Boy, can’t believe how long it has been since I posted a fishing trip-so figured better late than never.
As most know, this summer on the ole Mississip has been a Dr. Jekyl-Mister Hyde affair that has left even the most seasoned guide tearing out his hair. Just as the system starts to stabilize, along comes dirty, high water again and the mess starts all over.
Thankfully, this past week has been weak on rain and even with higher flows and stage the river is starting to clean up and once again stabilize. Still, high water in the summer can be a frustrating affair for most other than Randy,Dean,Marty,Dustin and the likes (even that crowd has been singing the blues), but these conditions also give a guy with nothing better to do and expectations kept on the low side something to do and places to explore. Explore being the key. We as anglers get caught in predictable ruts and when ole Ma Nature throws us a curveball we tend to be slow to adapting and recognizing the changes. I know-it’s August on the Mississippi and coupled with high water, well in a nutshell, that alone can be enough to hit the beach instead of the river.
But if you are willing to explore, the fish as still there and willing to eat. On the day, 15-25 eater walleyes came over the side of the boat(forgot the net) bassmaster style. I started the day by pilfering all the sweets I could find at the Evert’s baitshop (the brownies were AWESOME-thanks Karly!) and then headed downriver to the head of the lake. In my exploring, what I looked for was backwater channels that at normal stage and flow would be high and dry. These regions had the perfect amount of flow well as better water clarity due to being off the main channel. At least 3 times yesterday I had doubles. Presentation was 1/16th oz dragging jigs (orange and blue were the best) with crawlers being the preferred bait since that was all I had with me. All fish came in 4 feet of water or less(one 18 inch sauger came out of 2FOW)! A quick note was most the fish were striking short, so in effort to combat this, I reduced the length of the crawler to a max. of 1/2 inch past the bend of the hook-basically the length most would go “time to rebait”. A number of passes convienced me they would eat this just as readily since I would put the bite more on the active side. And, as I said, not a soul around. All fish were 14-18 inches, and since my expectations were low-I left my camera at home.
So, If you are like Woody and starting to “see snakes” from not fishing enough, grab your boat and imagination and go exploring. As always, put in at Evert’s and Dean will give the scoop on the latest bite that may be developing. With the river stabilizing, the bite should continue to improve-even with it being August! 
Jeremy
All and all, I ended up down by the head of the lake by the end of the day.