Panfishing is easy this time of the year, just look for the crowd that delelopes in many backwater areas. Look for the row of cars parked along the highway or street that is usually not there and then follow the trail to stay safe. It’s a good bet that you won’t go through where others have already walked. Including the lake, in Winona there are at least 6 placed within 15 minutes I could fish. Most people are fairly friendly or if not, won’t come out of their shacks. Fish in the crowd! A small ice fly and a waxie is all one really needs, but the vets will get more elaborate. Personally, I want to pike fish.

A co-worker reported 2 cars on the MN side of the trempealeau spillway, but from HWY 61 there is no way to tell if they were in the back water or had made it all the way to below the float on the main channel. The walk is long and strenuous to check, more than I am willing to ask the guy to do and more than I have time to do over lunch.

If you are unfamiliar with an area, only go where other people have gone before you and bring a spud and use it often. Don’t go alone either. I personally wouldn’t sugest river fishing for a first trip unless you can follow someone elses footprints. The times I fish below dams are later in the winter after even more cold weather than what we have had and I do not go alone.

Stay safe!

That’s the stuff! We made that about six weeks ago. With heering at $6+ per pound might as well make your own pike. I traded a jar of it for raccoon haunches and am making coon jerky with my 13 year old for a science class contest. Thanks for the recipe, the one we used had white wine. I will try this one if I can get some early ice pike like I usually do.

It’s complicated laws like this that are just irritating and discourage people from fishing at all. No wonder there is a drop in younger people entering the sport. Trout regulations got rediculous a few years back and I gave up on that as it seemed one needed to spend most of one’s free time looking over maps to make sure the laws aren’t broken. By the way, if your portable isn’t fully up, then is it a shelter or just a sled with a seat or two on it??? Last time I was checked on the ice, the kind DNR man let me know about this loop hole after he and his budy went through my gear even checking the storage in the bottom of my Frabil portable–this was after we showed him no less than 3 measuring devices to ensure we were in compliance with the walleye length. All I can say is at least my license fees are going to enforcement and education which I was glad to see. They were friendly about it. I guess I’ll get out the ruler and cardstock and be making and ID sign sometime soon!

Maybe the government should give everyone that’s unemployed a fishing pole and license instead of a $400 drug test. I don’t know many if any folks that are drugging and fishing together. Might reduce the need for those food stamps also!
I agree that assistance money shouldn’t go for dope, but maybe we need to drug test the CEO’s of companies that are getting bailed out and make sure those billions or trillions aren’t being misused for extranvagance or overindulgence.

I am a bit new to the site, but I am enjoying it also. It is nice to have up-beat people who (so far) haven’t been criptic or critical. It seems that people are willing to share knowledge, try new things and grow. This has been my vision and I hope it remains as cool as it has been so far.

BTW. I only seem to fish the river. I can consistently catch either walleye or sauger nearly year around and rarely get skunked, ice or open water. Not bragging, just have been fortunate to catch on to some good patterns that produce.

These fish were all caught on heavy hair jigs tipped with a fat head. Pics are from last Saturday. I use hair jigs fall and spring and sometimes through the ice. I catch a lot of other species also, so it makes things quite interesting, but at least you get to see what your electronics are graphing for the most part. The ones I get come with a stinger hook and are sold at bait stores, not Fleet Farm.

Since I live on the Mississippi, walleye is the way to go. When I lived in northern IN, it was steelhead trout, but I still caught walleyes when the trout weren’t running. I guess I’m not surprised at the overwelming response favoring the walleye, since I can almost always get people to go with me if I say I am on this species and successfully catching them.

I like to vertical jig them rappidly, then put a pause in the pattern. This is usually when I get the hit is at the pause. Most of the time I am in current, sometime quite fast water. I rarely have casted these, but the package states to use a pumping action when retriving. I would think they may get snagged if casting.

I’m sticking to beer battered or pan fried walleye. I already have enough girth and need to protect the heart so I can fish for many years to come! I lived down south for a few years and this looks like county fair food to me!

When the water comes up and floods, many great opportunities present themselves. I am able to consistantly catch walleye along with other species from several shore spots when I don’t have time to get the boat in the water. Usually these spots have moving water from a secondary channel, inlet, stream or river close to them. Many are very popular, so fishing in a crowd is often the case. I use bright lures that often either rattle or vibrate. Jig heads with rattles and blade baits are two examples. Glow jig heads are another choice. Tip with a minnow or a platic tail depending on fish preference.
Steve

Great article, I will need to start paying more attention to this detail. Organization can be a challenge and I have had to find out the hard way that it is necessary. Thanks!

I fish a 7 foot rod when I use a planner board while trowling, but that only happens in the warmest months when casting or vertical jigging isn’t working. This is borrowed from big lake trowling techniques and i haven’t seen much of it on the river. My friends joke with me that I am playing with my “toy boat” as this is what the board looks like at a distance with the orange flag, but they soon shut up when it produces a bite. For casting or jig fishing I like a 6-1/2 foot St. Croix rod and an open faced reel spolled with powerpro line. No time spent on backlash issues that a bait casting rod can easily produce.

I bought mine about 3 months ago from a private party. It was last years model, sent in for the upgrade in power. I paid $375 and I was delighted with how it works, especially for pike in less than 20 feet of water. It’s almost like a video game when you can see the fish come off the bottom and then the rod tip bounces, the hook set and it all flows so nicely. I had a customer from Texas I took out on the ice about a month ago and they had read about how to use the electronics while ice fishing in a magazine. The guy outfished the other three people on the trip and was so into the experience. Made his trip better than the last two years I took him. Anther friend will usually outfish us without the technology, but he moves continuously and jiggs the heck out of his lures.
I’m interested in the camera, so please supply the website or contact info for Reeds.
Thanks,
Steve

Is this early or late for the season?

I was out Saturday 3/21 with two other guys and was very satisfied with the action we had. Many more keepers were caught than last week and the weekend before. Enclosed is the limit of 5 walleye and 1 sauger I took home, 15 to 18 inch fish. We boated 2 northerns also. I fought something large for over 5 minutes, but it lead my jig into a snag and I never did get to see it.

I have been out at least 4 times and caught walleye and sauger each time jig fishing. The fish have now seem to have moved out of the deep holes and are scattered on breaks ranging from 14 to 30 feet. I did well on Saturday the 14th, cleaning 3 walleye and 1 sauger all over 15 inches. My two friends I took left with move fish, but smaller ones in general (saugers). We launched at Latch Island and ran up below the dam and had fish from serval areas. Planning on being out again this Saturday. Jig and minow or Jig and tail with stinger worked well. Had less luck when out on Sunday and Tuesday, but still caught a few small ones.