I agree, there are too many times I see people using blade baits and foul hooking fish that end up in the cooler. It’s not hard to see why some people think blade baits are just a glorified snagging hook. In fact, last year below a local dam, the DNR was trying to outlaw the use of blade baits because people were keeping fish they snagged.

I like to use them because often they will produce more numbers when other presentations fail. When the fishing is tough and many people switch to three-ways and minnows, I bust out the blades and go to work.

The way I work them is similar to James, I lift them sharply about a foot or two off the bottom and then follow them back until they settle. I may repeat this a few times, then I lift it a couple of inches from the bottom and hold the bait there for a few seconds, many times the fish will strike the blade while it is motionless. If nothing happens, I start the process over.

I think the most important aspect of using blades is to follow the bait back to the bottom. I see fisherman just let it freefall and then jerk again, this is why they snag fish. If you follow the bait back, you can feel the strikes and set the hook immediatly.

Give them a try, it can be very effective.

Trevor

I was there on Friday and fished the rocks on the east side of the dam. Fishing was slow, I did manage to get two 19-inch walleyes and one smaller fish. I only got one sauger, but the crappies and white bass kept me busy. I was using 1/8 once jig with sassy shads or power grubs. There was a guy fishing near me that was using minnows and he had a few nice sauger.

I have had some success on the Cedar below Cedar Rapids, areas like Palisades Park, the mouth of Indian Creek, and the roller dam have all produced some ‘eyes for me. I live in Iowa City so my ‘local’ fishery is the Iowa River. There is some great fishing to be had on this river for walleyes and saugeyes and this time of year produces some big fish! But I would have to agree with Big B and say that even though there is good fishing near home, a trip to the Mississippi is well worth the travel time. The fish always seem to cooperate, the scenery is beautiful, and you just never know what will be at the end of your line.

I would look for clearer water. Black crappies feed better than whites in stained water. I would agree that they are more aggresive and have bigger mouths, so using a bigger bait may help. I don’t fish alot for crappies but the whites I catch mainly come from some type of cover whereas most of the black crappies are suspended in open water.

I have used ‘one-eyed shiners’ with some success on the river. I like to use these and other blade baits when the fishing slows because it seems to trigger a bite. In fact, there have been times that everyone in the boat starts catching more fish when jigging, if someone is also ‘ripping’ a shiner or blade bait.

I know alot of fisherman think that these types of baits only ‘snag’ the fish but if you know how to fish them properly, that rarely happens. If you keep a tight line on the drop, instead of letting the bait free-fall, you catch most of the fish in the mouth.