Pool 3&4 Dog Days

Ok, Ok, Where have all the fish gone!? Have you all been seeing the same thing on pools 3&4 that I am? A GAZZILLION minnows, and no or (Micro small) walleyes. I have made several forays into pool 4 with little or no luck at all. Just minnows! Minnows on my crank baits, impaled as I troll. Minnows impaled on my jig when I cast to shore or to wingies…Minnows, minnows, minnows. I locked through from Pool 3 to 4. As the water came up in the lock, minnows were jumping all over!!!!! These little tiny shiners are creating huge mud clouds along shore up by the dam in Red Wing.

Yuk! Oh well, it happens every year…We should be used to it by now. Every August, it is the same thing!!!

Oh well, if you figure them out, “E” Me!!!!

Tuck

I thought the snaggin’ technique was reserved for salmon fishing! :O) Wish I had solution for you…………..cuz if I did, I wouldn’t just tell you, I’d jump out of this cubicle and take you there!!! See ya in a week at Colville!

Uh oh! Light came on! It might be dim, but it’s on!

You mentioned silvery minnows……………….any chance those little silver plastic minnows rigged up one of a few ways might produce few hits? Just curious if imitation is the game in this situation? Just thinking………………

I know one thing for sure, I’ll have a shad colored plug on tonight!!!!!

I was at Prescott last Saturday. The water was alive with minnows and we saw bass chasing them to the surface constantly. Tried various imitations on the surface and did not get a strike. We wished we had some crappie minnows to try to see if it made a difference. After getting frustrated with that game we were back to the walleye search.

Is it possible that for 1 week out of the year, the bite down here is as good or better than up there???????? It’s about time. It makes a guy want to move up there most weeks. For example I haven’t seen a sauger in 4 Weeks. Up there if nothing else will bite I can usually depend on the sauger. Oh well this is probably one of the few times I will get to say it other than spring and fall. The bite is fantastic on pool nine for everything but garbage fish(Large mouth bass-(stumpsuckers),carp, buffalo). Sorry guys I just had to rib a little. Lawrence—– Okay Okay the stumpsuckers are biting too!!!!

It’s pretty tough down in 3&4. I guided three folks this weekend in Pool 4 and managed only a few fish. Dustin faired a little better pulling cranks and crawlers around Red Wing. It’s like tis usually for the month of August, and in Sept. the wingies come alive again. Come on September!!!

I know we have discussed this before…. but could it be a case of the water temp being too high for the fish to be active? at a certain point the temp is high, the O2 levels are low and the fish WILL be stressed…. and therefore not feeding…. cuz those armadas of bait fish should still be around come september? or not?

all I know is I have always had the same problem… and August is my toughest month to find fish….. or should I say to CATCH them……

Tuck,

We got lucky! Sun was the best day I have had in a week that spot that you saw me fishing is the only spot that has produced good numbers of fish for me in the last 2 weeks when that dries up I will be a lost man!

For thoose of you that are going to be on the water in the next few days the early morning and later evenings have been best for the bigger fish. Trolling cranks early in the morning and then slowing down with bait as the morning progresses has been putting the few fish I have been getting in the boat. The afternon hrs are dead slooooooooowwwww!!!!!

RiverEyes The surface temp of the water on sun was 73 degrees and last week it was in the low 80’s

I have never checked the water temp on the bottom of the river I have only gone by surface temp.

Do you know if there is usually a big difference in the temps top to bottom on the river? Sometime I will have to drop a temp gauge to the bottom and see what the difference realy is. Has anyone ever tried this?

See ya at the get together!

Dustin

one would think that in the channel area where the fish are “hangin” that the temp should be fairly even top to bottom…. but Ive NEVER tested it…. or remember seeing anything on it… even so… the surface SHOULD be the hottest… and 73 is NOT hot…… so with that kind of temp… well it should NOT be a factor…. and must be something else…. so the fish you do catch.. are they really PACKED with all this “bait” you see out there??

Yes, they are just full of bait fish I had to pick up several little minnows and shad off the floor of the boat and boy do they make a mess! Espeacially after you walk on them all day it kind of blends them right in to the carpet.

Dustin

I’m glad someone got some! we had some problems fishing that many people out of the boat, but we managed to scrounge a few. We saw a 28″ caught up by the North clam beds. Caught one legal up there. It was pretty brutal!

Going cat’n tonight with a couple of gents from Woodbury. See you Saturday.

Tuck

At or about 72 degrees water starts downward in its ability to hold oxygen. Above this the water moves downward from about 7 parts to 3 parts disolved per(whatever). If the flow is up a lot it gets mixed in and any churning and water breaking like wing dams also helps, but slack flats and dead backwater is almost dead oxygen wise in the heat of summer.

I didn’t say much about it but I’m sure that is why the bite has been best where the water is churned,(wing dams) and frankly very poor for me on the bottom half of the pool. The two miles below the dam has by far been the best for me on pool 9 and first 3 miles on pool 8. Imagine what the gates being closed so much at Genoa is doing to the bite this last 24 hours. The only time all day I even saw a fish break the surface was when barges passed. Nothing was feeding anywhere. Yesterday was good, with 24 incher and three good sized snakes. Today I didn’t get a strike, by 11:00 so I was off the water soon after that. Lawrence

I did a little temp testing on the river recently after reading a similar question here concerning high water temps. and walleye bite in my area. It was done during the 100+ heat index days, and in average current at midday there was minimal difference down to a couple feet from bottom in 10-12′ of water. Right on bottom was 2 degrees or so cooler in some instances, where botttom was rocky or hard sand. Mud was warmer. I guessed this might make fish stay tight to bottom and went to dead sticking jigs on clam beds and rocky areas. It paid off a couple times, but not lately! Problem being sheepies, catfish and bluegills don’t know I’m fishing for eyes!

This was not a very scientific study, but did indicate to me that the current turnover keeps temps fairly even, and I’m stretching a guess that the VERY slow current we are now experiencing may have less evening effect due to less turnover. I would love to do a more in depth study if time allows! Sorry for the longwindedness!

One more idea, I don’t know if it is legal in MN/WI, but has anyone tried seining the bait fish and using them. We used to do it here for White bass, worked like a charm. I’ve never tried it for eyes though.

Edited by Rooster on 08/20/01 06:49 PM.

Interesting info guys, thanks for the input. One thing that I have realy noticed in the last few years is that when the flow on pool 4 gets down to 10,000 the fishing is really tough and most of the fish I do get are in very shallow faster moving water or out deeper in outside river bends where there is a lot more current espeacially if it is a sharp bend it realy can be a prime spot. The flow has come up about 3,300 cfcs in the last 5 days so hopefully it will stay around 13,000 or get even higher by the time the weekend rolls around.

Dustin

Tuck,

I was on Pool 12 this past weekend and fished for a couple of hours on Friday, August 17th but couldn’t find anything except one small sauger. We fished from about noon to 2:00 p.m. But on Saturday, August 11th I fished pool 3 from about 8:00 to noon and caught six walleyes (three in the 17″-18″ range plus a 24.5″, 25″, and 26.5″) I also caught some sheepshead and a few small smallies. The next day (Sunday) I didn’t get started until about noon and fished with my wife until about 3:00. We only caugth one 18″ walleye, a 14″ sauger, and a sheepshead. I dropped my wife off and continued to fish but could not find another fish in the next few hours. Nothing. I was starting to get fustrated with all the cruiser wakes plus the north wind was making it hard to see the wingdam ripple line so I went into the backwaters but never really fished there. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many cruisers. They were almost constant. I fished the wingdams again between 7:00 – 8:00 and did manage to pick up an 18″ walleye on the same wingdams as the earlier fish. My experience would agree with Dustin’s that the afternoon has been slow lately.

I was generally using a Dubuque rig fishing the front of the wingdams. I try to bounce the jig right at the base of the rocks. It seems the best wingdams are the ones that have about 4-5 ft of water over the top and some decent current. If I catch a fish on a wingdam I work that wingdam over pretty good before moving on.

I’ve been talking to an old river rat here about the warm, still water effect on fish. He supported the low oxygen theory, said he looks for shallows with current AND live plant life. Says the plants restore some oxygen to the water and when fish find these areas they hang around. Creek mouths, outside bends and anything providing more oxygen is the key. I will have to check it out tommorrow!