Really appreciate the info. Sounds like a simple program. May have to get out this Saturday night. See what’s happening. I did try some larger sucker minnows and that seemed to be no difference in preference durning the day between sucker minnows and fat heads. Was hoping it’d help get bigger bites but it was really split 50/50 between fat heads and suckers. The ones I did get at least…
Got out Friday. Slow. 5 eyes. 1 massive 19” white bass and a good size pike.biggest eye was only 22”. Durning this time and later yet, do the eyes tend to be deeper? All summer i was fairly dialed. Averaging 40-60 eyes in a solid day out 2-3 guys. Now I’m struggling to put a decent day together. Tried the usual community spots but mainly tried and caught fish durning the day in 7-14 foot. Didn’t try much deeper than 16-18 yet.
Got out today. Heck of a half day for numbers. 30-40 eyes for myself and a coworker.biggest was a 24 with about a dozen fish in the 20-22” range.
Anyone been out recently? If so how’s it shaping up? Cooler weather I have to imagine fish will start picking up and moving a touch deeper?
Finally a nice eye. Got out this AM before the traffic. Managed 71 fish with 22 of them being eyes. 26.5” and second best was a 22” after that lots of 15-18” with a few sub 15”.
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Got out again. Fishing was very good. Again nothing big but 25-30 eyes. Most sub 15” with 6 between 16-18” lots and lots of sheep head and white bass as well as a few crappie, lots of smallies, 4 pike, and a common carp. 4 hours of fishing and a total of close to 60 fish it was fun. Still shallow. Sub 10 foot.
Matt, I bet you do. The smallies have been in that spot for a few weeks. A guy can blow through a scoop of fat heads if he so chooses to stick it out at this spot. About endless numbers of em really. May start venturing out now that I know where some decent fishing is in hops to find some bigger fish.
Was out for the first time in a week or so. Bite is good. Got out for 3-4 hours. Managed 8 eyes probably 20 smallies. 15-20 crappies 12-14 white bass and loads of sheep head.
Nothing big. Can’t seem to find the big eyes or big fish in general. But was fun getting those 20ish 1-2.5lb smallies. Biggest eye was actually a sauger. 16”. The rest were small eyes 8”-14” smallies were sub 6 foot on rocks. Eyes were 5-8 foot and same goes for the rest of the fish. Oh besides the crappies. They were in 8-12 foot. All nice ones. 10-13.5”
Did you catch the cats on the crankbaits?
Nope. Jigs. Be back out next week. Normally hit the river 1-2 times on week days.
Went out this evening. Lovely evening to be out. A bit hot but didn’t stop us. Managed 8 eyes, 10-15 white bass, doze sheep head, half a dozen cats a massive 10.5inch bluegill and a decent 11 inch crappie. Everything we got was sub 10foot.biggest eye was 22” most eyes were 16-18” oh and a bonus 2 sauger. Jigs and cranks did the trick.
Got out this morning and yesterday AM before the wave of rain came in. Managed 6 eyes. Nothing big but all 15-20 inches. A bunch of sheep head and some small kittys. Real shallow in 2-6 foot of water. Hope to get out once this week after work. Finally starting to put something together.
Lions Levee ramp is open.
Real question tho. Any luck? I’ll be out early in the morning. Check a few wing damns current seams and back water. Not sure they have moved onto wing damns yet with the high waters. Maybe that’ll change with the water coming down.
Launches back in shape? Might have to give her a whirl here this weekend
I’m still trying to figure out what a “walleye glide bait” is.
Any thing that is similar to a jogging rap. Hyper rattle by kalins. Puppet minnow pitchin puppet both by northland. Shiver minnow. Jigging rap. Jigging shadow rap ect. Because the have a “gliding” action. Some more than others.
Ah yes my all time confidence lure! Whatever rod/line combo you choose, make sure you use a swivel. Those glide baits will mess up your line pretty bad from my experience. My dedicated rod is a medium fast HMG but you can alternate what feels best for you. Suffix 12lb braid to a mono leader is what I like.
For all my jig rods I run a ball bearing double split ring swivel. Line twist no more!
I’m a big fan of the St. Croix Legend Tourney Walleye 71MMF. I run alot of puppet minnows in #7 (9/16 oz.) with 15# Seguar hardline to a 10# fluoro leader, so the rod flex is pretty important. I’m a Croix guy, so there’s a bias for sure, but I’m one who prefers the play to be in the rod blank rather than my line. I just appreciate extra feel from hard line being transmitted through a more sensitive blank, and while most times that’s not needed on a fish pickup, it’s really useful to tell if you’ve fouled in weeds or on the line itself.
The Eyecon 71MMF is an honorable mention, and actually fishes just a touch slower than the LTW71MMF, so if you’re concerned about the rod being too unforgiving or losing fish, that’s a good one to try.
I think losing fish on these baits can be inevitable at times, but with consistent pressure and a good net buddy I tend to keep a strong majority of fish buttoned up. Most fish I miss/lose come from rolling them at the end of a long cast and never putting a good hook in them to begin with. Just my experiences.
Joel
I ended up picking up the legend tournament jig n rap 7’1 MMF as well.to give that a try see if it makes a big difference. It seems like it’s a nice rod. I do like the 7’ med light fast legend tourney for early season jig n a shiner or jig and a leech. So figured I’d stick to that. Hoping the slower action and a touch more length compared to what I was using helps out with keeping fish on. Do you find you have to work it pretty hard? That’s one thing I found is I was over working my eyecon 6’8 MXF to hard and just wasn’t getting bites compared to when I slowed down.
Rod manufacturers can call blanks whatever they would like. I have seen some call one blank fast and the exact same blank also called extra fast in a different line. The Common Cents System (CCS) is the best way to rate a rod.
Would be nice if there was a “standard” almost like FEPA abrasive grades, ect. Would just make it a bit easier for anglers to have a good idea and a basis to start with.
I throw #7 jig raps on a custom 6’10” mxf, but I would say this blank is on the softer side of a mxf. Blanks can vary a lot. For instance this 6’10” mxf is way softer than another 6’8” mxf made by the same company in the same line of blanks. I use 8lb fireline with a 4’ 10lb floro leader. I might over do my jig stroke but I am ripping about as hard as I can and seem to have better results the harder I rip the bait. Definitely not something I can do for 8 hours straight. Had quite a sore arm on Monday morning.
I was the opposite, I found small short fast rips did the ticket and the longer rips weren’t getting a bite. But. Could be the lake. The conditions ect. I was using a st croix eyecon “snap jig” mXF which I believe is the blank is the SC2 I did get a legend tournament “jig n rap” model which is the SC4 blank. While it states medium power mod-fast it seems much faster than other medium mod fast rods. More like a medium fast. I know the stiffer the action the less work in theory you need to put into it but as rodworks mentioned needs to have enough give to fight the fish. I’ll give this one a shot and see how it works. Wondering if they built this dedicated rod a little longer 7’1 to help with the lift with a softer action.
Do you find it takes a while or did it take a while to get use to the mono? I’ve debated maybe just adding a 2-4 foot mono leader to see if it helps a big with keepin em pinned while still having most of the feel
Were you running the “jig N rap” croix rod prior to your scheels? Agree a nice spendy rod doesn’t always make the fish bite haha.
Also agree, I’m running a 2509 ballistic as well as a fuego with the 6.2 or 6.4 to one ratio. (Don’t need a spendy reel but had a few extra gift cards that needed to be spent up haha)
Great point. I have seen his videos and agree that a few key anglers do use those ML rods. I just get a little worried that throwing a 5/8oz or 1oz chunk of lead / metal on a ML fast rod will result in a guy having to really rip it vs when I was using the medium extra fast I found if I was ripping it hard I wouldn’t get any hits was a much smaller rip. Double edge sword it seem to either end.
Was out last night for 3 hours or so. Did find a few fish. found 3 eyes in a small area. Was thinking after the first 3 they would be stacked up since I caught them not far apart in time. A few cats and sheep head after that. Moved on and not much luck. Eyes were off and on top of a break 10 foot was the deeper end and 5-6 foot on the shallower end. Nothing big but all fat 20-23”. Probably be a week or so until I even attempt it again.
Went out yesterday evening for a few hours. Pretty slow for us. 1 eye and a couple white bass. Lost something nicer but not sure what. Struggling to put a decent outing together. Makes a guy want to fish it more…
Anyone going to be out in the rain over the weekend? Might have to give it a try as my other options for the weekend are not better.
May head out tomorrow. Was out last night. Slow but finally hooked into something at least. Water is still very cloudy but did come down a bit from last weekend.
Is there any particular flow and water temp guys are looking for as well post spawn?
Hovering around 5.7feet of water it looks like and looking like by end of weekend to be around 5 or a little less and mid next week around 4-4.5 depending on weather. I suppose when it gets very silty that can also have a negative effect like last weekend only having 3 to 6 inches of clarity. May run back out Saturday if the weather looks okay.
Was out yesterday from 6:45 until about 5:00 PM. Worked some wing damns, some back waters and some rip rap. Only one sheepheard landed. Half the day I focused on 4-12 foot the other half the day 14-18. I guess I have lots to learn on pool 2.
Have been out twice this week. Once Sunday and once yesterday. Only landed one eye on Sunday. 19” not far from lions park. Looking for a little advice as this river fishing is new to me. Tried around the pigs eye confluence. The rail bridge and a couple island seams. Not looking for your spots but just starting points. Have heard they go sub 10-12 foot a lot of times after spawn? Any truth to this? Likely will be back out 2-3 times over the next week. Thanks!
