Mississippi River Pool 4 3-3-2012

It is getting to be that time of the year once again, BIG fish time that is. After what seemed like a very long fall and winter (if you call it winter) I am finally back on the river in search of big walleyes!! This past week did not disappoint either!

I was able to spend a couple days this last week pre-fishing for the FYB tournament and toughed it out on Saturday for the tournament. In those 3 days I saw quite a few changes in old man river that can throw a curve ball at you when trying to put together a pattern. One being stage and flow and the other being water clarity.

Up until Wednesday we had very little flow, a very low stage and excellent water clarity. After the snow and rain that we received it didn’t take long for the river to change. In doing so it effected the how, where and when I fished.
With the stage and flow increasing that brought one thing to my mind, CURRENT SEAMS. Although they are not real defined yet the fish are starting to relate to them and will only do so more in the future as the flow and stage increase. When the stage and flow were low the fish can be located throughout the river, anywhere from the center of the main channel all the way to the bank. With it increasing the fish will start to push to the sides of the main channel and start to relate to the current seams. Which gives us fisherman a great advantage!!
Water clarity also has an effect. It can effect many different things but the 3 biggest ones would be location of fish, time of day and colors of presentations.
With more color to the water now the fish wont hesitate to move to shallower locations since the light penetration isn’t nearly as much as with clear water. The best bite window also increased from a early and late bite to more of an all day bite and will only increase as the water clarity decreases. My color choices havent changed a lot yet as the water is still fairly clear, but as the water dirties I will see my best colors change from the more natural colors to the more bright colors.

This past week I focused my efforts on a couple of things. The first thing on my mind was shaking the rust off and just enjoying a fun couple of days on the water. My next order of business was to find some fish for the FYB tournament and also try to locate a few bigger fish. I would have to say both were a success.
With the lower stage and flow we have I spent most of my time focusing on main channel locations rather than back water areas for the most part. Although in general, walleyes and big walleyes more so don’t like a lot of current they also prefer some current to wash bait fish down in front of them. That in itself eliminated some of the water I would normally fish, making my search a little easier.
Most of the locations I found active fish this past week had a mostly sand bottom, were relatively shallow (4 to 12 fow) and adjacent to deep water and current. This puts the fish about right on schedule as far as the spawning process goes.
For myself, both blade baits and plastics put fish in the boat this past week. As for plastics, B-Fish-N tackle Moxies in firecracker chart. tail, and chart. pepper on a 1/8 jig brought the majority of the fish to the net. As for blades, my standard black, gold and firetiger brought fish to the boat with the number one producer being black. One added note on the blades that I noticed this past week. The fish really wanted the blade worked SLOW and very short “pulls”. Pulling the blade as slow as you could but still getting a vibration out of it and only pulling it about 6″ each time.

I am looking forward to spending as much time as possible on the river this year, and looking forward to sharing my boat with many people.
From here on out, any chance you have to hit the river I would definitely do so as the fish of a lifetime is just one cast away!
This year is looking to be shaping up to be a year to remember for numbers of fish and big fish. With that said, please remember to CPR the big gals and give someone else a chance at a fish of a lifetime.

Until next time………..