SHore angling for Walldogs

Just curious if anyone out there has some decent spots or has tried shore fishing for Fall Mississippi walleyes any where from LaCrescent up to Lake City? I have found a few spots that have produced in the winter and Fall. The spillway at Pioneer(second) has produced some decent fish, throwing weed weasels tipped with fat-heads(or as “Shorty” says, “They are all fat heads”!) in shallow water next to main spill current, and The Reno Spillway SOuth OF LaCrescent. As a lot of you already understand, I have less opportunity to float and fish, so shore fishing has become somewhat of my cup-o-tea!

There are a lot of other guys fishing from shore out there, let’s here it! I’m jonesing to get back down to the river!

Keep the rods bendin’!!!

Jim W

Ive had excellent luck in the late fall…. usually starting in October and getting better and better as long as you can take it….. fishing right at the dam… there are dams that have angler access where you can stand and bounce jigs right off the gates….. its tricky fishing.. you have to have the right weight jig and the right feel.. but if you got that you can really NAIL the fish… even some VERY nice ones…. I use ONLY plastics… Ive always used just twisters… but I guess tubes, ringworms, and shad would work too…. and of course superdoos….. just toss them up to the dam.. hold your rod tip high… use bright colored line (cuz you more see then feel hits)…. and let your jig drift down current…. with the right weight jig and your rod held just right you will drift just OVER the rocks…. and right INTO the fish….. if you do it wrong you will lose a jig every cast…. I always figured going through about $10 worth of heads (I just used unpainted cheapies!) and tails… have different colors of tails… you will find one color that works best for the day… but you will also find that about every 3 or 4th jig (yeah you WILL probably lost them regularly even when you have the “touch”) you should change color and you will probably nail a couple of quick fish…..

I used to do this all the time at the lynxville dam on the Iowa side…… Ive done it some at Genoa but you cant get that close to the roller gates…… and Ive also fished fountain city with good luck…. there are NOT many who do this kind of fishing… but position is VERY important… get there early and grab the FIRST spot….. you will get your fish…….

dont know how many others have fished this way…. but I did for years and I have had days where I have CPR over 50 fish larger than 15 inches….. thats a good day in a boat or out…..

on the average I would say I would catch 10 fish over 15″/day….. which is not a bad day either….

Jim

What ever you choose to do, or where ever you choose to fish, stick it out after the sun goes down. And I’m not talking a bit after the sun sets either as its my experience that the piggies always seem to hold off a couple hours after the sun sets to do their thing. River Eyes gave you some great info but I need to add throwing cranks, even in incredibly cold water, as a key to big fish some nights. Steve and I took some serious pigs last fall when the water temps were in the mid 30’s by casting some upsized cranks to rip rap and retrieving very slowly.

Also, you don’t need to be anywhere near the dam on a pool to find great numbers and quality from shore at night. Our biggest fish last fall came 3+ miles downstream from the L&D on pool 8. Such a great time of year to explore and fish from shore! RiverEyes is correct that the best bite starts in October but Steve had some really good numbers and quality fish during the Sept. full moon. A guy could go out tonight and expect to get some decent fish!

James Holst

Moving Waters Guide Service

http://www.movingwaters.net

Good info and support for a shore wader/angler, I appreciate it. The dam thing(lock and dam that is) does take patience and tackle along with a decent technique.

One balmy December day(couple years ago) I headed down to the Pioneer #2 spillway. Everyone was fishing, catching and keeping Jackfish. I was there for walleye and sauger. I stood not more than 20 feet from a guy launching what had to have been a #5 meps. I brandished a 1/8 oz weed weasle with a fiesty “Shorty’s Fathead”. I proceeded to catch and release 15 walleye in about a half hour to 45 minutes. 3 or 4 fish were caught consecutively. However after abut an hour and a half of fising, it shut down. A sensitive rod and technique were key to success on this day as well. I found a weedline edge that ran perpindicular to the flow of the eddy. Granted, this eddy is large and shallow, maybe 4feet max. outside of the main flow. The fish were right at the edge and all of the way to shore directly in front of where I stood. One fish was caught by simply stretching my arm out from shore, gently lifting the head of the jig off of the bottom.

H20- I will have to try the night thing. I’m usually not prepared for dark or the extra drop in temp, but now I’ll have to give her a go. Thanks again guys for the comments and ideas!!!!