Pool 14 Humble Pie!

With the fantastic bite we have been experiencing on pool 14 this summer, my wife and I invited my sister to make a 90 mile trip down to fish with us on Sunday. We had high hopes and expectations for yet another great day of fishing.

Mother nature and old marble eyes had other plans though. With the torentual rainfall Friday across the region and upriver, ‘ole miss was chocalate, fast, and full of grass and light debri.

The fish we have been on for a month had all been dislodged, and, though we worked hard and long, did not find one willing walleye in over 8 hours of fishing. Two sheepies and a channel cat where the days only catch.

We threw everything in the book at them, and some things not in the book. It just was one of those days. From discussions with other anglers through the day, we where not alone. Still a beautiful day to be on the river, and the company was top notch! I guess I am thankful for days like this… they remind me of how blessed I am to live a stones throw from such a great place to fish and recreate. Today was just a much better day for recreating than for fishing.

I know what you mean, I was out on Thursday and had the same trouble. Not one walleye, maybe this week. I was surprised with all of the grass floating, that is more like late August.

Thought I seen you going down river from Albany and was wondering how you did. I had friend out but did manage to scratch out 1 Walleye 21” on a Dubuque rig using night crawlers. I am glad I wasn’t the only one having problems. The Corp opened the gates and increased the flow from 31,000 cfs to 50,000 cfs and washed them out, but they’ll be back

Had that kind of day on Sat.. Made the mistake of going up by Clinton. It was OK early, but as the day progressed the water got dirtier with alot of debri in it. Managed to get one 23″ and two shorts before the river got too dirty. Thier will be better days. Hang in there John!

Yes, it was tough out there Sunday. I did manage to get 1 18.5 incher after I talked to you Sunday morning. What a differnce a week makes. The previous Sunday we had are 2nd best day of the summer we had 43 fish with 19 of them in the slot. I think things will remain slow for awhile there is a ton of bait starting to show up . The baby shad are about 2 to 3 inches now perfect bite size. The shiners are every where also. With this much bait around the bite will lean more toward a reaction bite the rest of the summer and early fall.

I was out on Thursday and the conditions have not improved at all. The water looked like chocolate milk and weeds were still coming down. Not even a bit once again, I am sorry to say. Hopefully it will clear up in the next week.

three weeks ago the fish were hammering worms and crankbaits we caught around 40 fish also. then last two weeks they are only hitting crankbaits no worms. I am stilling catching fish but the numbers are way down do you guys think a jig and minnow might be better than a jig and a worm is it time to make the transition back to minnows

I have not fished minnows for a couple years , not that there is anything wrong with them. When I transition off the worm I usally go to plastic. That usally isn’t till October. With that said I fished this morning on Pool 14 and got skunked. That is the first time in a long time that has happened. We threw every thing, but minnows at them. So maybe minnows would have worked. With the water muddy and very little flow I think the bite is going to remain slow for awhile. If you do get them to go on minnows keep us posted. I think willow cats would be the ticket , but you can’t legaly bring them down here any more.

saturday i got a few walleye trolling cranks and one one sauger on a worm and jig. last year i was doing good with a three way and a minnow in the fall but dont remember when i was getting them but that was hot for a while. its been two weeks since i got a walleye to go on the worm and they are still biting cranks why not a minnow? im cluless at this point but i would like to get them like i did 3,4 weeks ago they were on fire

It’s been a few years, but I rember a August and September where you couldn’t buy a bite for a month and a half. That year there was little flow and very high water temps. I always blamed it on the water temp. I’m starting to rethink that, maybe it’s more low flow and to much available food. Last year was a very differnt year we never did have a late summer slow down , it stayed good right through fall. I’m not going to give up. When I fished the FLW League Finals in Winona last Sept. We where catchin fish right in the middle of the channel pulling lead core down stream at close to 3 mph. If the water will clear up I would like to try that here at home.

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We where catchin fish right in the middle of the channel pulling lead core down stream at close to 3 mph. If the water will clear up I would like to try that here at home.

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I’m sure that would NEVER work here jigfan.

I did some of that a couple different years when the flow dropped way down in late summer. Picked the idea up from one of the gents I prefished with for the FLW Championship a few years back. I think he may be a member here.

We did not light the fish up, but covered a LOT of water and thus where able to do much better than most other presentations at the time. The down side is we had to deal with quite a few pesky flatheads that tore up our cranks and equipment, wasted a lot of time trying to free those pesky 10-20# bottom dwellers. Pulling them up from the depths at 3-4mph was akin to lifting a diving submarine!

I think you are on the mark with the bait supply and lack of current thing. Fishing with such low flow is much more like fishing a lake, but the fish don’t seem to concentrate in large numbers anywhere, just roam about feeding wherever and whenever they get the urge.

In Winona we didn’t pick up any flatheads , but we did catch several nice pike . That one shocked me 18 to 21 ft of water fishing dunes right between the cans and I’m catching pike . That one had me scratching my head. I like these challenging times, I have found some of my best spots covering water and trying differnt locations. When the bite is on it is hard to leave your goto spots to go looking for new ones , even though you should. I will be out there Sunday trying to figure them out.

I got out for a bit this evening. Found a few willing fish on wings and flats, but still a very slow bite. Lots of small cats and some nice bluegills on a couple of wingdams that I hit though. Kept me busy at least.
I wanted to do some trolling but the grass is coming down in sheets. I had trouble keeping a jig or 3-way in the water in some places due to the grass. Hope it is not here to stay already!
That would have puzzled me too jigfan, snot rockets in the dunes. I enjoy the challenge of searching out the walleyes this time of year too. Although the successful days are fewer, the reward of deciphering the puzzle and putting some fish in the boat, especially in new spots, is a really what it’s all about for me in the dog days of summer into early fall.

That is what it is all about . The challenge ! Good luck and I hope to see you on the water soon.

Got out today caught 4 walleye on a jig and worm first time in weeks tried to pull cranks could not because of the grass lots of grass. lots of sheepies robbing your bait also hope this helps maybe some hope for the weekend