Pool 14

What a beautiful day out on the river. Came home with only my face winded burn and a little sun burn I think. I stayed close to home and worked it hard. Went to all my spots and a few more and just came up short. Thats ok with me.
fish333

We didn’t have much luck either. Was great fishing, just not so hot catching. Fishing is kind a carrot and stick deal. We got the stick this time. One day we will get a bushel of carrots. Can’t have any more fun!

Fishon333 what a great attitude, I know some meat hogs that are at the dam pre dawn to scarf up the easy pickens than bragg the rest of the day “how many you got had our limit since 9:00” and they do Jack Crap the rest of the day. They are there most of the November and every weekend. Makes one wonder about the home possesion limit. I don’t wonder I know there over. Taking home a limit everytime out is not necessary to have a great trip. Nice report…………Good fishing.

I don’t know how many boats were at the dam today but even the wing dams were crowded. The bite today was slower than it has been , but they would still hit a reaction type bait today. Yesterday we smoked them on plastic , but today very few hit jigs. I noticed that today the water is clearing up alot and with the moon getting briter each night that may move the bite to a night thing. Gary, You might try going to the upper end of the pool , the fish do not seem to hold in your end of the pool in the cold months.

We were up at Bellevue all day today and got our limit. Only one walleye and the rest were saugers. The fishing was a little slower today than it has been in the past few weeks. Used glow in the dark floaters on a 3 way with a plastic tail. The dam is officially closed after monday, due to expansion of DNR study, which makes no sense to any of us.It was only suppose to be a 3 year study, but they expanded it to 5 years. Now they say they do not have enough results, so they expanded it again, everybody is upset.

Uncle buck,

I believe there is some very sound science behind this study. As the water cools and the flow subsides, the saugers pile up in the 30+ foot deep holes, and the fishermen follow. Thousands of short saugers pulled from these deep holes die from bladder distension.

It would be great if anglers would take the initiative and just not fish those deeper holes, but that will never happen. I am sure that the sauger population on pool 14 has benefited from the closing here, and still plenty of fish can be caught downriver.

Ideally, educating anglers on the negative effects of fishing the deep water may lead to less restrictions, but with an ever increasing number of fishermen out there chasing saugers, the DNR is doing what it can to ensure a good fishery for our children.

I understand the frustration of not being able to fish the dam during the winter. I enjoyed it as well, not to kill a limit of fish each time out, but to catch a few eaters and enjoy time on the water with fellow outdoorsmen. Unfortunately there are just too many who hammer these fish unmercifully while they are at their most susceptible. The days of full stringers and filling the freezer need to come to an end to maintain our great river fishery. I would not look for the dam closing to end any time soon.

Right on John. I just moved bad to this area after being gone for 20 years and this is some the best Walleye and Sauger fishing, beat the hell out of the IL river.

X2…well said, john

I understand where you are coming from on this issue.Some days we keep our limit and other days we just take out a few eaters.It often depends who I have in the boat with me.I fish depths between 17ft and 23ft and try to reel my fish up as slow as possible.I see alot of boats in the deeper water pulling out saugers, so I know the damage is being done.I have been fishing Bellevue and Clinton for over 40 years and neither I or any of the people I fish with have noticed any changes In the fishing since this study began.If this improves the fishing I’m all for it, so I guess we will wait and see.

I really don’t understand how you can say that the reg’s aren’t improving the fishing. I fished 4 hours today and caught 17 walleyes most were in the upper end of the slot. I had a 8lbs fish as my biggest. 10 years ago if you caught one 5 lb fish you were happy. I hope they keep these reg’s fore a very long time, because our fishing is just getting better every year. The saugers are just now starting to recover , if you remember a few years ago we had back to back poor spawns . I think this is why the eater size fish aren’t as abundent as they should be. If we could get people to take just what they really need to eat, and not just fill freezers. The fishing would recover much faster.

The closing of the 3 dams on Dec 1st was implemented to help the sauger fishing, you are talking about the walleye fishing getting better because of this. What has helped the walleye fishing, is the slot limit that was implemented a few years ago. In all my fishing this fall, I have kept 3 walleyes that were in the slot limit, the rest were released. These are 2 separate issues not to be confused as the same thing. If they want to help the saugers out, they should implement a slot limit on the saugers. This is simply my opinion, but I am entitled to it. The DNR is currently having meetings set up, to decide what they are going to do in the future.They are not sure of the results of this study themselves.I feel my 40 years of walleye fishing entitles me to an input in this issue. If this plan is so succesful, why don’t they close down all the dams?

I have been fishing Pools 13 and 14 for the last 40 years too.My slot size for the last 20 years has been 15 to 18 inches, and everything else went back.I was after the DNR to close the Dam’s and put a slot limit in for a long,long,time.I just wished that they would have left the season closed until April 15th.I talked to a fisheries technician last week at Bellevue and he said that the SLOT LIMIT IS HERE TO STAY.Howerver the data study on the Saugers for the last 5 years shows that closing the Dam’s did not help the overall size or population. Fishing remained open at Guttenburg throughout the winter and the data from the creel studys at Guttenburg, showed that the dams that were closed did not show a size or population difference.In the fall they electro shock the tailrace for Walleye’s and Saugers, and the year class’s for Saugers suggest that overall size and numbers hadn’t change.The Walleyes on the other hand had definitely showed an overall size increase cause of the slot.I wish they would keep the Dams closed but I don’t think they will. There are going to be meetings for us fisherman within the next two weeks. I will try and get the dates to you as quickly as I can get them.You can call the Iowa DNR at Bellevue to get the location, dates and times.563-872-4976 KORN

I belive the reason the 3 dams were selected is water depth. Pools 12 ,13, 14 have very deep wash out holes below there dams. Pool 15 max depth in the tail race area is 18 ft. Pool 16 has a 36 ft hole but most of that deep water is in the restricted area to close to the rollers to fish. I also have to disagree with you on the walleyes not being effected by the dams closing. There are a large number of small eyes that go to the dam. These fish can’t be legally taken , but if they are pulled out of deep water they die anyway. This is just my opinion , but I think both rules have a contributing factor to the overall improvment of the fishery.

Re: Korn I appreciate your comments on this matter, I never intended for things to get carried away like they did. What your saying about the dam closings is what I have been hearing and experiencing myself.I don’t think the dam closings have influenced the sauger population that much and I think the DNR study confirms that. I myself have never kept a walleye over 4 lbs since I have been fishing. The slot limit is the best thing that ever happened to walleye fishing.Some of us fisherman, look forward to the fall as our main fishing time. I simply have too much going on in the summer.I am all in favor of a slot limit for the saugers,I see an awful lot of 12 inch saugers being put in livewells. Thanks to everyone on your opinions.

I also agree thier should be a slot on sauger.I work on the arsenal and i go down to the power dam during my lunch hr, and can’t believe how many 8-12 inch sauger go in the box in the winter months.

My idea on a slot for saugers would be 13 to 19” anything bigger or smaller goes back in the water. Anything over 19” gets released in my boat because these are the big females full of eggs.

i have been saying for years there needs to at least be a minimum length on saugers. too many “seegars” going in the box put a heck of a dent in year classes.
the illinois river has had a 14-inch minimum on saugers for years and still is referred to as a “world class” sauger fishery.
why not do the same with the mighty miss?

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My idea on a slot for saugers would be 13 to 19” anything bigger or smaller goes back in the water. Anything over 19” gets released in my boat because these are the big females full of eggs.

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Sounds great but I would like to have a 1 over 19 just in case someone should get luckly enough and wants a wall hanger.

here in pool 16, i wouldn’t say its an overabundance of sauger but there are plenty of them. but i would like to see some bigger sauger and a slot would help that. i’ve caught 3 or 4 sauger over 20″ over the past few years and would like it to grow.

but i wonder if the reason i catch more sauger on average than walleye in pool 16 is because they overtake walleye habitat since they tend to be the more aggressive of the 2. if they imposed a sauger slot, would that push more walleye out….

or do i just need to work a little harder at finding ole marbleeyes…

Re;Illiniwalli I appreciate your imput on the slot limit for saugers.We are way past due on this.The closing of the dams study is now going on its 6th year with two extensions.The results prove that the closing is not improving the overall populations of sauger.I believe part of the reason it was extended was because the DNR was hoping for different results.Its now time to try something different.Another idea would be to close the season between March 1st and April 15th,which covers the period that these fish are spawning.The DNR is setting up meetings to talk about these issues.

Great discussion gentlemen! It sounds like we are all on the same page as far as wanting to preserve and improve our fishery.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to make the meetings with the DNR, but would love to hear what they have to say, and wonder if they have or are considering a sauger slot. I would go for 13-18″, with one over. Maybe one over per season. I’ve been thinking for eyes and saugers a one over per year system would be great. Issue one permit for an over, similar to deer permits but it could be part of the licensing procedure, so no added expense to speak of…
Just thinking out loud…

john, i’m all for the slots on both eyes and saugers. been way over due, closing off tail waters till at least april 15ish sure would help out the female eyes/saugers spawners. the dnr is so understaffed now john they don’t have any/little time to even think about checking fish limits and slot sizes. there be no way to police that one a season permit. i’ve been to tail waters twice this fall, no matter how many times u go, u see guys putting anything without a white tip on their tail in the box. in this case SIZE does not matter

If you impose a 13″ to 18″ slot on Saugers it won’t make any difference and the reasons are these. The mindless outlaws who put everything in the box are not going to pay attention to a slot limit. Hell they don’t pay attention to the Walleye slot now. The DNR is too busy and to short handed at this time of year to do anything about it. In all my years of fishing the tailwaters of L&D 13, I have NEVER seen a warden after Sept.. And it won’t make a difference with the good guys out there, cause they are already selective obout the fish they keep. I wouldn’t put a fish in my box under 15″ Walleye or Sauger. The raping of the little Saugers has gone on for as long as I can remember and will continue as long as there is no inforcement of the rules. You hit some of those walltiers and (as my buddy calls them) Clinton Picklers in the billfold, they will think twice about keeping 20 or 30 twelve inchers. But until then all the laws in the world won’t stop it. And as for taking down their boat numbers and turning them in. It’s kind of like locking the barn door after all the chickens are dead. It’s eveidence after the fact. If the DNR would send one boat up there for a couple of weekends in the fall and nail those monkeybutts, the word would get out and that stuff would slow down. unfortunatly it will never stop.

Holy smokes I had no idea it was that bad. I only get out 3 or 4 times a year so I haven’t seen all this.

its really bad like big muddy says. and many of them reap the harvest from this great web info site. the last bust i know of at pool 14 dam, was either last year or year before when the dnr was on hiding inside those large pillers filming the spoonbillers. they got busted when they returned to the boat ramp. iknow there is a season on them, but have no clue when it is. too bad they can’t do alittle of this for the walleyes and baby saugers.

I heard through the grape vine that there is a investigation going on- on some individuals with the over possession limits. It will be interesting to see how it all falls out and if it will be published.

thats great news if its happening. from the very few times i fish tailwaters, theres seems to be a large %%%% of locals doing this. a few have been reported and checked. hey maybe they could borrow a national guard person to police the tailwater season. i’m sure they like that much better than their other options.

Guys I thought I would put my 2 cents in here. I try to get over to the Ole Miss as much as I can. We get to fish 13,14 and Muscatine pool. We very easily notice the same people year after year that fish everyday at least during the week during the prime tailwater bite. If you figure 20 boats with two guys per boat limiting (12 fish) everyday or at least 5 days for say 2 months that’s alot of fish taken from that tailwater (or pool). We know for a fact that some of these people do fish everyday. And their goal ? Limit Out!! But as we all know with the way these border states have cut personel (always 1st to go is DNR) those wardens can’t be everywhere. But we can help them out by fowarding along boat #’s when we think something is’nt right! Years ago over here on the Illinois River they put into effect a 14″ limit for sauger along with a 15″ limit for walleye. Almost everyone had the same reaction “Awsome”.
Since then we’ve had real good years for sauger and some down years all because of the spawn and high water. But after fishing this year and alot this summer this river in instore for some fantastic sauger fishing. So many 8-10 ” sauger and alot more walleyes !! Is it because of the 14″ limit or some great spawns ? Probably some of both. Sorry to be so windy.

I fish 14 pretty hard all year.. One of our seasonal trips is the day after Thanksgiving.Me and my buddy will bring along a couple guys that only fish once or twice a year..When I see the Clintonknights doing their thing I get my boat right along side them and ASK THEM WHAT ARE YOU keeping that fish for…..I just start getting vocal and LOUD with everyone around me saying what kind of Bu**sh** is that..Then everybody fishing around me plays buy the book since they figure there is an a**hole here. Works for me…14 has Never seen the Footballs swimming around like they have know. My problem this year was finding fish I could keep…..Won’t stand for it when I witness the violation….

Moo: that usually works if there are alot of boats around, but there are those (they don’t speak english very well)who just don’t care. They drop their anchors right in the middle of a pack of boats and jerk their sonars and pay no attention to laws or limits. I guess they figure that if they are not from this country, they don’t have to abide our laws.