Rookie Pool 4 report

I fished Pool 4 today from about 10am to 3pm. The dam had the “doors” open and the current was pretty strong. We fished the the area by the locks with jigs and minnows and got skunked. We moved towards Red Wing and found nothing but debri, high current, and lower water temps. We got discouraged and headed back to the lock where at least we marked fish. We watched a guy in aboat nearby boat a sauger on plastic and I decided to get rid of the minnow and do the same. Then we all did. We caught two walleye pretty quick and then the cold got to our bones and we called it quits for the day. It is the first time I have experienced plastic beating live bait. I feel like I owe an apology to Doug Stange, and others on this board!

Thanks for the report, until it’s experianced…it’s hard to believe isn’t it.

It’s takes some confidence to run plastics, but one good day will give it to ya The thing I tend to see too is better sized fish, than the jig and minnow crowds Though I still think there are jig and minnow days, and plastic days, and some days it just doesn’t matter.

There are definitely minnow days but after you get comfortable with plastics you will discover the minnow days are very few. There are days when Super Doos out fish everything and days paddletails are the ticket and days when ringworms are the go-to bait. If you are fishing the wrong one on any given day you might think it is a minnow day until you find the right combination. I would say most days when I actually buy minnows—which isn’t often—that by the end of the day I haven’t use but one or two. Now if we are talking after the water warms up into the mid fifties and beyond then livebait will be in my boat most trips!

About ten years ago, I was fishing a cold Feb. day with a buddy of mine and the minnows were starting to freeze along with my hands, when my buddie said ” I wish we could find something that worked as good or better than minnows, so we wouldn’t have to get our hands wet”. I got on the Internet and started to read stories about guys catching alot of fish on ringworms and super-dos. So I picked some up and started to play with them. I had marginal luck with the super-dos but the ringworms, OH MY GOD did we start catching fish. We started to learn how they want them presented for certain situations, what colors work best for water clarity and sky conditions. I haven’t look back since. The biggest hurdle you have to overcome is building confidence in the bait. I had a friend tell me that when the fishing would slow down, he would set the ringworm down and go back to live bait. But every time he looked down at the ringworm, he knew the potential it had to catch more and bigger fish. So he’d pick it up and sure enough BAM, he’d get bit. So just take the time and effort to fish more plastics and build the confidence you need. Once you start to catch fish on them,you’ll realize thier potential and be open to a whole new world.