will be concentrated out on the ends of the wingdams but they will work their way shallower as the light of the day fades. The active fish will be right on top or out in front of the wingdams.
Crankbaits work well both casting and pulling but this time of the year there is tons of grass floating down so many times crankbaits are not an option. With the heavy grass flowing down I opt to work the dams with a Dubuque 3-way rig. I have been getting fish on both the drop jig and the long line tipped with either a crawler or a leech. If you want middle of the day action then try anchoring above the inside of wingdams and fish tiny jigs or worms for huge bluegills. You can catch walleye in the middle of these hot days if you can stand being on the water in the heat. I have found that walleye will lay out on the ends of some deeper wingdams where the channel drop off is at. They lay in the deeper pockets in the heat of the day and feed. You won’t find fish out on the end of every wingdam but when you do find them they tend to be concentrated so plan on catching more than one. Good luck and have fun.

Eyehunter

EyeHunter, Thanks for the great info! I’m new also and need to get up to speed on the pools and the ways of the river.

Thanks- this gives me somewhere to start – I will post a report when I return! RFahr

Eyehunter what size of drop jig are you using. Im planning on using that Dubuque rig tomorrow evening on pool 10.

The easiest thing to do for walleyes is cruise down the river and look for wingdams, the ones with a good ripple line should be holding fish I take 3-4 passes across the front of the dam, if you don’t get any fish move to the next, when I use a Dubuque rig I use a 1oz. drop sinker, this isn’t a finesse presentation, I like to cover water as fast as I can and pick off the most aggressive fish, after you have fished 20 dams you have 4-5 that are holding fish, go back and hit them again. Two weeks ago I had better luck in the middle of the day than in the morning. I wish I could use the Dubuque rig on Pool 2.