Thanks for posting some info on Pool 14. With twin girls under 2, I’ll be keeping the boat home til there’s a better bite! For what it’s worth, we should be getting 1-3 inches of rain over the next week or so, so the flow on the big river should pick up a bit. I’m not sure that’s good, but it is about time!
Cheers,
Andy

We are calling for flooding in the long range. Our spring snowmelt flood outlooks are available on the http://www.weather.gov/dvn website. Massive snowpack upstream offers a very high risk of major flooding…

Let’s call this an “XL” REPLY

Ok this is more or less a DITTO report from yesterday Oct 7th, but hey, I did make it out for once. Action was very slow, the flow very fast, and debris made for all kinds of headaches. I didn’t get a single fish boated until around sunset, when we found a 15″ walleye along the Camanche marina rip-rap casting a silver wallydiver in about 4 feet of water. Late evening water temps were 69F. Forecast wise, you betcha we are in for some real, water chilling colder weather. Wind + Chilly air + clear nights should bring things back to normal soon!!

Your arms are aching….my hearts aching, … I just can’t seem to get out on the water this week! Fall stripers/white are (all due respect for Mr. Walleye) about the most fun you can have on the river!

Sticking to my guns here… We are 3 days since my post and Clinton and Davenport have yet to hit 90. Ok, the rain’s still on track for this weekend and next week. It’ll either be around here, or farther north. Either way, that means better flow, and some boost in depth. For everyone’s sake, I really hope these rains hit south of Minneapolis so they can keep the flow down near 35W bridge operations. They need rains, but not in that metro right now.

My father-in-law has tried fishing the sand pits, as they were desribed on the IL side, south of Albany. He said they didn’t get any action in that area, but did get some crappies as they entered and exited that area. What do folks usually target in the pits? (though right now, low flow is probably going to keep folks without an hovercraft out)

The weather will be rather warm this week, but don’t count on 90s every day. We’re going into a more active pattern soon, and should see more clouds and chances for showers and thundestorms (mainly north of pool 14) starting Thursday. So, I won’t argue against the dog days slowdown, but I’m not on board with the hot and dry forecast that other forecasters are going out with these days. (notice mid 90s have been in the forecast off and on all summer, but never seem to materialize around pool 14?)…. this is my opinion that it will once again be more active, with temps generally in the upper 80s to around 90. Cheers from the soapbox talkin’ weatherman!

I’ll try and work on this project with “low-tech” to get it on here. My phone doesn’t talk to my computer, so I think I’ll have to shoot a digital photo of my phone screen and see if it turns out. My luck it will look no less real than a fuzzy bigfoot or nessy photo

Big head carp are a problem, but it’s the Asian carp(silver carp) are likely going to be a bigger factor. Unfortunately, the silvers love cold water, and may become a horrible problem in the great lakes as they take out the lower end of the food chain (plankton). The silver carp are the ones that jump when frightened. Check out youtube or other searches for video of these nasty fish.

I must say, this report will help fill a few livewells, but surely will fill the river with boats!! Cheers on a good day out John!!

There’s always two sides right.. We get the forecast of storms right, and a few use that to get a jump on screwin people. Good luck with all the repairs, and we’ll keep issuing the warnings. Cheers. (FYI.. I don’t forecast up there, but farther south in IA/IL/MO.)

Well, water temps should be on a gradual rise again for the next 2 weeks, and possibly stable to slow rise there after. The weather pattern is much more typical in the next 2 weeks, with only a few periods of cold days, with many other days seeing highs in the 60s and lows in the upper 30s to mid 40s. Rain should add to the flow by Fri-Sun. Cheers from the fishin-weatherman.

You guys are smart to avoid the big river for a while yet. In addition to the ice, we’ll be getting some big time rains across all of the upper midwest in the week ahead. This will either keep water levels high or make them go up even farther. Fast flow for a while! Anyhow, temps look good for anything else outdoors, so hopefully somewhere will be fishable. Cheers.

Really it’s just a simple old V bottom, aluminum boat with a small mercury motor. I’ll be fixing it up over the months and years like everyone else does. Thankfully I live rather close to the Miss, so I can put in within a quick distance of any target(wingdams/LD dams).

sign me up!! This has been and still is the best fishing website out there! AE

My father-in-law and I spent a week trying for walleye and crappie in the Chetek area this past summer, and like the post above, the walleye action was nil nadda zip. However, the crappie action was non stop, even on a gusty post cold front day. Limiting out was not a problem for the tasty little guys.

Thanks for the “good fishing” post John! It’s been a while since I was on the water, but with luck, I should be able to try for some soon near the Quad Cities. Water temps are running above normal for winter, and I wonder what effect if any that will have on early spring fishing around here. At this point, I do not see any periods of arctic air headed our way (or even up by Minneapolis for that matter) in the coming weeks. It will be interesting to see whether the “other shoe” drops at all the rest of the winter…

Tuesday on 14: We’ll it wasn’t my day for walleye I guess, and for the period from 8 am to 3 pm, it was a skunk of a trip out. (though the weather was nice asside from the brisk wind) We fished ringworms, jig/minnow, and wallydivers with nothing expect a couple good size bass taking them. Looked like nobody was doing that well, even at the dam while we were there. However, at 3 pm, we were thrown a bone from Ma-Nature as we cruised past seagulls feeding at the point of the wingdam across from the Clinton Marina. The next half hour saw non-stop wiper/white bass fishing on crankbaits. Most fish were in the 1 lb range, with a few over 2. They sure can make a slow day turn around for ya!!! The grass was an annoyance, but didn’t keep us from fishing any one particular area.

Big Thanks Guys!!! I’m headed out in the morning, and have at this point, a pretty good hope for seeing some action out there, other than winning the grassmasters tournement.

Thanks for the info Guys!! I really appreciate it, especially you John! I’ll check in again before going out Tuesday, but for sure, I’ll post whatever our experience is after we get back.

Thanks Kornking! We’ll definitely have to get out on the water here sometime sooner or later. Especially now that my boat budget has been diverted to diaper budget! (you’re old V bottom is looking pretty sweet these days!) … I do pitty your turkey population out there in Mt Vernon

Both… Gotta turn the boat around anyway, why quit fishing?

Thanks for the good words everybody! Life’s been laking fishing lately with the new arrival , but I think I’ve been awake for more sunsises than I ever saw on fishing trips.

Congratulations Joe!!! My wife and I will be just behind you in the baby line, as she’s due in just 2 weeks. It’ll be our first, and either way, I’m dreaming of taking us all out on the ol’ Miss. Give me a ring/pm when you get a day this spring and will have to hit the wings! Congrats again!

Thanks for all the good tips guys! I’ll be looking into several of them and hopefully reporting some great fishing from one this summer! Until then, I’ll be cruising the pools on the Mississippi and snags on the Rock closer to home (Quad Cities area). Believe it or not, I don’t think I’ll be “traveling” for walleye this year, as most of the big fish I caught last year were local, not Canadian. i.e. much cheaper to find!!

Hey Mike,

There’s lots of great sites out there. I think you can find wind info on the weather service one if you look. Maybe take a look at: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ifps/ifps.php?site=dvn

you can display wind data on the map here, and see what it’s like exactly where you’ll be. There’s a link letting you center it closer to where you live in the upper right, and pull-down menus to select what you want to display.

Radar data is available on that and all nws sites in the left side menu bar. You can view any radar in the country from that menu.

Good luck!

Hey Dave,
Those websites are all fine, but I do have my preferences. The weatherunderground and .gov (national weather service) are kept up to date by computer data and human input, while much of the time, the weather channel and accuweather are very dependant on computer model data…which is fine much of the time, but can fall way off of a good forecast if not check properly. I like human input in my forecasts! Anyhow, nobody’s perfect, but the nws site and weatherunderground are the way to go. Since it also has lots of river info, I think the nws page is best. (yeah, I do work there but that’s still my opinion.)

Hey Mossydan, Yeah, you’re pretty much right on, though I wouldn’t call them fronts from the east, but just easterly flow(wind). This occurs as a large low pressure system moves from west to east, but south of your area. The counterclockwise circulation produces many ours of east winds, and light precip(sometimes heavier). Pretty much anytime we get clouds and rain or snow/ice in the winter that lasts more than a day, you can bet you have low pressure moving through Missouri or Illinois to your south. Keep up to date on the forecast the next day or two, as the “warmup”, may be much less than even what I said yesterday. ICE/sleet/rain and snow monday night through tuesday will be a threat (all be it not too cold), then the bottom drops out for thursday and beyond!

Yep, typical Iowa, up and down every three days. We’ll it does look like the cold weathe will try to stick around for around a week (at this point), but that’s really difficult to say since by the time we forecast out 7 days, I wouldn’t put any money where my forecast mouth is usually. Closer in, the way I still see Tuesday and Wednesday is mild(30s), but potentially icy for pools between 15 and 9. Either way, it won’t be pleasant mild weather, as that’s pretty darn rare in January, and never seems to occur with an east wind ever. Anyway, enjoy it for what it is; by the time we hit or go well below zero thursday night, 30s and icy rains won’t seem so bad!!