Why am I not catching fish?

I need help!

I’ve attached images of the area in question.

Water: Des Moines River, Des Moines IA
Water Temp: 47 Degrees (11/2/2014)

Fished the DSM on Saturday from 1-7pm, and Sunday from 8pm-3am.Live bait rigs, hair jigs, blades,cranks,minnows, crawlers, jigging raps, snap raps, rippin raps, plastics, you get the picture. Pitched jigs, crawlers, moxis……

5 Carp over 10lbs (chrome/black #7 Rippin Rap) and a few good sized White Bass.

NOT. ONE. WALLEYE.

There is a dam 3.25 miles up river, but only the occasional walleye here and there.

I have marked big schools of fish, what I have found to be white bass and carp… smallie’s/crappies hitting the surface in 8-12′ range, and a large quantity of fish in the 20-25′ range. I have not attempted to fish that deep. The current on the rock reef is too swift to anchor, but fish are stacked on top…. Would the walleyes be on that reef, or down deep in the 25-35′ range? Those are the only two areas I have not fished.

Look at the pics – your input would be much appreciated.

WW

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Are you fishing on the bottom? Like, within one foot of the bottom with jigs – either minnows or plastics? Are you fishing very slow? Slow and slower is the key up here on the river. Let the current do it’s thing. Add very little movement to the bait.

When I couldn’t catch walleye for awhile on the Mississippi, I finally figured out that I needed to be on the bottom or close to it. That was the game-changer for me. The rest is just details.

Also, there may be no walleye this time of year in your section of the river. They will traditionally migrate up river to the dam or holes at this time of year.

Finally, the Des Moines River is not known as a walleye factory. It used to be very dirty from farm run-off and other nastiness. I know people sometimes catch them, but when I lived in Iowa, mum was the word on how or where.

flanders51 wrote:

Finally, the Des Moines River is not known as a walleye factory.

That is debatable. :>) :>)

What is the forage in the river?
In Pool 4 of the Miss, it is shad.
Shad spawn in the fall.
They migrate upstream till they get to a dam.
The walleyes follow the forage.
I follow the walleyes.

My advice, and something I need to tell myself often is: Stop trying everything under the sun, find one or two spots you’ve got confidence in, pick your favorite presentation and fish the s@#/ out of it.

Huntindave wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>flanders51 wrote:</div>
Finally, the Des Moines River is not known as a walleye factory.

That is debatable. :>) :>)

There are plenty of walleyes in the river (so I hear – I am used to fishing the Cedar/Shell Rock Rivers and have done very well. I have not changed my presentation on the DSM, which may be my problem. I have caught more walleyes on the Cedar this year and I have only fished it once………

riverrat56 wrote:

My advice, and something I need to tell myself often is: Stop trying everything under the sun, find one or two spots you’ve got confidence in, pick your favorite presentation and fish the s@#/ out of it.

Good advice.I fished each lure for about 15″ and then changed it up. Is that not long enough?

My go to would have to be a 1/8-1/4 oz black/Tinsel Hutch hair Jig.

eyekatcher wrote:

What is the forage in the river?
In Pool 4 of the Miss, it is shad.
Shad spawn in the fall.
They migrate upstream till they get to a dam.
The walleyes follow the forage.
I follow the walleyes.

Shad. The picture I posted is the deepest hole before the dam with shallow water nearby, and has sand, mud, rock, trees, and current seams in the viscinity. Everything upstream is 5-6′, and not much too it.

flanders51 wrote:

Are you fishing on the bottom? Like, within one foot of the bottom with jigs – either minnows or plastics? Are you fishing very slow? Slow and slower is the key up here on the river. Let the current do it’s thing. Add very little movement to the bait.

When I couldn’t catch walleye for awhile on the Mississippi, I finally figured out that I needed to be on the bottom or close to it. That was the game-changer for me. The rest is just details.

Also, there may be no walleye this time of year in your section of the river. They will traditionally migrate up river to the dam or holes at this time of year.

Finally, the Des Moines River is not known as a walleye factory. It used to be very dirty from farm run-off and other nastiness. I know people sometimes catch them, but when I lived in Iowa, mum was the word on how or where.

I prefer to vertical jig. I have done well on the Mississippi and the Cedar/Shell Rock (much smaller) and even lakes — but the DSM has been the worst by far.

Imo no that is not enough time, case in point. I scratched out a limit Sunday on the Mn River, it took me almost 2 hours to boat my first fish and I never left the area I was in or changed presentation. After boating the first sauger it took 4 more hours to catch 5 more. By no means good fishing but it was better than everyone else I talked to on that river lately

Beef up the plastic and pitch. You should be able to hover that bait on bottom, much slower than if you were to slip with current and vertical. Or anchor upstream of the eddy, then you’d really be able to stationary pick em off, with the bait moving laterally.

its still a bit early for them to be in the big holes. but they should be close. the river is pretty shallow the rest of the way up to scott st dam. they won’t really stack up in there until its colder. I would be pitching jigs to the rocks and slipping the seams with jigs and minnows right now. big minnows. trolling cranks around those shorelines should also give you a better idea of where fish stack. cover a lot of water. make sure you are on the bottom.

the DSM river has a lot of big walleyes in there but they are all stocked fish. they don’t naturally produce. they seem to still make the same runs as those that do though. I imagine that spot can be a honey hole when its really cold.

Heading back out tonight…. 1900-0200 hopefully. Not sure how the full moon will impact things, but it can’t get any worse! Honestly, i think alot of it boils down to confidence… and I have very little after getting my nuts kicked in so badly this summer. Never have I ever………..

Piicked up some 4″ Gulp Shad, and a variety of larger shad-style baits that resemble the local gizzard shad population very closely. I don’t have minnows and probably won’t have a chance to grab some — Going all artificial tonight. I fished for a few hours yesterday AM…. 13-15″ Smallies were inhaling 5″ Berkley Havoc shad. It was on a much smaller river however. Hoping tonight is the night to put a few eaters in the livewell and get things turned around.

I appreciate the input of everyone on the site — will report back tomorrow.

@HND, check your PM!

WW

Walleyes tend to love rocks, wood and deep holes. My 1st thought was that I bet some walleyes would move up out of that deeper hole onto those rocks to feed at low light or evening. Pitching or dragging plastics or stick baits might work. Vertical jigging or slow dragging the deep hole during the day. If that dont work try something else. Half the fun of the river is figuring out the bite.

They tend to also sit in the current breaks. Look for spots very close to a hole that has current going around it let your bait float right next to the break. I find this time of year a big plastic tipped with a minnow works great. Just don’t work it to fast. Cold water slow fish.

riverrat56 wrote:

My advice, and something I need to tell myself often is: Stop trying everything under the sun, find one or two spots you’ve got confidence in, pick your favorite presentation and fish the s@#/ out of it.

My partner and I went out last night and did just that. Fished from 9-1am on same stretch of River. First hour we worked over a few eddys very thoroughly. I pitched plastics and hair jigs while he would work the area over with cranks and [plastics. No luck for either of us.

We moved to an inside river bend with deep water near by and worked the 3-6′ over pretty well. Nice mix of rock and sand bottom approx. 50 yards long and 20 yards wide. Fished for about 90 minutes and moved on… Still nothing.

Finally, we went back to the area shown on the map above. Focused on 3-9′, pitched into slight current and to the shorelines as well. Goose egg! @ 0100 it was 28 degrees, our lines guides were frozen and we decided to call it quits.

Take a look at the snapshots of the HDS. The first picture is the inside bend we worked very thoroughly.

The other photos are pictures I took (see Google Earth a pic above, ref. the deep water) as we were picking up and heading back to the ramp.

What do you think?

WW

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bump.

Did you ever figure out the fish? I saw the Vandalia ramp was full of boat trailers this morning. I don’t river fish myself, just drive by that ramp every day on the way to my shop.

tmorgz –

I hooked into a few 11-12″ crappie and two eater walleyes, a 15″ and a fat 21″. That was two weeks ago just before a storm rolled through.

I have not fished Vandalia since – They opened the gates and the water jumped up a few feet.

We waded a 1 mile stretch of the Raccoon River last night from 8-2am and dissected every square inch of it… neither one had a nibble. Buddy went out this morning below the dam and had the same result.

Aside from our POOR (at best) fishing, they just released a warning for excessive Nitrate levels in the water, @ 13.7 ppm for the coon and 12.8 ppm on the DSM. I wonder what impact that has on fishing, if any? A quick Google search indicated that 10 ppm or higher is considered toxic and unsafe to drink…………..

Thanks for the update. I saw the nitrate levels are unacceptably high and now talk of a lawsuit against the DNR.