Pool 11 Walleye Report 9-23-06

I fished the Guttenberg tailwater area on saturday. We probably caught 4 limits of 15 inch or better fish between 4 of us. No really big fish but did get some 2-3.5 lb walleyes and some big saugers. The fish are not up there in big numbers yet and when they’re not feeding you get the feeling there aren’t any up there at all. The fish were all pretty skinny so you know they haven’t started to feed heavily yet. The guys at Landing615 in Guttenberg said the fish are just starting to show up at the fishing float. Downsteam from the tailwater area there is very little current so we did not mess around with wing dams. Instead, we concentrated on the current breaks close to the dam where there was heavy current available. Our best walleyes and saugers were in pretty heavy current and preferred electric blue BFT ringworms over any other baits we tried. I also got a few nice saugers on catalpa/chart tail and chartreuse pepper. One eyes also caught quite a few fish in certain spots. We were glad to do as well as we did as the water was still 61 degrees. Sorry no pics. We just didn’t get any big fish so we kept saying “we’ll get a better one” and ended up with no photos at all. All the fish we caught were released.

Good to hear you got a few Andy. We ended up with 13 nice crappies, never even got out on the channel to try for anything else.

Dave,

How big were the crappies? and how was that Hawgz.com campout? Thanks,

Never made it to the campout. All of our fish we kept were 10-12″ fish. They were very tight to the brush.

Sweet report Andy. I have been calling Jamie at 615 for the past 4 weeks to get an update and he said they were just starting to move in last week when I called. I’m ready for some Miss walleye action. I really like that electric blue color. Did the fish show any preference over dragging or lift pause? I’d certainly consider your outing a success, we rarely get 4 limits. Any particular time of day to target or avoid?

Dave, when you say you never made it out of the channel, are you referring to the main channel? How do you go about finding the brush. Thanks, Rogan

Rugby,

Casting and pumping it back to the boat was the best presentation for us. when casting downstream this is almost like a dragging presentation b/c you get a long drift when you lift the jig – it just hangs there a while and then back to the bottom – then lift again – Whack! Vertical jigging produced fish too. Definitely the morning was the best bite and it was all morning. Just keep moving through all your spots and you’ll get a few here and there. Like I said though there were hardly any fish on the flats adjacent to the channel edges. the fish we caught were mostly up in the faster water and current breaks with rocks – if you could find current. late afternoon was pretty good too if you were in the right spot. We went bassin during mid afternoon and they cooperated well too. Good luck!

Thanks Andy, maybe we’ll see you up there soon. I haven’t tried the cast down stream and pump back. Are you slipping the current with this method, drifting or anchored? Kinda hemmed in this weekend but I’m feeling the need to take a weekday vaca day or two.

Just using the bow mount trolling motor.I choose jig size based on what i need to feel it hit the bottom. 1/2 to 5/8 worked well last weekend. There’s not much current so your not moving very fast. Casting always produces a lot of fish in my boat so just cast in all directions and you’ll see what i mean. Upstream forces you to have a faster retrieve than downstream w/ the same jig, but any direction can produce a strike. Take a vacation day and give us all a report!

The current levels are so slow up here on P2 & P3 that we should be able to try your tactic up here as well.

Thanks Andy!!!

The downstream and hop back mehod also works wonders on shallow clear water Walleyes on the smaller rivers I fish in the winter when you’d normally spook them drifting over top. We anchor above the hole and slip back until we get into fish.

You’re right Sean. I do the same thing. Really, I prefer to cast if at all possible. Mainly because you’re covering a lot more ground than when vertical jigging. Once a spot on spot is found, vertical jigging can be crucial.

Andy,
I agree w/ vertical being great when you find the proverbial “Spot on the Spot” Just doesn’t alwats work when they’re in 5 to 7 feet of the clearest water all year, had this problem last year during the winter on the Cedar, we almost had to whisper in the boat to keep from spooking fish, but once you got on ’em it was a slugfest, more 20 plus inch fish than we knew what to do with during late January and into Feb. I’m guessing fishing at night would have been even better, like it is on the Miss, but I’m not brave enough to run those boulder fields in the dark when it’s thirty degrees. Brrr.

pool 14 tail waters are producing limits of walleys and saugers. nothing big, but many nice eaters. monday was my first day out in weeks, jigs/crawlers, trowling 3way spiners/crawlers, floating rapalas with shad color working best for me. can only get better!

crawler rigs and