Watching the weather forcasts of 40-50 deg. temps mid week & not being in the boat for nearly 3 months meant I wanted a open water fix & I needed it badly.Cabin fever had set in & my wife knew when I was rigging up rods & going through my tackle selection that it wasnt just my usual spring cleaning. 
I had my sights targeted on open water specifically P4.
I hit the water tues around 8am with a idea in mind of doing some adventuring to see what parts of the river were available or accessable to fish & looking for possibly warmer waters along with watching my electronics for groups of fish that might be migrating up from the lake that may be receptive to my generous offerings.I found fish most everywhere I went,but they seemed scattered throughout the water column. I saw a couple decent groups of fish in areas that were holding 3′-4′ off the bottom.This meant to me a Dubuque rig or 3-way crank combo pulled slowly through these fish might turn some of these fish into biters.But only if they are of the right species? 
Water temps were hovering everywhere I went between 34.5 – 35 deg which means slow is likely going to be the key on presentations.Making it tougher was the wind is pushing me up river from the south much faster than needed to be effective on getting fish to bite.I tried these 2 techniques first in a couple different locations & was ready to try the more verticle approach as Im trying to hold at .3 -.4 mph pull upstream & the wind when gusting is pushing me 1.3 – 1.5mph. Suddenly a solid feeling fish hooks up on a 3-way crank combo. 
My first open water fish of the season & it comes just a few feet short of the boat to come unbuttoned without a glimpse. 
Now I have to give this area a couple more passes as I was marking decent fish. I started pulling upstream again to have another SOLID hookup. 
This time I am keeping a close eye on my drag & linecounter because I just want to make sure I get a look at this beast. A 10+ lb behemoth emerges boat side, 
with a big old set of rubbery lips. 
Now im thinking a definate change in my tactics & location are in order. Its now close to 2pm & I was looking to get my string stretched & not just by old rubber lips! I had been avoiding the dam area because I knew a small floatilla of boats would be there,but thinking if I could possibly skim the outside of the scour hole fishing under 30′ depths,avoiding the larger deeper group of boats I could possibly get a few hookups of the species I was trying to target.
Breaking out the verticle rods armed with 1/4 – 5/16oz jigs rigged with small plastics allowed me to hover over fish with minimal bottom contact allowing me to bring about 15 fish to the boat in the next 3 hours.
My intentions of possibly returning wed. with a chance of having a guest I figured now we had a decent idea of what might be working & an area to catch a few quick fish then possibly move on to other areas looking to possibly improve on fish size or refine techniques a bit further.
Returning wed. around 10am & getting on the river by 10:30 I opted for going back to the dam area to hopefully get my fishing partner Eric on a quick verticle bite for a couple hours then try other spots as he needed to depart by about 2pm. I could again try other spots once he left.We struggled to put fish of any size or numbers in the boat wed. but we did see a few handfulls of eater sized fish being caught,which for the most part were being caught deeper then I prefer to fish,over 30′ deep. I did manage to catch a handfull of smaller fish on a number of different offerings I tried but Eric just couldnt seem to find the right recipe to get hooked up. 
The bite overall is still a bit slow,but considering its still only mid feb. & feeling more like late march with water temps still hovering around 35 deg. fish are there & can be caught by keeping it small & slow. = KISS
As allways a quick stop in for a visit with Dean to pick up on any sort of wisdom he might be willing to share before embarking on your adventure, or any of the other fine bait shop attendees,while possibly paying attention to what might be on the counter for offerings to the fish gods to possibly improve your catch rates. 
His selection of offerings & wisdom were spot on to what might be currently happening on the river while I was there. 
The offerings I found to catch fish on my outings were,1/4-5/16 oz jigs & small plastics (paddle tails & small flukes)size or weight depending on depth & current flow you are in, jig with meat,Dubuque rig,slip sinker/lindy style rig & simple hook & split shot sinker rig all caught fish. I did manage to bring home a nice batch of eater sized fish for dinner on my outings. Now the cookie goddess (wife)will hopefully be cooking up some of her homemade goodies to share with Dean & the baitshop crew on my next outing.
If your on the fence about making a trip to pool 4 during the cooler water periods you may want to consider giving a KISS to the old Miss. to possibly get the string stretched. As it can seem keeping it small,simple & slow can be the way to go. 
Im sure in the near future there will possibly be other photo ops of gals of her stature. 
Thats the beauty of fishing the old miss.You just never know what might be coming boatside to greet you next. 
