I hit up a few wing dams on Pool 17 this morning and afternoon: I had my best Mississippi walleye fishing trip of the summer so far. 
I boated seven or eight walleye and a couple sauger, with most fish coming on my first two or three passes up some dams that have worked well in the past. The biggest ‘eye was 21″, and the larger sauger was 16″–all fish came on crankbaits, with natural color working a little better in the partly cloudy conditions. Live bait produced only sheepshead and small channel cat. Some dams that have never produced much in the past (for no good reason that I can see) did not produce any walleye today, either.
I also caught a 12″ smallmouth. I know people catch some this far downriver, but this was the first I have gotten as far south as Muscatine.
I would have had one more 18″-ish walleye, but when I got it to boatside my net was tangled up in various rod tips, so I tried to hand-land the fish. Long story short, the fish got off, and I had a hook buried well past the barb in a finger. 
A minute or two of hard pulling with pliers got the hook out with a small chunk of meat attached, and some water and Bactine cleaned up the hole in my finger. Now, I know what the fish feel like. 
