The pool 4 walleye and sauger bite remains to be a boom or bust adventure. For those of you that have been out, (and I know that’s a LOT of you based on the boat traffic recently), you know what I’m talking about. Numbers have been fair to average, but the quality has been phenomenal as a whole this spring
The bite from Everts Resort to the dam remains to be your best bet for both size and numbers, although this will change as the spawn continues to proceed and some fish will scatter to the backwaters or the head of the lake. Water level will determine how long the fish hang out in the river. I have been seeing sauger dropping eggs for the past couple weeks (and they still are as of today and awhile to come yet), however only in the past couple days have I noticed a few spawned out walleye. This first picture is of a 30 inch 10lb spawned out walleye my good buddy Dean caught yesterday (4-12-04) along a rip-rap/sand shoreline transition area. The fish was caught in about 15-17 foot of water. He was nice enough to let me hold the fish for the pic….thanks Dean! I was willing to hold the fish for the picture, but when we saw the fish and he offered to let me “reel it in” I told him what I thought of that idea!
If I’ve been asked once what the hot bait is this past month, I’ve been asked a million times……my answer…”A little bit of everything” I know you can always say that people are catching fish on something different, but this spring, the bait of choice for people has been really spread out between plastics, hairjigs, minnows and sonars. And all have produced fish for many people. This picture of “Bucktail Wayne” (left) is of a 28 ½ inch walleye caught on what else….a bucktail jig. Both vertical jigging and casting them is working. Do you tip them with minnows?……The answer is yes and no. Both methods seem to work.
As far as details go…the location/depth/color, there really isn’t one spot better than the rest right now. High water really concentrates the fish on the current breaks, but as of today, the water is at July levels and the fish are spreading out again. Some of that’s water level, some of that is post spawn fish moving. As always, don’t be afraid to try spots away from all the boats fishing a particular area. The fish are spread out and moving. This next picture (right) is of a 10.5 lb fat female caught last week. I honestly can’t remember if this fish was caught on a minnow or ringworm.
The white bass are starting to show up at the dam already and they are running exceptional in size again. I have been getting them on hairjigs and on ringworms. I don’t think it really matters when you get into the right spots. They have really been showing up on the sand bars and are a blast to catch. The last picture here is of Dean Marshall again (left). This fish was caught last weekend. I believe this one taped out at 29 inches….I’ve seen so many big fish lately, I forget which one is what anymore! Dean had an aweome 3 days of fishing. Saturday the 10th he got a 30 incher that weighed out at 12 lbs. Sunday he had some mid twenty inch fish, and Monday he got another 30 incher (above), a 28 incher and a 25 and 26 incher. Not a bad three days of fishing. All were released! Way to go Dean!
I have to thank all of the people letting the big girls go this spring. I have been hearing of lots and lots of big fish being caught and I can only think of 4 that were kept to be mounted. I’m sure there are others, but the vast majority of these fish have been released. That’s awesome to see. Thanks! Good Luck to all.
Here is Bucktail Wayne with another nice walleye the same day as the one above.
Here is another nice fish caught by a buddy of Nate Cadwell’s a couple weeks back.
This one was caught back in mid-late March and I believe it was in that 28-29 inch range???
Here is John and Pat with some nice ones back in mid-March.
And another one of a 21 and 22 inch sauger from the PDC group the end of March.
Tight lines…
Wow those are some nice fish. I know walleyes are the go to fish in redwing but you think you could give me some info on fishin for the whitebass? thanks.
Hi Steve,
to you and Dean for smacking some nice fish 
. Quess the last two weeks was the wrong time to head to CA. 
will call soon. Jack.
thanks for the good report. way to go
My favorite way to fish the white bass is to pitch a hairjig in the 1/8 to 1/4 oz size. (depends on current). The white bass will be in 15 foot of water or less in general in the spring. Fish current breaks and sand flats near the dams this time of year. They will be spawning right behind the walleyes. Good Luck.
Great report and pictures Steve. The question is, did you seperate Dean from his live bait??? Chris and I will be seeing you bright and early Saturday(it is his birthday). He got to pick what he wanted to do and he picked going river fishing and launching from Evert’s—go figure.
Is there any fish being caught after the sun goes down? All the pictures depict these bigguns being caught during the day. HeySteve… what time do you guys open during the weekdays?
Travis, I just spent 3 days up there. No one stayed after dark so Who Knows?
I would bet you would do alright.
Way ta go Mr. Pike! Bout time you got to the computer!
Like you have time?
Seriously, thanks for the great info and hospitality.
Check your answering machine.
Don’t forget I will be back with a couple more Yoopers Tuesday thru Thursday!
Travis, There has not been a distinct time to catch the big ones, Yesterdays biggest was a 12 1/2 lb 301/2 inch walleye full of spawn that was caught around 1-2 pm. There has definitely been a morning and late afternoon bite, but I can’t say there is any time better than another for the big ones. I open around 6 during the week, unless somebody rings the doorbell earlier
. Good Luck.
Here is another one caught yesterday. Just shy of 31 incihes and still full of spawn. She weighed out at 12.8 lbs.
One more from last week. I believe the guy said it was 13 something…
Great report guys. Awesome fish! By the way Steve (Dean) thanks for the special delivery on the doos, K-grubs, & ringworms. Did you guys find my check I left?
Signed, Sealed and Delivered. Thanks much. Appreciate it.