I know there is another post from the other day asking this same question, but I wanted to put a “fresh” one up! 
So, did anyone get out and fish these tailwaters since Thursday? Jon Neff joined me on Friday at Guttenberg (see my post) and it was S-L-O-W to say the least.
We’re gonna give it another go this week and are trying to decide where to go. Might even head to the ‘Lynx…. 
Joe Jiacinto
Well, Well, you are still around. Haven’t heard from you much. Have to make it out in the clinton area again with you someday. We did good the last time out probably 2 years ago already, man time flies. Well bellevue was abust for me saturday. No takers very few caught and they were small. Clinton was a little better to me that day. Hopefully John Tucker will give us the best report SOOOOOOOON. Have to hit the river with you sometime. 
I made it out both Saturday and Sunday at Dubuque. I had a couple friends who were out both last Thursday and Friday at DBQ and limited out both days on nice sized saugers and a few walleyes. On Saturday the bite was not as good as the two days before but I did manage to put some very nice saugers in the box. We had only one sauger under 15″ (14-1/2″) and probably averaged around 16-1/2″ on the saugers with the largest just over 18″. The fish were biting short that day but the ones we caught were inhaling the jig and plastic. I do not use live bait this time of the year. On Sunday the bite seemed a little better at DBQ but the average size of the fish was smaller. I caught a couple dozen fish but most were too-small to keep. I took a buddy out that doesn’t get a chance to go very often and we managed to box 8 keepers between the two of us. He had the big fish of the day which was a sauger that went over 19″ which made his day. Most of the fish we caught both days were caught on purple twister tails on 5/16 oz jig heads vertical jigging in 18′ to 22′ of water. The fish did not want much jig motion at all as I was barely jigging maybe an inch or two off of the bottom. It was not the best bite I have seen by any stretch of the imagination but we managed to put a few nice fish in the box. We fished from 8 until around 1:30 on Saturday and from 9 until 12:30 on Sunday and the best bite was mid morning on both days.
Eyehunter
Hey Farmer!
Yep-Still around and kicking!
Yeah, I think it will be 2 years come July. 
Hard to believe how it seems like just yesterday! That was a good time for sure! 
Last year, I didn’t get my boat in the water after the first week of June. Last Friday was the first time I had her in the water since then. With interest rates really low, my wife and I decided to tear the old farmhouse down and build a brand new one!
Well, as you can imagine, building a house can take some major planning. Pretty much all my free time last summer was spent working with the contractors on getting everything firmed up (selecting building materials, finding a bank, looking at plans, my wife dragging me to the flooring store-model homes for ideas 
). The house got finished last month, we moved into our new home in early February.
This year, I hope to get out a little more often. Let’s definately keep in touch.
We headed up north of Dubuque on Friday, over at Guttenberg, and did pretty poorly. The water wasn’t too dirty, but I think maybe the changing weather might have messed that bite up a little bit.
Sounds like Bellevue was tough this weekend. Were there many boats out there? We might head to Bellevue on Wednesday, depending on the weather and flow… 
Regards,
Joe
‘Eyehunter:
Were there a great many boats out there in the Dubuque tailwaters? I wonder if we should have fished earlier on Friday; due to prior committments, we didn’t get to Guttenberg until about noon or so. Do you think the bite seems better in the morning?
Regards,
Joe
It was definately a mid-morning bite on both Saturday and Sunday with most of our fish coming between 9 and 11 am. From what I understand this was the same deal on Friday. I am sure that this had to do with the full-moon phase that we were in as the fish like to gorge themselves at night during a full moon phase so the early morning hours will be slow. The full-moon phase coupled with the north winds and blue skies did not lend itself to the greatest of bites. When we have these kind of conditions you will usually find a mid-morning bite for a couple of hours and then again later in the afternoon. When we have a full-moon phase the best bite usually begins 2 or 3 hours after sunset. My buddies that did so well on Thursday and Friday also said their best bite didn’t come until after 9am on both days.
As far as Guttenburg goes it has been hit hard all winter long so the numbers of fish might be down compared to DBQ, Bellevue and Clinton. I fished up at Guttenburg a good 8 to 10 times this winter but never spent a great deal of time up in the tailwaters. The weekend before last I went up on Saturday and managed a couple nice walleyes and a few fat saugers down Ackerman’s. Many of the fish I caught up there this winter were downstream from the boat ramp. Now that DBQ, Bellevue and Clinton are open they are like an untapped resource after being closed for 3-1/2 months. It takes a while to figure the pattern out but once you find one you will catch some fish. I was lucky to have 2 friends out last Thursday and Friday as they did the finding for me so we were able to get on the fish without having to look all over on Saturday.
‘Eyehunter:
You always share some really good insights-things that as a newcomer to this area and fishery are very valuable. I always enjoy your posts.
Yeah, the thought of Guttenberg being pounded pretty hard through the winter (and its been a warm one) did run through my head. I know several of the fellas we spoke to said that they had been fishing it pretty hard for the last 6 weeks or so, whereas downriver its been closed, for the most part.
As an engineer, sometimes I am prone to plan too much. What I need to do is just stick with one pool and work on learning it, instead of chasing the hot bite across 3 different pools. 
Its tough though! When you work all week long and have limited opportunities to get out, its easy to forget your long term plans and head to what seems like hotter bite just up/downriver. 
Unless the weather is really crappy, we might give it a go on Wednesday. Good luck out there!
Regards,
Joe Jiacinto
For many years I have heard people from the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City/Waterloo area say they head to Guttenburg and/or Bellevue to walleye/sauger fish but very seldom do I hear of people heading to Dubuque (which is fine with me). Dubuque (pool 12) has a reputation of being full of pleasure boaters during the warm weather months. I love fishing pools 11, 12 & 13 as well as pool 14 at Clinton but since I live in DBQ I spend most of my time on pool 12. I guess what I like the most about pool 12 is the number of really good wingdams in the pool and I am primarily a wingdam fisherman. There are so many that I have probably fished less than half of them. In another month I will be like a kid in a candy store with the first post-spawn walleyes begining to show up on the wingdams. Dubuque has two really nice wide boat ramps each with 2 docks and 4 lanes for launching boats. The Bait Shack is located between the 2 DBQ ramps in case you forgot something. Bring your wife and kids up for a weekend as there is plenty to do for the non-sportsman in Dubuque. Shopping, museums, casinos, carriage tours, etc… even an indoor water park for the kids. From what I understand Dubuque even has a night life but I wouldn’t know anything about that. One nice thing about pools 12, 13, 14 and on down the river is the protected slot (20″ to 27″) which is now in it’s 3rd year. Last year I released many walleyes in the protected slot. A buddy and I released 8 of them over 20″ in one evening alone last spring that we caught off of one wingdam right at Dubuque. I am convinced the slot is working just by the numbers of fish I have caught and released over 20″ in the past couple of years. There will be some really big pigs out there in the next few years which is something you won’t find as many of just one pool up at Guttenburg because there is no slot limit up there.
Eyehunter
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