Pool 4 Fishing Report – June 11, 2003

The walleyes, saugers, bass and even crappies are going good right now. Here’s the link to my latest report –> http://www.fishtheriver.com/reports/index.asp?id=958

Hi James, Wonderful report, thanks. I have been a stranger on the board lately, and have been out of town, and been fishing on inland lakes quite abit lately. Reading your report sure has got me itching for some Pool 4 time again. Keep up the good work, and hope all your trips this year are successful. Jack..

The bass are biting Jack so if you’re looking to catch some dandy smallies, now would be a good time to make a trip down.

And thanks for the kind words on the report.

Kick Butt Report James !!

I love how the pix in the reports make the whole report come alive !!

Thanks for sharing there Mr.

Slabs, huh? People drive a long way to catch 13″ slabs. Maybe you have something going there. I know I would be tempted to stop the boat.LOL

Thanks for the report.

Hey ‘der Scott,

We typically see a tremendous crappie bite mid-summer in the side channels when our water levels fall low for the summer. Our average size is pretty darn awesome and the numbers are good… but nobody seems to care one lick! Not my guide customers anyway. Granted those I guide have a walleye focus so what I need to do is just talk crappies more often and attract the people that want to catch them.

Wait until August… then you’ll see some SLABS!

Now that’s what I call a fishing report!!!! James what do you mean when you say a deep wingdam and are you fishing on top or the base???. On pool 9 the wing dams have been less active than normal, I guess because of flow,level and the unbelievable weeds and mud.

We’re finding our better fish on wingdams that have 10+’ of water in front of the dams and we’re catching our fish in heavy, heavy current. Most fish are coming from the tips of the dams from areas that just look to be ripping on the surface.

Weeds? Mud? Have you guys been hit with some locally heavy rains? Our river conditions are in tip-top shape on this end.

Hey James,

Does the lake level seem to be normal for this time of year?? It seemed down, at least in my mind, the wings were sticking out further than I had remembered in the past couple years.

Yes, it is low for this time of year. I much prefer higher water but rest assured most years the summer thunderstorms of late June cause at least one good high water episode for us to deal with.

Two weeks ago this Saturday we caught several slabbers in that same area pulling SR5’s. They must be stacked in there pretty thick.

I’m telling ya’, the electronics don’t lie and I’m graphing some good sized groups of fish just prior to hooking a slab. But this is not a new thing. These fish are there every year. I’ll even catch a couple super-mongo slabs each summer pulling #8 shad raps. They really seem to dig the craw pattern!

Anyone know how the PWT guys are doing? Curious as to what techniques and where they are getting their better fish.

23 Lbs/ 6 fish was the top weight yesterday. I’m hearing there’s a lot of lake trolling going on with a few guys, very few, on the wingies to the south.

Had one of the aforementioned slabs smash a leech on a rig on the Wisc shore jsut down from Maiden on Tuesday. The crazy fish actually jumped out of the water like a smallmouth if you can believe that?

Fun stuff!

Jim W

Wouldn’t that be fantastic. A fish that eats as good as a crappie but fights like a smally!

Hey James- yeah ANOTHER question…
what kind of live bait have you been having you best luck on? Up here on Pool 2… the wingdams have started coming alive… I’ve been pulling a few fish with cranks. I know there are more down there… just haven’t tried any rigging yet.

First, second and third place cashed checks using Willow Cats. 5 of the top ten finishers used ’em to cash checks.
Those of you who have not fished this bait should really give them a try. They can be rigged, jigged, trolled up, drifted down. They are a very hardy bait fish and are easily kept over long periods of time. Give ’em a try!
See ya on the BackChannel!

Just a follow-up here to add to this thread regarding the bite on Pool 4…

Saturday saw me back on the wingies near Wabasha. The bite slowed considerably for me. Largest walleyes went 19″ – 20″ and the numbers were down quite a bit. We caught a fish or two on everything we tried but no real preference or pattern developed which is always a bit frustrating to me. Others I trust fished the area as well and reported similar findings.

In the afternoon on Saturday we also hit Pepin for some bass action. It also was slow. Must just have been the day as Sunday on Pepin (I had a bass only trip) was GREAT for both numbers and size. Smallmouth to 4 lbs and largies to 2.5 with about half of our fish being largies. Many, many 17″ fish for the day. Best presentations was again fishing 4.5″ tubes in very shallow water along deeper rip rap and natural rock. Top colors were pumpkin/blue craw and brown/chartreuse. 1/4 ounce super doo heads was the right weight for the job. We fished as far north on tke Lake as Maiden rock and caught fish every place we stopped. Target the weedy back bays for the largies and the rocks for the smallies. We did take several fish on top water but it was blatantly obvious that the fish wanted the tubes. Even caught one fish on a popper and fly rod but it took quite a bit of effort to get that one fish.