Paddlin on Pool #4!!

I spent Monday through Wednesday on pool 4 with two good friends from my home town of Iron Mountain, Mi. It was Mark Flunker and Larry Theil’s first visit here, and I was sure there would be some adventures on the water.

We started drifting the Wingdams and vertical jigging the deeper outside edges with ringworms and Kalin tails. The current was weak so lighter (1/4 oz jigs) were adequate. Larry soon nailed a nice(eater) eye on a Fintech Knuckleball jig(purple metallic) and matching Ringie.

We released a few more smaller Sauger and as we entered a sand flat below the Wingies we got into some really nice White Bass which Mark battered/fried(Cajun Style) later for supper and they were Yummy!

The bright sun drove us up to the dam again seeking current and deeper water. We opted to try 3/8 jigs and smaller chartreuse Yum tails to keep the presentation as vertical as possible. Mark struck paydirt with another pan ready walleye as shown here. The dam rollers went down and it seemed to turn the fish right off, with us picking up a fish only occasionally for quite a while. Suddenly Mark set the hook into something that took us on a trip down river for 10 minutes, a 40 inch Sturgeon!(sorry I missed the photo op).

Tuesday morning air temps were frigid! My boat was encrusted in thick frost. With the lower water levels the fishing again was sporadic. A couple other Yoopers visiting Evert’s, Scott Lutey and David Anderson, did very well using shad tails(photo report later), with Dave netting a 7 pound eye. Our action was about the same as the day before with no clear cut pattern established, although chartreuse started to emerge as the most productive color. I switched to a Tequila SuperDoo with an 1/8oz Org/Chart H20 jig and something big and weird-feeling was suddenly smoking the drag on my Fin Nor reel…I was later amazed to see a PaddleFish emerge to the surface! All the boats around got a big kick out of seeing this prehistoric resident of Pool 4 make an appearance. We gave her CPR and released her back to the depths.

Our last morning(Wed) we decided to hunt for Piggies and pitch shorelines. Larry hooked a monster on a sand flat just inside a deeper current break. Just as the large beauty came up near the surface his line snapped…that was heartbreaking for all of us…Larry wishing he had put some new line on that reel…oh well…that’s fishing. I got an interesting silvery/gold colorphase walleye on the next drift I thought was worthy of a photo. I look for the predicted rain this weekend to pick up the bite a little as the spawning seems to have peaked with some post spawn females starting to show up. Don’t pass up an opportunity to get some kids or new fishermen out for white bass in the next couple weeks. They are easy to catch, fun, and great eating once the red lateral meat is removed.

I hope to see everyone on the river again next week again. Look for a black 1750 Crestliner SC and 115 Yammy w/InDepthAngling decals and say Hello! Good Fishing!