Man it felt good to be back on the river last week after nearly a 10 day lay off
. Since my last outing to the mighty Miss the water levels have risen close to over a foot but look to be on the down fall as I type. With the water levels and the flow much higher than my previous outings it took a bit of time to get those walleyes located. After a couple of hours searching around I found those eyes to be holding in the general vicinity they were weeks prior but locations and depth changed a bit. I found the fish to be tighter to shore than they were on previous outings and holding closer to those dead slack water areas……..typical higher water scenario.
The middle part of last week I spent two days fishing with my dad, brother, sister in-law and her son Trevor. Wednesday of last week we saw a good bite dragging jigs tipped with crawlers or leeches concentrating in 3’ to 9’ of water. Finding those small current seams close to shore was key for us to get bit using this presentation. Moving farther out in to the channel away from the current seams produced nothing on jigs for us. Wednesday ended up being the better of the 2 days with a 3 man limit of fish and then some making it to the net. Biggest fish of the day hit the tape at 22 1/2” with most of our catch running in the 18” to 21” range. Orange jigs were predominately best with a few fish coming on blue or black as well.
Once we had fish found on Wednesday I thought Thursday was going to be a sure thing with possibly some small adjustments in color selection or depth but that was not the case for us on this day. Thursday we struggled to catch a walleye over the 15” mark in the same locations as the day prior
. Plenty of action just not much for size, must have been the babies day to feed because those 3” to 14” eye’s were on a tear
. Just goes to show there is never any guaranties when it comes to ol’ marble eyes. Late morning we switched to trolling cranks and went on the hunt for another school fish to pound on. The cranks ended up putting a little bit better fish in the boat for us but not in big numbers. We jumped several areas pulling a fish or two off each area and that was it. #5 Firetiger jointed shad raps took our 15” plus fish on this day.
This past Sunday I shared my boat with Jeremy Frigo. The start of the day found us 3-waying crawlers and leeches slowly up stream. We saw a fair bite on 3-ways but it wasn’t fast and furious
. We took 6 nice eye’s in 6’ to 10’ of water on the 3-way rigs before making the switch to dragging jigs. The rest of the day we concentrated on 2 key areas that we found active fish holding on as soon as we made the switch to dragging jigs. The rest of the day we spent just waiting um out. We would go for a good hour and a half with out a good fish then see a good flurry of action for real short periods of time. I chose to stay and play the waiting game in this area because I new the fish were there
. All though the action we saw never turned fast and furious it was enough to keep me from running and gunning looking for another area with active fish. Staying in this area paid off by days end with a 3 man limit of fish in the 17” to 20” class and one good fish that Jeremy is pictured with above
. Blue jigs were the best color overall by days end with orange coming in a close second. While 3-way rigging crawlers were best taking all but one of our fish but once we got fish going on the jigs I think the leeches might have out done crawlers in the numbers department. Good fishin with you Jeremy, I am looking forward to fishing with you again in the near future!
I have not been on the lake in quite sometime but have heard of sauger/walleye being caught in the Maidon Rock Flats area as well as the Long Point area on the upper part of the lake. From the looks of the posts on the forums from this past weekend the fish are going on the lower end of the lake where it dumps in to the river as well.
See ya’ on the river!
Dustin Stewart
In-Depth Angling Pro-Staff
IN-Depth Angling Video Productions
My Photo Album
[email protected]
Moving Waters Guide Coalition
Ph.507-421-2346
I ran in to Greg Feuerhelm and his son on Sunday, sorry Greg I didn’t get his name
. Greg motors up telling me had made a mistake 
. It ended up his mistake wasn’t that big of deal after all once his son pulled his biggest walleye to date, from what I understood, out of the livewell for me to take a quick snap shot of 
. His mistake ended up being he forgot the camera at home 
Nice fish
Greg said this fish measured out at 28.5 inches 
Maybe he’ll chime in here and reveal the presentaion and depth that put this fish in the boat….
Good seeing you guys on the river Sunday
Greg if you shoot me an email I will get the picture out to you ASAP!
Nice Report!
I had the chance to fish the lake today In the morning Camp pepin was smokin! Alot of fish in the 15″ to 20″ range
In the afternoon we moved to the rush fishing 18 to 20 with one 21″ and a few really nice crappie’s. We did see a few other boats catchin quit a few eyes at the rush! Theres piles of them on the locator!!
Thanks for the Lake info Brian
. Care to share what kind of cranks are putting fish in your boat?
`In the morning Jointed blue and perch were best. In the afternoon the 21″ was caught with #7 white glass rap.. and that was on the core on bottom!
Just a quick update on Wednesdays bite. The bite was slower for overall numbers than my last outing but the quality of fish was much better then previous trips. Swany and I got off to a late start because the thunderstorm we had on that morning and made an early exit due to the unbearable heat once the sun popped out. Dragging jigs was once again the presentation that worked for us. Blue jigs were dominant with a few on black and a couple on orange. Crawlers took all 7 of our 20” plus fish for the day but we did see some fish in the upper teens on leeches.
With the water receding since I was out on Sunday, the fish made a small adjustment and were found in bigger concentrations a bit deeper in the same areas I have been fishing. The fish that were close to being right on the river banks last weekend have fallen out in to some of the deeper holes surrounding the shallower areas I had been targeting. 8’ to 11’ seemed to be the best depth for us on this day. We did get a couple of fish out of that 2’to 6’ of water as well but not in good numbers.
I am pictured here with a nice eye that was caught on a blue jig/crawler
. Swany had a walleye that was just bit smaller than this one but with the grueling heat and my live well deciding it didn’t want to work, kept blowing fuses, we decided to get the fish right back in the water before she got baked in that hot sun. 
James was on the river today and saw a good crank bite with some real nice fish making it to the boat. I’m sure he’ll pop in here sometime and give us the details…..
Here’s Swany with a 22 1/2″ fish that he took on a jig/crawler
hi Dustin, good report as usual, and good hear that things are looking good on the river lately. have been mostly wasting my time on inland lakes. fishing has been slow for most of the spring for me.
enjoy a good summer.
Jack.