For those that have not been to the Mississippi River these past couple weeks this report will try to bring you up to speed to the best of my ability regarding river conditions and the status of the walleye and sauger bite.
For the most part, the bite is what I would consider as being a bit off. Guys are catching plenty of eaters but very few quality fish. Every tournament for the past 5 weeks has been won with 13.5 – 16 Lbs of fish for a legal limit… and that is MUCH lower than is normal for this time of year. Oddly enough, a few enormous fish have been caught and released or brought into Everts Resort for pics including a 13+ Lb walleye earlier last week while the 4 – 8 Lb fish seem to be exceptionally tight lipped at a time of year when traditionally we see a very good bite on this caliber of fish. What’s the hold-up you ask? Food. Lots of it. Look to the photos of the larger fish that are being posted and look at how massive they are. And I would venture a guess that some of the cooler weather of late has slowed the fish up a bit as well. But some giants are being caught… like this 14.1 Lb WHALE of a walleye shown here in this first photo on the left!
I got the chance to guide Glen Lundt, assistant manager for the new Gander Mt. in Lakeville, Mn, along with Bob Johnston and friend Barry. Glen had been following all the talk about the BFT products and wanted to get in the boat for a day to educate himself about how the baits were fished so he could take the knowledge back to share with his staff. He very much wanted to see if artificials could out-produce livebait and insisted on spending the day hunting for that trophy ‘eye.
Here’s she is… 30.75 inches long X 22 inches girth. Weighed and measured by Steve Vick and witnessed by a boat load of guys from Nisswa, MN.
14.16 LBS! 
This particular fish was caught off of a shallow sand bar that was set just inside a current seam with this big girl sitting in about 6 foot of water. Glen released this fish and plans to have a replicate made that will be incorporated into the store decor in Lakeville. Congrats Glenn on catching a true fish of a life time and a tip of the hat from me on the release! 
The presentation working best for my boat has been to anchor and fish a specific area where I believe fish are holding as completely and patiently as possible since I’ve been having a heck of a time sticking with a run-n-gun / fish it quick approach and getting anything over 20 inches to the boat. Basically we’ve been setting up just inside visible current seams and casting down stream and slowly cranking heavier heads back to the boat… SLO-O-WLY. Just dragging them on the bottom back to the boat basically. The best producing colors have been chartreuse pepper, purple white or purple chart. tail with a few other odd-balls thrown in. Bob Johnston is shown here in this next photo on the right with another nice walleye caught shortly after Glen’s from the same general area.
And finally we are seeing a fairly reliable bite, nothing spectacular mind you, and comprised almost entirely off good sized male walleyes, down stream from the dam area. (Most of the walleyes are still in pre-spawn mode but I would expect most fish will be hard at it within the next week if the weather cooperates.) Shallow, current swept sand flats are holding good numbers of 17 – 21 males right now and the ladys can’t be too far off although I have NOT had much success getting the females to eat in these areas…. yet. But lots of males for the taking should one wish to get away from the crowds at the dam. These fish are quite aggressive and have been absolutely POUNDING any large plastic vertical jigged in 9 – 11 of water. Purple with a contrasting tail seems to be the ticket for these fish. With warmer weather over the next couple days forecast, I would expect this fish to really get active.
Click on any image to get a better view.
A full-sized photo of Glen’s walleye…
James…that is a nice fish. Do you think a state record can be produced from up your way?
Unbelievable…..I am speechless! What a great phot as well!
Congrats guys!
Geez, James, do you think Glenn’s convinced that plastics work? That is a freakin’ pig! Glad to hear it was released. Way to go!
Mark
Actually I honestly believe it could be set this year although this is highly unlikely. We see a VERY small number of 32 – 33 inch fish caught each season and those fish would have the potential to hit that 17 lb mark if they carried mass similar to the one in the photo. This fish was so wide & deep it could not be placed on her side and set into the livewell of a 1750 fishhawk… she had to go “belly down” to make it through!
I’m still impressed with the way these guys, Glenn, Barry & Bob cut me loose for the day, no questions asked, and allowed us to go on a “hero or zero” piggie hunt without getting discouraged or opting out to go chase eaters.
Nice fish guys
. Can honestly say I’m a bit jealous of this one 
.
James when you gonna take me out and put me on one of those
14lbers? 
Lot’s o’ luck was on my side with that one. Luck-luck-luck. But we’ll give it a spin on Wednesday… I’m fishing with mudlnthru and you’re welcome to hop aboard if you like.
But you know where I got it so you’ll probably beat me there and fish it on your own!
I would love to hook up but I have to guide on wednesday. I know where you caught it but it’s not like there’s another 14lber sitting there waiting for me……………or is there?
I guess i’ll find out 
See ya on the river!
WOW, WOW, WOW, That is a fish. The smile on his face says a ton. Way to go you guys.
Holy Hanna, is that a true monster!!!!!!!
Alright James!
I’m coming back down!
Just to let you all know, if you haven’t had James or Dustin teach you a day of plastics on the river, you are missing out.
These two KNOW what they are doing. I went with James a couple of weeks ago for a “pig hunt”. Although our success was not like the photo above, he really worked to get us on the fish.
And mostly, he convinced me that plastics do catch better fish. I have converted from using meat over to ringworms in cold weather, just from one trip!
Good training day James.
Thanks again and see you and Dustin soon!
James WOW!!!!
Now all the GUIDES will be bookin trips with ya Bud! 
I am certainly excited about fishin next week out there, hope there’s not over 1000 boats pitchin Ringies! 
A fish of several lifetimes
Gorgeous. That’s why we keep fishing.
James, what’s your thinking on why the forage base is so huge this year?
Why is it different from any other year?
I’ve heard a couple of people opine on how this is one of the slowest Springs ever.
WOW, James you gotta be the best ! Great pics. and thanks for the release,see you the 23rd May.JH
I’ll take a stab at answering your question Steve but do remember that this is just “guide guy” talking and I’m no fisheries biologist. Someone like John “fishsqzr” Pitlo might have a more definitive answer for you should he find this thread.
Shad populations seem to be very low following heavy flood years and they seem to rebound to a peak during years of low water. This is a trend I’ve noticed over a short period of time > 10 years so this is likely purely speculative. My guess is that conditions in low water years are very condusive to shad kicking out the youngsters and after 2 or 3 consecutive years of low water w/o a major flood event, we get stuck with MASSIVE and building numbers of baitfish. How long or how cold the winters are never seem to make much of a season-long impact although the frigid temps of mid-winter do kill of large numbers of shad. Last season’s low and stable water levels seemed to really be advantageous to shad spawning… many of us can likely still recall how the water looked like it was dimpled with rain drops for as far as the eye could see in the early AM’s last October… but it wasn’t raining, the shad were simply dimpling the surface of the water!
For the last two weeks, since the first couple days following wide-spread ice out, I’ve been watching the herons and pelicans work the shorelines and backwaters gorging themsleves on baitfish. I can’t ever remember seeing such huge masses of baitfish available, massed in current breaks, particularly along rip rap, like I’m already seeing this year.
nice minnow there
glad you let it go so it can grow up 
nice fish 
Now that is a true SLOB-O-SOAROUS!!
Makes sense.
Seems like a double edged sword. Forage base is high so the fish should enjoy above average growth rates and generally be healthier. Another question is how do you catch the ding-dang things with so many shad in their bellies??
Congrats again on getting your client on that fish.
BTW,
the end cap with all of BFT’s ringies and ‘doos is close to being empty at the Woodbury Gander.
That has been the dilema… Dustin and I have both been siting on spots and fishing very slowly and methodically to put our better fish in the boat. Getting the 16″ – 18″ stuff has not been the trouble. It’s been tedious but pretty darn effective most days out. Saturday we had 4 MASSIVE saugs 3.25 – 4 Lbs+ and a walleye of about 5.5 Lbs from one little spot we camped on during the middle of the day. We caught one fish every 20 – 30 minutes or so and never caught two fish on the same color ringies. Before we anchored up we tried getting these by holding with the electric… it just wouldn’t work for us. Intense boating pressure likely had quite a bit to do with the tough bite as well.
I’ll take the fat healthy fish over skinny and hungry ones any day!
Nice fish and an even better release. Congrats to Glenn Lundt! Nice report James.
Here little Piggy!!! That walleye is a porker. i’ll take 2
Dustin was lamenting on how the light jig/plastic bite just wasn’t going when we fished with him on 3/28. We did try to target bigger fish but wanted a few eaters too. We stuck with vertical jigging, no meat the whole day. We scored a couple of fish over 20″ but most were in that 16″ to 19″ class.
It’s great to know that the big ones are down there. With the forage base being so high there’s an excellent chance of a few more 14lb’ers swimming around by the Fall.
Whoa!! Nice fish
Once again, what an AWESOME fish!! That smaller photo in your report really allows you to get a better idea of the proportions on that beauty!
Hey James quick question if you have a minute, as far as heavier jig weights, what weight are you finding necessary for an effective presentation? Thanks, Chris
5/16th – 3/8ths have boated the most fish in my boat this week.
I think you’re on to something James. Up here on Pool 2, I have been running into schools of shad. And we’re not talking little guys… the ones I have been seeing are the same size as last fall. The bite up here remains tough, but more smaller males have been showing up in my boat the last few days. Are the males you guys been encountering been milking at all? I would think with the temps getting closer to 44* on the northern section of pool 2 would be prime spawning temps.
Oh yeah… congrats on that PIG. That is a fish of a lifetime!
James that was a awesome fish, and as far as the report, outstanding like always. I can’t wait to try some of your techinqes on the Rock River
fishing has been slow here also and I have tried everthing but anchoring. Thanks for a great report 
.
Luck? Luck had nothing to do wiyh it James!Dont short change yourself it was skill,skill,skill!!What a fine fish that is!
Holy Cow Batman, that thing is bigger than Robin. That fish is about 9.5 pounds bigger than my personal best. Congrats!
You do know your stuff…
Tight lines…
LOSOJOS
WOW!
Wow, what a pig! That’s what I love about the river… just enough real monsters to always keep things interesting. Anyway… good work!
what a fish !!!and it is still swiming!grate job all the way around.
Congrats James and Glen,
Jack…
Just got back from a CA vacation. I did expect to see some James and Dustin reports on some PIGS. but a 14 lber was a little more than I had expected. WOW.
WOW what a beauty of a fish there keep up the good work.
TREMENDOUS EYE I had a dream about a fish like that it swallowed my 17 fook tracker!!!!!!!!!!!
to ya for releasing moby the walleye
Fish Story makes the paper. See link to St Paul Pioneer Press:
It’s one big, fat walleye
And the Midwest outdoors on the same day!
Great Job!!
Tuck
Would anyone perhaps still have a pic of this beast walleye a decade later??