If you follow the website you know I’m always talking about how much I LOVE high water (sorry Herb!). With the recent rains the water level on pool 4 of the Mississippi river has gone WAY up over the last week. Q: But why do I like high water? A: ‘Cuz the fish always seem to bunch right up and some days they feed like stunted panfish. 
And this past week has been no exception!
Prior to this past sunday I’d been splitting time between the river near Everts Resort and down in the lake out on Pepin. Numbers had been easy out on the lake casting or trolling cranks and Dustin and I had been able to pigeon hole some dandy 6+ Lb fish on 3-ways n’ live bait for last Saturday’s tournament. Everything was looking good on Thursday… but the river was rising… AND FAST! By Friday night water visibility had really fallen off and the flow had increased noticeably. All those big girls were GONE-Gone-gone! 
Since last saturday we’ve done very poorly in the river when we’ve fished it… a fish or two here, one fish there. The current is quite high on the main channel forcing attentions to the side channels and cuts. Large debris has been coming downstream with some consistency so be on the look out for a 100 foot tall elm tree that could be around the next bend in the river if you make it out on the water in the next week or so. 
If you prefer to fish the river north of Lake Pepin this week, look to the backwaters to hold active fish. 3 ways n’ bait or even jiging bait will be the way to go. Target slack water areas on the back side of river bends or at the downstream ends of back water lakes, etc. to get out of the current and into walleye & sauger. Crawlers and leeches have been the most productive baits in these areas.
With the river bite on the wane our full attention was turned to the lake and after a little experimentation and some patience (more like pulling our heads from our collective butts…. I can’t believe we overlooked these fish…lol ) we found the motherload of lake piggies!
What we found was that if we worked through a fish holding area multiple times and paid real close attention to color preference for the day we were able to weed through the smaller and more aggressive 2 – 3 lb fish and actually get bit by good numbers of 23" – 28" walleyes.
Well this is the theory we’re going with any way. 
We have yet to work through these patches of flooded willows out on the lake and catch a fish over 23" without weeding through a good number of sub 20" fish first. (Tough job, I know, but somebody has to do it. 
) Typically what has been happening is that we stick a bunch of smaller fish first and then the bite slows down. Then the big fish feed with 23" – 26" fish coming on consecutive casts or in a quick flurry. When we had been quickly working through these areas a few days prior we would use the electric to motor along the edges of the willow clumps, catch the most aggressive fish, and then move on before we could get the bigger fish to bite.
By simply slowing WAY down and really picking an area apart we’ve been able to enjoy great numbers of "eaters" as well as a bunch of 23"+ fish each day out this past week.
Our top producing crankbaits have been shad raps and grappler shads. #5’s and #7’s in both the original balsa deep diver and the jointed shads. Color selection has been VERY important to us with dark colors proving to be the most successful on dark days and bright n’ shiny getting the nod when the sun is out. Get a sunny day and you’ll need to be looking at fishing chart. over white, firetiger or clown. Rainy or real windy/ cloudy days the perch, black over silver and craw have been best.
We’ve been throwing these baits on 6# diameter braided line to help get our plugs back out of the willows and to keep the ever present pike from walking off with our plugs if at all possible. And the pike have been biting well. From little 3 Lb snakes up to some dandies in the low teens each day. I would imagine a person serious about catching some sumo-slimers could have a field day working off the edges of these flooded willows with spoons, large rattle traps or maybe even a big sucker minnow under a float. Any large rattle trap thrown by someone in my boat over the last 3 or 4 trips out has been promptly eaten by Mr. Pike…. so that’s where I’d start if I was looking to intentionally catch one.
Areas out on the lake that have been producing walleye for us are scattered all over map. Deer Island. Bogus Bay. Maiden Rock and Long Pt. The head of the lake. The further north you get on the lake the dirtier the water gets. South of Stockholm and things clean up quite nicely. Do also be aware of large floating debris out on the lake. There’s not a ton of it but those trees floating around in the river have to go somewhere. 
Look for this bite to hold as long as the water levels stay up and then once the fish transition from living in these willows look for the shallow water trolling bite to take off as the watr levels fall back into normal summer levels. My guess is that the next 2 – 3 weeks on Pool 4 will be nothing short of exceptional so get the boat ready to roll and grab the kids this weekend and make a day of it. An average day once you’re on this bite is 30 – 40 17+ inch fish with a handful of dandies thrown in. Even if you don’t hit the jackpot of big walleyes the kids will be kept entertained by all the white bass, largies, slimers, sheepshead and sauger you’re GUARANTEED to catch during your search!
So why do I like high water?
Photos may be enlarged by clicking on them.
Dave Olsen of Owatonna, MN with a nice pike that took us for a run through the willows before we got the net under here.
I’m as happy about the dry weather as I am the walleye. Any more rain and I thought I was going to mold.
Olsen crew. 6/15/04. I have no idea what that face is Dave is making in the background… lol
Jim Frank 6/16/04. This 23″ walleye was followed on his very next cast with a 25″. I tried to get him to let me take a photo of that 25″ but he thought since the walleyes grew 2″ every time he made a cast he thought he’d be better off if he kept fishing.
Greg Olsen 6/13/04.
Great report James.
Nice report big guy.
And that’s ok. Actually, I don’t mind the high water either. It lets me work on my ‘herbie-do’ list.
Maybe I’ll retire and move to Red Wing eh.
Great report,keep them coming!
Wow that’s gotta be one of the best reports I’ve seen, in a long time, both in content and fish
as always Great Report James
Keep ’em coming.
Darn River Guys
Nice Fish Dustin and James! I’m impressed (doesn’t take much though)! Great pics and content of the report! 
Just an update here guys…
The water levels have fallen quite a bit and the casting bite continues to produce fish BUT many areas of flooded willows that were producing fish have been left “high n’ dry” forcing the fish to move around quite a bit. Points with access to deeper water and rip rap shorelines have taken over as top producers and the willows in the back of the bays that were on fire last week just aren’t holding the fish any more.
Any one know where you can get a good lake map of Pepin? Whatsa
The pool 4 Hot spots Map available at Gander, Fleetfarm and Cabelas (and other locations) is as good as it gets for that body of water.
Thanks James: My pheasant hunting buddies from Iawa are coming up this weekend and I have to get them on some fish. Thanks For the great report. Whatsa
Could anybody fill me in on their opinion of why walleyes go to the willows in high water? Is it cover, getting out of the current, are the trees loaded with baitfish? And when one wants to start fishing the willows where do you start? Is it just a process of elimination or are there some tricks. Thanks Les
I wish I could help but I’m still trying to figure it out myself!! I think the guys that have figured it out hope the rest of us don’t ever figure it out. I’ve been trying to work on it with little success. I think the fish bunch up so much when the water is high that it’s hard to find them, but once you do you should have good luck. Once you can find a few of the area’s that produce when the water is high you should be able to produce in these area time and time again. So for now I searching for a few of them areas and just hoping that I can find a few. Whatsa
Food & cover. Lots of both. And as you guys well know, not all clumps of willows will hold fish.
1) – Look for large areas of flooded willows. One single clump the size of a kitchen table may hold a fish or two but that’s it. We’re fishing areas that have floodeds willows for hundreds of yards in each direction up and down the shoreline.
2) – Look for flooded willows with nearby access to deep water. Willows at the back of a shallow bay in a foot of standing water might hold a few stunted pannies but not much else. We catch a LOT of walleye in windy conditions in 2′ of water… but there’s 8′ of water very close by.
3) – Play the wind. The more the better. 2′ waves running back into flooded willows is a gold mine. You’ll still need to pick the area apart to find the “Double AA – Triple Gold Stamp – I died and went to heaven” spot from all the available options but once you find it for that day you can literally catch a fish every other cast for hours or until the wind changes directions. And if the wind changes directions the fish just won’t be there the next day. It’s frustarting… but that’s just the way it is.
4) – Be prepared to fish a LOT of unproductive water. It’s amazing how some days all the walleyes on a 1000 yard stretch of potential cover all hold in a spot the size of my driveway. Move 50′ in either direction or cast through that area with the wrong size or color plug and you’ve missed it. I know Dustin and I did this several time when the water was high. When we changed up colors and retrieve the second or maybe even the third time through the fish seemed to come out of nowhere. Go back to the colors and plugs used the first time through and you get nada.
I hope this helps some guys. Really this boils down to persistence and timing of course since you need high water to make this work. Unless we get a TON of rain it will be next spring before we get to play with this pattern again. So far for the spring and summer of 2004 this pattern has been responsible for my best, most consistent and most fun walleye fishing I’ve had!
Does that mean you think the shallow troll bite is dead or dying? I am taking my father from FL fishing later today to Pool 4, Any suggestions?
I met Dustin at the ramp after a fairly slow day for me and my four sons. He gave me three little tips and next day we hammered’ em’! Since then I am a huge Dustin/FTR/In-Depth fan. Thanks again Dustin, you seem to be a genuine “hell of a guy”!
H20,
Thank-You very informative, I am looking forward to the high water period, next spring to give this a try. Information is much appreciated. Thanks again. Les