Pool 14 action

Never got to head out over the weekend just wondering if anyone had any luck? Nailed the hell out of them last weekend. Work always gets int he way of a good time ya know

i doubt this will help ya but i’m just a basser and i seen a ton of walleye guys on every wingdam up and down the river…sumthing must be bighting!!

My wife and I fished wingdams in the Albany area Sunday, not much luck at all. I talked to several other boats with the same report. Not sure what happened, but the fish really turned off! We tried a little trolling on couple current breaks and did a little better, but then the pleasure morons ran us off the river. One of the worst days I’ve seen for LARGE wakes and non stop at that.
Not a day goes by that the wings near Albany don’t get hit hard, and I believe it is taking it’s toll. I talked to one guy who said he and his buddy’s kept 60 walleyes off of one of those wings the week before last! This pool cannot withstand many morons keeping that many fish for long. I generally keep a couple eaters, but they were keeping every legal fish they caught. It saddens me to se this fishery, which was just getting in good shape a few years ago, be so carelessly used and abused by those who think they need to keep everything. I am afraid the walleye fishing here is going to suffer greatly due to the greatly increased pressure of the last 4 or 5 years, and with so many fishermen with no concern for the future of the pool!
Sorry, had to get that off my chest. I am going out in the A.M. and will report tommorrow evening if possible.
Rooster

Hey rooster,get it off your chest. If someone gets it in there head mabey they will start to release these fish. I know what you mean about 14, it cannot take that. We had a good spawn and now those fish are hitting that 15″ mark and it a death warrant. Keep a couple of eaters and put the rest back. When people keep that many fish,most are thrown out from freezer burn . Give them a chance. John Mannerino

Well, I made it out for a few hours on Wedensday. Slow moving crawler harnesses were the best producer we found. Not much on jigs or cranks. My wife landed a nice 24″ fish and an 18″, I got the short fish on cranks and jigs. Fished the less pressured wings after the first hour on the old standby wings produce nothing. We also got a mixed bag of other fish, had a great time. We did not have time to do any trolling or drifting, wanted to focus on the wing dams.
John, I feel better after venting, but saw another bunch of guys today who were pulling a trot line from a wingdam. They had a couple walleyes along with a bunch of catfish on the line, and kept them all. I’m not sure that is illegal, but intend to find out and have their boat numbers to report them if it is illegal. It sure is unethical, if not illegal. They pulled the trot line from the rocks right were we were fishing. I thought I was going to get myself in a jam with my mouth when I started chewing there …’s. There were four of them.
There are still a lot of good fish out there, and some of our better spots are not being hit too hard now. Hopefully the DNR will apply a slot limit or decrease the bag limit here before it is too late.
Good fishing!
Rooster

Good question on the trotline. As far as I can find, it’s legal in Iowa waters:

http://www.state.ia.us/dnr/organiza/fwb/fish/regs/tackregs/trotthro.htm

The trotline is legal in Ia. But you CANNOTkeep gamefish caught on it.I’m sure it reads the same in Ill. Turn them in, but you may be asked to testify against them. Just because they have some eyes in the freezer doesn’t mean they caught them illegally. Proof is needed and it’s your word against theirs. Good luck with this Rooster.

I see that crap all the time. There are alot of people out there who are nothing but meat hunters who keep everything they catch regardless of size or legal limits. I keep a few eater also but but those people who keep everything they catch are extremly irresponsible of our fishery. I have been fishing pool 14 my entire life and every year I think I have see it all but every year I see more and more of that kind of thing, from people down by the dam snagging 10# walleyes to some butthead pulling up a mattress spring and removing all the snagged lures then throwing the thing back over the side to what you mentioned about the trot lines. I used to bring my cell phone with me just in case of emergencies but I think I am going to start reporting those people who are trying to wipe the future of fishing on the river.

Feel free to write down their boat # and turn them in…No one needs to know but you.Thats how these guys get caught.I feel I can’t complain about this same problem up on my pool if I don’t do my part.

The future of our resource depends on US !!

HAVE A GREAT 4th OF JULY