Wolf River – The Perfect Storm May 6-9

Wolf River –( Fremont) 5/6 -9 The Perfect storm!
Appling the question – If Walleyes leave the marshes and begin heading down river and the Whitebass leave the lakes to begin their spawning venture up river; where will they meet? FREMONT! That is where the perfect storm came together this week for a little fishing and a heck of a lot of catching.
This has been a very busy week on the river for me, and now having clients that want to target either walleye, whitebass, and both is keeping me hopping. Last week we had walleyes miles to the north of Fremont and the bulk of white bass miles to the south. By Wednesday afternoon of this week, both collided and the best of both worlds have come together.
So here is a re-cap of the week of what has been working and more of the changes that have occurred. Monday was a milk run to various spots for both walleye and white bass, taking us in opposite directions. We got quality eyes in the 14”-20+” mostly on a half of crawler. A couple came on plastics, but that bite had really died off. It was very distinct that the eyes’ diet had changed to red meat as opposed to minnows. Having limited time to spend on the eyes and a client with a limit, it was time to move on down river for white bass.

The Fremont area by Monday already had the mighty whitie showing a strong presence. However, I opted to run further down and was rewarded. We sat on what only could be compared to a bio-mass of fish. The W/B bite was so fast and furious that I truly believe anything would work. Pitching blades with any color/ white, 2.45 Great White Pulse-Rs, and Pearl paddle tails were the weapons of choice. These plastics on a 1/4oz jig tossed into the main channel and slowly drug up stream would result in a good arm jolting pop, and fish on. I had to chuckle when my client actually looked in the live well and realized he has SOME fish to clean… He immediately called it a day and wanted to get started on his next task.
On Wednesday, fishing styles needed to be altered slightly due to hosting a company group outing I booked. I need to toss out a big KUDOS to Jeff Bennett (JNB Guiding) for sub-contracting to me and doing an outstanding job in caring for my clients. We had a group of 5 that needed to be split amongst two boats, yet wanted to spend the day in an atmosphere that was together. Seamlessly, Jeff and I covered water and kept the rods bending. I made what I later discovered to be an error by heading up river to where I had been on walleyes on Monday. GONE! All the runs that had been so dependable were like passing over the dead sea. Fortunately Jeff got on an early bite in town of very small eyes that kept his crew happy and cheerful. I joined them for a few passes and the crew in my boat was getting bit as well. Unfortunately, not setting the hook resulted in a lot of un-buttoned eyes. Like Monday, the 1/8oz jig with a half crawler would rule the day on eyes. Even the pesky Mighty Whites were inhaling our crawlers. Jeff’s crew did an outstanding job and sealed the deal on very nice batch of eyes.

In addition to the walleyes beginning to move in, the bio-mass of whitebass had arrived in Fremont. Wave after wave of fish at times more than 5 feet thick would pass by. It was entertaining to show everyone the side scan on the H/bird 1197 as we motored up. In every direction, just masses of white bass passing through. At this point, the activity level of these fish were so high that anything in the water would get bit. This helped the “non-die hard” as they were able to capitalize on catching a tremendous amount of fish without needing the subtle touch for feeling a lite thump of an eye.
As Wednesday afternoon began to pass, so did the little eyes for bigger eyes. It was no mistaking it that the wave of down run eyes were no upon us. That last few drifts we made, gave up some very nice eaters.
Following the company outing, I had a short trip with a couple that wanted to get a few walleyes before dark. That just kept getting better and better as the evening went on. Each drift would give up bigger and bigger eyes. Continuing with a half crawler /jig, the bite was getting more frequent as well. As my guests were dragging crawlers, I had to experiment with plastics to see if that bite would pick up, and it did. Similar to Monday, plastics picked a few, but red meat was the special on the menu.

Thursday was supposed to be all about the white bass for my guest Roger….but with quality eyes in the backyard, I had to tempt him to give it a few drifts. I chuckled as he had a concern about how long it would take to find the whitebass – LOL In just over the first hour, we managed to put our limits of 15”-19”eyes in the livewell. A few came on crawlers, but 3” Moxie (Stewarts Pro-Blue) would be the ticket. Drifting the same section, it was obvious that there were more and more fish arriving that were hugging the bottom (eyes) and a lot of fish were moving on.
Roger’s concern about finding whitebass left us both in tears from the laughter. I made a ½ mile run down from where we were at and dropped the anchor. For the next 3-1/2 hours, Roger would slam whities about as fast as he could get a fish unhooked and his offering back in the water. For a long period of time, he was at a fish per minute pace.
Pearl color paddle tails on 1/8 oz jig sweeping the drop off along the channel edge has been producing W/B for us much faster than live bait. But my #1 producing bait by far is the Koppers Live Target GZC51M Gizzard Shad Crank in Ghost Blue. It is the 2″ (smallest size) and they are just smashing it in record time. I spent a couple hours trying to find another crank in any style or color that would keep up while my client was getting hit on every cast. He was smoking me at least 3 to 1. I know guys cringe on the cost of higher end cranks, but results like that make them worthwhile to invest in.
I have limited availability for the remainder of the May and will be on the water more than on the computer. Anyone looking for a trip is welcome to email me at [email protected]