Pool 12 Birthday Bonanza

Took my Birthday off in pursuit of some walleye and sauger. The day started off very slow, I used all the standard methods and lures. Since I had all day I docked and went to get some lunch, recharge and warm up. After lunch I remembered I was in Dubuque so I went to the good old Dubuque rig. I also put on an obscene neon chartruse ringie on the dropper. Finally got bit but I airballed on 3 straight hits. I thought they were on the trailer that was tipped with a minnow, so I was incorrectly pausing after feeling the hit. WRONG! These fish were hitting the dropper
and after my pause they had let go of the bait. Well when the 3rd airball pulled the pants down on the ringie I figured out what the heck was going on. From there on out it was solid hookups. I stuck two 24+ in. pigs which were set free and kept my limit of eaters and turned back 25 others with half being shorts. I really don’t know why the DBQ rig was so successful, I tried the same set up without the 3 way swivel and long line, just standard jig and ringie but couldn’t get a sniff. My only guess is that the set up changed the way the dropper behaved, I’m guessing it made the jig fall more slowly, maybe the scent of the minnow attracted them and then the site of the bigger lure got them to commit? Anyway, it sure was a successful combo and ended up being a great day! Fish are out there to be had you just have to be patient and persistent and don’t be afraid of experimenting, I hadn’t used a DBQ rig or even thought of using one for years but remembered seeing an old river rat spanking them on one a few years ago when I was pulling a skunk on plastics, and hair and meat. Tight lines!

Nice job! I’m glad to see somebody has figured Dubuque out this year. How was the water quality? Thinking about going after some catfish tomorrow above the dam. Do you want to pm me on locations and depths please . again great job. Dan

Happy belated birthday looks like you had a great one and nice looking fish

JD, I stayed within a mile or so of the dam. Current breaks, wing dams and water between wing dams all had a few fish. The fish were scattered. The nice thing about the DBQ rig is that it is a search bait almost like a crank, I was dragging it mostly with the trolling motor rather than cast and retreiving to a pinpoint spot. Best depths were 12-15 FOW caught a few shallower and a few deeper but that seemed to be the magic number.

just 1 quick q? how big of a jig were u using on the ringie? ive never used the rig before and some guys down in red wing were outfishing us probaly 5 to 1 the other day on this rig…

Great news Rugbystar! What better b-day gift could you hope to have! Isn’t it great when you put in the time and find a good repeatable pattern? Not much about fishing more rewarding to me than the days when I can put it together, especially under those tough conditions, and have a great day on the water as you did!

Jig weight needs to vary depending on depth, current, and boat speed when fishing the dubuque rig. Fishing 8-10′ with the electric I may use a 1/4 oz jig for the dropper, while fishing 20-25′ on a channel edge or swift current area, I may use a 1 oz. lead head. Rule of thumb is to use enough weight to maintain bottom contact without literally dragging bottom, yet maintaining approx 45 degree angle between your line and the water. When fishing shallow or on wing dams/riprap, I like to increase that angle some to put a little more distance between the boat and my rig to avoid spooking fish.

John is right on with his description of dropper weights and line orientation, I mainly used 3/8ths to achieve the right balance. And I was using crystal fireline 2lb diameter. In my opinion, if I was using mono it probably would have required 1/2 oz to fish the same areas. You will need to experiment with the locations and fishing conditions you encounter. One suggestion, I’m not shy about using heavy jigs if they are called for to keep the line orientation and bottom feel I need to work this lure. This day if I wasn’t dragging bottom I wasn’t getting bit.