Pool 4, report w/pix

So how did my action plan go?.. well…. not so good…. 3 guys, 12 fish total… a couple of them a bit below 15″….. it would be hard to thread together a REAL pattern… but most of OUR fish came on SuperDoos… in kind of a lime green using a gold jig head…. I saw other boats picking up fish equal or better to ours… depths a bit deeper than usual in my experience…. I would say 25-29’…. mostly concentrated in the top 1/3 of the channel by the dam….. bite was best early then REALLY slowed around 11 and stayed slow till we left… some clouds would really help!
I tried doos, ring worms, buctails/minnow, jig/minnow, 3 way dubuque rig w/ringworm and minnow, live bait rig, trolling slowly upstream, down stream, vertical, casting, sonars, jiggin raps, cicada’s, with all of that we pretty much only fished by the dam……
Im going to post a few pix now…
first.. a pretty sauger caught by Steve….
see Kerry in the background… he was the winner of our boats derby with 7 fish boated… Me with 3 and steve with 2…..

it was misty in the morning……
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clearing in the afternoon…..
here you can see Tuck and Scott Fairbairn fishing in the foreground.. and the scour hole gang in the back ground…..

and of course with all the deep water fishing the EEEEgulls were catching dying/dead fish……..

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hey rivereyes, good pix.

i was down today too. convinced my parents i had to do a reaserch project on fishing the Missippi river what a beautiful day it was too.
the funny thing is that we had the exact opposite luck as you did we were fishing by 7:30, but didn’t catch a fish until just after 9:30. we found superdoos worked best for us tipped with a minnow. all we caught in the shallower water (20-30′) were walleye in the 14-14.99″ range. we caught probably 6-8 that size. i wanted just a few to take home so we went up and fished the deeper stuff for a while until i got enough little saugers for a meal. there were a lot of people fishing up there, and they were catching a lot of fish. mostly little, but a few good ones throwen in here and there. i can’t hardly blame them though. when you only get out fishing every so often you want to go to where the fish are biting, even if they’re small and have a chance of dying. its hard to sit there in shallow water watching them catch fish after fish, when you haven’t had a bite in 2 hours.

anyway, the highlite of my day came at around 12:00 when i hooked into a pretty decent size sturgeon (around 30″). i’ve never caught a sturgeon before, so that was pretty exciting. they put up quit a fight. i also saw a few other strugeon and a couple paddle fish that got caught.

all in all, it was a great day to be on the water. it sure beat being in math class.

actually I understand the frustration of fishing the shallower areas and watching them pull numbers of fish deep.. the deep bite is usually a later bite than the shallower one…. so your timing on that does not suprise me…….
but I think the 300′ line becomes active tommorrow.. it will be tough to get into the scour hole very far without crossing that line…..
I have no wish to harrass anglers for fishing there… your times out are limited, you want to be successful and you see fish being caught in a spot you can legally fish….. tough to resist….. I think anglers evolve and the more time on the water they have the more their habits change, they gain confidence in their ability to strike out on their own and find their own fish away fromt the crowds……

i did notice that the 300′ line takes effect tommorow. this is probably a line they should have all year long. then no one would see others fishing and catching up there. it doesn’t mean that people still woudln’t creep up on it, but it would cut down on the mass of boats fishing up there.

on a simular note, did you see the sheriff out there today. he came up next to the dam at around 12:30, checked one boat for licenses, then took off down river again. i don;t no what the deal with that was it seems like tomorrow would be the day for them to be out and about. with MN people needing new license, the 300′ rule, and the Freeze your butt tourney all happenign the same day, seems that some law enforcement could be needed.

yep… saw him out… I imagine it was a shakedown cruise.. and Im SURE he WILL be out tommorrow…

I think that someone was to close to the dam and the dam called them out and they thought Oh it’s such a nice day I think I’ll take a ride”. I saw him too. He was coming up the river when my back was turned. I said to Chappy, (my brother), OHOH game warden.
I turned around and there he was. Kinda funny.

Nice Pictures Ken. Especially the Eagle. Isn’t Nature Great.

Thanks RiverEyes, for the post and pictures, am sure sat will be a zoo, but that is the only day I can get down this week. Jack.

That “Someone” the sherrif checked was me. He was just doing his job, and checked my paperwork because I did not have stickers yet. Nice guy!
We boated a couple of dozen total. Size was down dramatically from Thursday, but fun none the less. Got most of mine on Chartruese Power Minnows/1/8 oz. jigs. It was nice to see Smitty, Ken, Kerry, et al out there. It sure was a nice day. Jake, I think we saw you catch the sturgeon. We even saw a paddlefish caught!
Tuck

yep, that was me. that paddle fish looked like quit the beast from my angle. i’d have to say that those are the coolest lookin’ fish in the river.

Good to see all of you guy’s! It was a fun day . My fishing buddy (Bill) caught his first paddlefish and his first sturgeon on this outing. I’m sure he will remember this day for a long time !! Was great to see a few faces and talk with some of you guys, and the new rigs you gents have, well let me tell ya, they are along ways from my first 12′ john boat ! Good luck and give me a shout ! You never know what I have in my boat for you. Oh yea ! We took home 6 real nice Sauger !

Richard (Smitty)

Keep a tight line !!!

Rich, you should take me out soon, show me all the good spots.

is it just easy to use 1/8 during the winter because the water isnt coming out as fast. whenever ive been there in the fall ive had trouble with 3/8 ounce. is the time of year and how do you feel the bottom with 1/8 ounce.

What size of jig you use depends on so many factors. Where you are fishing in relation to current, how deep you’re fishing, what you’re fishing on your jig, what size line you’re using, are you anchored, are you drifting, are you casting, are you vertical jigging…….the list goes on and on.

You can NOT vertical jig a 1/8 oz jig n minnow in the scour hole….but go 30 yards to the side of the hole along the current break (back eddy) and cast a 1/8 oz and “swim” it downstream at an angle….no problem.

You can’t vertical jig in the center of the channel with a 3/8 oz jig AND BE ANCHORED. You can stay perfectly vertical with a 3/8 oz jig if you’re drifting with the current.

There is night and day difference when vertical jigging with 8 lb mono line or 6 lb mono line. Same thing can be said about 6lb mono vs 6 lb fireline. Fireline is thinner and has less resistance.

Fishing a 1/8 oz jig and minnow is a lot different than fishing a 1/8 oz jig and a 5″ K-Grub. The K-Grub has more bouyancy/more resistance and is “harder” to feel bottom.

What i’m saying is you need to match your line, with your jig, with your bait, with your boat speed, with the current, with the depth…………with the way you hold your mouth??? Sounds like a lot going on, but if you try different things, you’ll pick it up really quick………..Getting long winded, I just had a thought…..check out the FTR “Articles” on the homepage. Read the “vertical Jigging” one by James Holst. There is a lot of good info there, as well as other articles for other methods of fishing. Good Luck!

my favorite vertical jiggin line since last year when Predator 2 turned me on to it is fireline in the 4# test 1# diameter…. this stuff is WAY tougher than mono… I think its tougher than 8# mono! and it fishes like a dream… Im still downsizing my jigs to truly match up with this line…. now Im sitting on a pile of 1/2 oz and heavier jigs wondering when Im gonna use em….. and lookin at how thin my box is in the 1/4 oz and lighter department…….. oh no!!… gotta buy some more tackle!!… oh darn!……

When jigging for Halibut in over 200 feet or more,We always used Tough Line,Which is a very strong braid. What was neat was the bait felt as if it was only 10 feet deep. You could feel everything, sand, rocks, everything. There is no Mono in the world that could do that. Theres just way to much give in mono. Walleyes have one thing in common with Big Butts. They love the bottom. And you have to know and feel the structure. I am sold on the Firelne for Jigging, the only drawbacks are when you snag, and your rod guides take a beating. Then you have an excuse to buy a new rod.

thankf for the info. also how do you get to your place from redwing. i usually stay at the hotel by the bowling alley in town. any suggestions. thanks

tfuller4 You can Email me at [email protected]

Tfuller4, From Red Wing, cross the bridge to Wisconsin (hwy 63 north). Go another mile and cross the second bridge (wisconsin Backchannel bridge). Hang a leftt immediately after the bridge. Go up the hill to the stop sign (Cty rd K). Hang a left and go another mile to the “Everts Resort” sign. Hang another left and you’re there.

thanks for the directions. will there be any cabins for rent at that time Last week in march and if they are what are the rates. let me know so i can book something please. thanks for all your help

tfuller4, I sent you a pm.