Sorry just saw this but was out Friday around Lake City. Tons of bait in the area and lots of fish on my graph but could not get them to bite on the cranks we were pulling. When I first pulled up I though, man, this is going to be easy! Then 3 hours later had two shorts. Oh well.
I seem to be doing fairly well in that 18-22 FOW range pulling leadcore at about 2.5 mph. Blue seems to be the preferred color right now and doing better on Flicker Shads than Raps. However those Flicker Shads always require some tuning, and I have had to just throw a few away!
I am catching way more sauger than walleyes but the saugers all seem to be nice! Dink walleyes, fat saugers. Last time out with catching 6 fish over three hours the smallest sauger was 17″! I usually don’t troll this much and went back to worms last week but could not match the trolling bite. So it looks like trolling will be the name of the game until the fall.
@jabbinpike
Back when we filmed this show we rigged up James’s Skeeter with the reels… they are a bit to far back for me.. I run a Ranger 619 and I have them in front of the windshield… They are mounted right on the ram rod holder base.. yes. .the cable rubs on the boat, but it’s plastic coated and there is zero marks on the boat from the cable….
I’ll see if I can find a photo and post it up here…
See photo above,,,
Thanks Dave! Really appreciate it!
Nice fish Dave! Gotta love the firecracker chartreuse combo. Seems like it works all up and down the river. I would love to get a pic of how you have your handline reels mounted in your boat. That is something I’ve wanted to try for years but can’t quite get my head around how I would make it work in my boat.
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I was wondering when the post spawn bite might occur? I don’t get many opportunities in the spring to get down to the river but the few years we had post spawn bite was really fun.
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The fish I was catching this weekend had not spawned yet. They were very close though. Again, no expert here but I’d say this is the week when most will spawn.
I haven’t noticed a slow bite either. I’m no expert on the river, but I’ve been finding fish and catching them on each outing. The one thing I’d say is you need to find the bottom and keep contact with it- not see easy to do in high water with fast current. Let out more line and use heavier weight. This past weekend I would use nothing less than 3/4. 1oz was better though.
Also, regarding the boats and the crowded spots, it’s just the river in the Spring. Relax and go with it, talk to the people out there. Ask the ones you see catching fish what they are doing, they will usually tell you. If they won’t then just watch them for a while, more than likely at some point you’ll be close enough to them to see exactly what they are doing!
I love this time of year, with the crowds and all. It sure keeps things interesting!
Fished this morning- first trip to the river this year. Pulled Dubuque rigs in the usual spots in the boat parade. Saw one boat land what looked like a 40 lb cat and then another land a 31″ walleye. Overall though, pretty slow going. The water, of course, is really dirty right now and the current is high. Still fishable through and we caught a few. It was fun to get out and it is always fun to talk with the guys(I did not see any gals out today but would have happily talked with them too!) in the other boats. Always impressed with the quality of my fellow fishermen and their willingness to share ideas and work together to catch fish. Can’t wait to get out again!
When fishing pool 3 is it mostly action on the wing dams? It looks pretty narrow to have much structure like the St Croix has. I’ve never been on it before so just guessing.
Below the train bridge after the confluence follows MN/WI border rules, so it is open South of that portion.
