Fishing pressure of this nature and intensity is not restricted to Pool 4. In general one would have to admit that considering all waters, fishing pressure, as well as habitat decline, has without question negatively impacted the fisheries. Exceptions – yes there are. One of the good stories is in certain waters, rivers being one of them, environmental laws passed in the 60s & 70s improved water quality and fisheries.
I appreciate everyone who makes an effort to reduce impact on the fish, in any body of water. I am however going to continue to fish the river, my few times each spring & fall. Case in point, I am bringing my nephew out Fri afternoon & Saturday morning.
Inge

Taz,
as others have indicated there are numerous threads on trolling motors. Some general thoughts:
– 12V. For a 14ft boat thats all you need.
– Thrust: Generally more is better. One consideration is
is battery usage. In your boat will you have 1 battery
for everything(like live wells, depth finders, etc); or 2?
If 1 you have to consider overall battery drain, as in
that case you likely don’t have a charger off your out board.
– Transom or bow mount. Its always work better to pull a boat rather than push a boat. So if you intend on fishing from the bow, get a bow mount. If you intend on fishing from the stern get a transom mount.

Hope this helps.

Inge

I haven’t fished the river near as much as most the folks on this site…having said that the best day, as far as numbers of fish, was using purple jigs, with minnows, at Genoa. This has to be 5 years ago now. Pretty much same time of year. We were dressing up the jig with a bit of plastic, but just a small piece of worm pushed up onto the hook shank. We used both purple & brown plastic pieces that day, with similar results.
Interesting thing is I have thrown purple in several other pools since then and never had the same reaction. Don’t know why.

BTW: As I recall we were using erie style jigs.

Inge

This topic has been a thread previously a number of times. While I don’t fish the river as often as most folks on this site, my experience has been during the real busy days, this happens on a regular basis. If you are going to fish the river, below the dams, its just something you have to deal with. The interesting part is many who do this don’t really see it as an “offense”. I have had folks come right up next to me, and start talking to me as if we were in the parking lot of a mall. It was obvious that from their prespective their actions were not out of the norm. For those like myself who most often fish “up north” this would be a real culturally “no no”.
I guess you get to view it as a “tolerance improvement” exercise .
Inge

Jeff,
my deepest sympathy to you and your wife. As a father I can not imagine the pain which and your wife must now be feeling. I can only hope that a day will come, when you are on the water, the sun dancing off the trees as it sets, a warm breeze will cross your cheek, and you will know he is there.
God Bless you,
Tim Ingebritson

Same, or worse, for me on Tuesday. Fished noon to 6pm, spending most of the day casting riprap & sand flats. Nothing. Only fish I caught were up at the dam with the crowd doing the veritcal jig thing…and even there only 2 sauger and 1 crappie.
Lot of eagles around, and geese as well. There was a group of 3 “old timers” in a older ProV, carring on with jokes and cutting up…its was a real hoot listening to them. and.. alot better than the office.
Best of luck to you.
Inge

Umm sorry but the jpg I tried to attached didn’t show in my previous post…will have to try again…
Inge

Gents,
great idea. While I might not have many to post its alot of fun looking at them. So just for fun… here is your truely 10 days ago, mucking around with a buddy in the Gulf. Didn’t catch anything much, but whats the fish?

I am on my 2nd Minkota, this one is a 24V(previous was a 12V). Both have the clunk you mention, when:
– you have the drive set about 5 or higher
– you let off the pedal quickly..or
– tap the pedal quickly

The motor is installed correctly, the shaft doesn’t touch the boat anywhere, and they both did it from the day I installed them, on 2 different boats(current is a ProV).
Yes it is annoying….darn so at times.

Inge

Since the cold snap started several weeks ago, even the smallest swift streams around my place are completely/mostly frozen over. However 2 bald eagles have been hanging around all winter. As far north as I am(mid WI), I have found this interesting. I was actually thinking that perhaps the harshness of the winter was providing them food via greater mortality among other animals.
The good news about whatever is affecting those eagles further south in this state, is that so far it has remainded contained in a small area, even though its been around ~10 years.

Reel Guy,
In Fishman ran a similar article 2 years ago, but in regards to Walleye fishing. AT that time I didn’t have, nor had I ever used plastic swam baits. So I decided to try them. I purchased commerically available baits, and a friend of mine makes plastics(he posts on this site) and made me up some custom ones.
I ran 3 tests on these baits early in 2001: 1 day fishing alone on Pool 4 for Walleye in March, and twice fishing for bass with a group of guy here in Central WI who have a small fishing league – where weekly we have a frienfly competion(no money – just bragging rights for the day). My results were as follows:
Walleye fishing: That day I ran 2 types of baits:
– 4″ swim baits in various colors
– jig with a 4″ ring worms, dressed with a minnow.
The Ringworm/minnow combination produced much better.
Bass Fishing: I decided on these 2 days to use the swim baits exclusively to see how they compared to all the various baits the other guys were using(2 guys to a boat, 6 boats fishing).
1st Day: Lake is natural, fairly deep, mostly a Walleye & Smallmouth fishery. Was 2nd week of May, cold windy/rainy day. No one boated alot of fish, but I boated both the most in numbers, as well as largest bass for the day.
So they did well.
2nd Day: Lake is an impoundment, moderate depth, mostly LM Bass, timber being the predominant structure. 1st week of June. Lots of baits thrown that day, Senkos on swallow structure was the best producer. Basically I got my tail kicked. We were in my boat, and the guy behind me would pull bass off of structure I just fished with the swim bait, using a Senko.

After that I have used them on and off, but not done anything I would consider proof of whether they were better or not. I will say such baits have not become one of my gotos, say as are various Jig/plastic, or Senkos in similar fishing spots.

Hope this helps.
Inge

Couple of 10 lber’s – sheezam I would be really happy to land one!!! Going to hit it again on Friday, a buddy poured me some custom color ringworms to match what some of the folks have shown here in pictures. Ummm how come I don’t think color will be the determining factor in regards to success….
Thanks for the report Steve, and best of luck to all.
Inge

Heh Jake,
it will be interesting to hear James’s reply.
I can give some insight as to how walleye react during the spawn on lakes and flowages. Since the mid 80’s a group of us have traveled to the Chippewa Flowage for a 5 day trip for the opening of the WI inland lake season. Depending on the weather you might hit the spawn right on, or be post spawn. During the years we land right on top of the spawn there are several rock bars & islands one can really load up on walleye. I am talking 100+ fish a day(we release guys so no unpleasant reminders needed). However of those 100 fish, 90 of them will be small milking males in the 12-15 inch class. You might catch 1 or 2 larger (20″ +) females. So… while certainly not conclusive, that book you are reading has matched up pretty well with our experience. We seem to do better with larger fish if the opener is well past spawn(and yes past the “post spawn”).

Its very interesting learning how this river fishing works, and I hope you have a great spring Jake – and alot of fun.
BTW: I have a 14 year old nephew named Jake who is a fishing maniac, so I enjoy seeing your posts.

Inge

Heh Steve,
So exactly how crowded is crazy? I am definately coming down. I could come on down Thursday or Friday – or – Saturday to save a Vacation day. But if its really insane I would just as soon come during the week.

BTW how much snow did you guys get down that way? enough to cause any measurable increase in the current/levels?

Thanks Inge

Gimpy,
since I started using super braids, I tie direct. I agree with Joe that for the most part the Fat Free Shads run well without tuning. In the past I did use swivels I thought with some cranks they had an impact on the the lure’s action which in some cases was good, and some cases not. You really need to experiment with each individual crank(s) to see if a swivel or leader impacts its action
while in use, and if so in what regard(dampen or excite).

Inge

Diddo and Diddo again.
I work for the same company as BBBane, and have fished that section and know several other folks that do as well. Locally it is referred to as the “flats”. It has been over fished. There was a day when a guy could twitch cranks and boat fish all day.
Inge

Joe,
I have a number of those cranks in different sizes. While I don’t do much in the way of trolling, I have found them to be effective cranks for multi species, as a casting bait. Northern, bass(LM), and walleye. I like the depth at which they dive, as well as their strong action.
What time of year did you have success with them?
Inge

Thanks Big Walleye!
Today I was using 8lb Berkley XL. I also have PowerPro in 10 & 20lbs, but usually don’t use it until I start bass fishing in the summer months(ie: its a good slop & lilly pad line). I was throwing 1/4 once slider hooks with 5 inch Kalin grubs, and also tried some 4″ barlows ring worms,
and a few hand poured 4″ shad bodies.
I need some new line anyway!
Inge

Thanks James & Rivereyes,
I will use this next time. Faster sets, more like what I am use to doing during the summer months on inland lakes,
when the fish are more agressive.

And to Rivereyes…. I wasn’t complaining, it was a GREAT day to be out, tons of eagles, some mallards, some geese, and a pile of Merganzers. I love watching them.
And heh – I could have been working!!!

Best of luck to both of you – and if you are fishing tomorrow in the ole chilly backside turny, hope you latch onto some good ones.

Inge

Guys,
thanks for the replies.
Fact is I am mainly a lake fisherman. I have been hitting
the river, pools 4 thru 9 for duck hunting for ~10 years. Last 3 or 4 springs a buddy of mine and I hit the river, usually pools 7 or 8, for a day walleye fishing. We have caught a few using jigs&minnows but no hogs. So I started reading this site, and hope to use some of the info you guys are talking about.
I plan on going on pool 4 in the near future, and use Everts as the launch site. So… if you see a Black&Tan Lund 1775 ProV, dual console, 150optimax – that would be me, so say hello.
Thanks again…
Inge

Shorelunch,
I went thru the same decision making process over the last 2-3 years. Many of my fishing buddies, most in the same age group(40’s) had made the switch, or addition of, baitcasters to their gear. I tried a few times and ended up with messes and thought for a long time that baitcasters weren’t worth the hassle.
Well after years of watching these guys(and others) I finally broke down, bought one(and Won another !) and spent last winter practicing with them in the shop. Advice given to me was to get a reasonable handle on roll casting, and pitching into a small circle.
I can tell you after 1 year of using baitcasters, one of them on a 7ft rod became my goto rod by the middle of the summer.
You can:
– cast farer
– drop the lure in much more quietly
– use with numerous lures types, from surface lures like a slop frog, to deep/large jigs, to big plastics on a hooks(eg: senkos), spinner baits,… all sorts.

I used them last season with line as lite as 8lb mono; up to 20lb fluro’s. Only thing I won’t use them for is real lite weight lures(eg: finesse type fishing)

As a shore fisherman items like a slop frog, or large plastics, are likely items you use regularily. So if you already have some good spinning reels, go out and get yourself a baitcaster on a reasonable rod. Then use the remainder of the winter months to practice, practice, practice.

Best of luck to you,
Inge