Another Pool 4 report 4-4-03

Mike W and I took to the water this morning on Pool 4. We had a hot morning pitching plastics shallow and then the bite slowed for us so we hunted for some off the beaten path spots for some more shallow fish with litte results other than a couple very cold smallies and one largemouth. About 10:00am we headed south and proceeded to pick up some nice saugers jigging super doos from the 15-22 foot depths. We moved at about 2:00pm to another “sauger” hole and found several 15-22″ walleyes including this nice 27″ fish. We were “trolling” super doos on a steep shoreline current break. These fish were very aggressive in their attack and just about any speed or rod motion seemed to produce for a period of an hour or so. All in all it was a great day! Thanks again Mike!

Here is Mike with a nice 20″+ eye that was victim to our trolled doo approach! Then the snow came!!!

Really nice fish Steve. Thanks for sharing. What kind of camera do you have? Super sharp quality pics. Thanks, Bill

Thanks Bill,
The camera is a Sony Cyber shot dsc-p9 or something like that anyway. Unfortunately, this camera is my third camera of this kind. I have had some problems with the other ones but were under warranty and this one is a temporary while my other one gets fixed. I think digital cameras do not like me too much!

Awesome looking fish!! Thanks for posting the pics….think I’ll head on over this weekend regardless of snow, sleet or lousey roads. Reading all the reports is like a magnet pulling me over.

Nice fish Steve…. and an excellent pic.

DeeZee !!! Trolling Super Doos ??

You’ve got to explain this to me

A1 trip yesterday DeeZee. The fish where not the easyest to come by yesterday but the way we went after them was one of my favorite. Move, move, move, And then switch up your tactics. Great to be out with a guide that does not say quit.
Trolling plastics at the end of the day gave us a good flury of action. What a simple presentation also. Instead of pitching the jigs we trolled them along the shoreline just fast anough to keep contact with bottom. Definetly some thing new to add to the box of tricks.
Great day DeeZee. We will have to do it again sometime. You bring the snow shovels next time.

guess I will tag my report along with one of the three reports from yesterday……

the fish WERE going yesterday….. maybe not has hot and heavy as we would like… but the bited seemed to improve as the day went on… by hay creek we had a fairly small fish that was yielding 1-3 15″+ fish per drift… I tried a variety of things… but my pards stuck with superdoos and the bite stuck with them all day….. best color was blue/pearl with a bright orange head….. drifting doos was bringing in way bigger fish than I saw others get…. most were pulling stuff upriver… and too fast I thought… Im sure we pulled 30+ fish before the snow convinced us it was TIME to go…..

depths were 18-24’… as usual… largest fish were shallower……

My freind Troy and I have been sticking with a slow troll on three ways and doing real well. The bigger fish have been on the windy sides and about 14 feet down. Boat controll in the wind is hard, but worth it, The large orange and brown Phelps floaters and a big fat head have been our favorite presentation. Ill be back out monday and slam them again.

so you guys are telling me that i was the only out there on friday that didn’t do any good . oh well, that’s somewhat expected. my 2 years of river experince doesn’t really compare to the guys with 20+ years under their belt. i guess i just got to keep on tryin’. patients is the key. i can’t wait until this summer and next fall when i can be on the river 4-5 days a week .

Jake…
you got it right.. somedays the difference between success and failure is a small thing…. the fishing WAS tough… but doing the right thing makes it easier…. and when we gave them what the wanted it worked… for us it was SUPER DOOS… they have just plain worked for me every since October… and they are STILL working… I introduced 2 people to them on Friday… and the hard part for them like for everyone is getting confidence to hold them still!!!… once they saw me pull 4-5 fish they new that holding it still worked and they caught fish that way the rest of the day….. and are now in the market to buy their own “doos”…… funny how that works… and they were impressed that the fish we caught this way were mostly really NICE fish… bigger than what others were landing….

Thanks Steve. I just ordered a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P32. Hope I have better luck with them. lol. Thanks, Bill

Ecnook,

Explanation on trolling doos huh? Pretty high tech stuff I tell you…
All kidding aside, Mike W put it real well by saying it was a simple yet often overlooked approach to presenting a jig. There is something magical about longlining jigs in certain conditions. Basically our set up was a 3/8oz “Zone-R” jig and a chartreuse super doo. The key seemed to be the speed in which we presented it. We actually were moving at a pretty good clip but slow enough that you could still maintain bottom contact just by dropping your rod back about 2 foot. Just a slight flip behind the boat and away you go. OUr best depths seem to be 9-12 foot right tight to the shoreline. This particular spot had very close access to deep water and was just out of the main current.

Very simple yet very effective!

Bill,

Congrats on the new camera! My new one is working very well for me right now. (Although my fingers are crossed)
I think keeping them from being exposed to the cold weather is what did my last couple in. I now keep the camera in a inside pocket of one of my jackets. This keeps the battery warm and longer life between charges, not to mention that the cold could be hard on the moving parts inside the camera.

Good Luck

Dee Zee, were you trolling up stream, down stream, or both?

BFD,

Both up and down appeared to work well in this particular area. I was tucked just inside the main flow of current and the fish were tight to shore but in deeper water. In this situation I prefer to troll plastics because I can keep my bait in the strike zone all the time rather than just momentarily.
Here is a picture of the actual set up I was using that day.