Pool 4 Misissippi River Oct. 10, 2004

Well it’s been quite a long time since my last report and I apologize for that. No excuses, but as the fall progresses, I know more and more people will be inquiring about the walleye and sauger fishing on the upper end of pool 4 near the dam. I am pleased to say that the fall bite that we have all been waiting for is starting to shape up nicely. This first photo is of some folks staying at the resort the first week of October with a few of the walleyes that were part of a limit the two had this day……some nice 17-19 inch walleye.

It amazes me to see how rapidly the fishing goes from poor to pretty darn good every year…in only a few days. Last Saturday, the 2nd, the fishing was very slow, and had been for some time, with very few people catching fish. Sunday things picked up a little bit and by Monday, people were starting to get limits of 14-17 inch fish for the most part. Some bigger….some smaller. The two best presentations that I am hearing are 3-waying minnows while anchored and vertical jigging blade baits. Both methods are taking a variety of sizes, but both have produced larger (20-23in.) fish at times. I have yet to hear of any decent reports on plastics or hair, but expect that to change in a hurry! I can’t wait! The best depths range from 6-12 feet in general. The water is fairly dirty yet, and I personally don’t think the bright sunny days are pushing the fish all that deep even in the middle of the day. It is not uncommon to be catching fish in the 18 feet deep range give or take a few feet this time of year, but I don’t see/hear of many in those greater depths yet. The next picture here is another shot of some low to mid teens sauger and a couple nice walleye that are the norm at the dam right now for most people. I apologize for the stringer photos……we all know some peoples feelings on those, but that is all I had and I don’t plan on making a habit of using them.

I had a chance to fish the 4th and final In-Depthangling.com walleye tournament yesterday and had a blast doing so. My partner Dean Marshall and I had decided to go to the dam and get our five fish as soon as possible and then run for point-no-point which I had a tip on for some larger fish with crankbaits. I managed a 21-22 inch walleye on a 3-way and minnow early in the day to get things started. That was the first fish of 30-40 I caught using that method…..and the only walleye that was over 15 inches on minnows! After that my partner took over. He landed a dandy walleye on a blade bait an hour later. To make a long story short, by noon we only had 4 measurable fish with a ton of 14-14.99 inchers. We decided it was too late to run to PNP and decided to stick it out. Dean lost a 3 lber next to the boat at 1:30 or so and things were looking grim for us. We were sure we had the 4 fish jinx for the 3rd time in these IDA tournaments. Well around 2pm Dean connected with fish #5….another fish in the 20 inch range. After that we landed a few more 16 inch fish, but never got the big “kicker” fish. The day was a success in our minds because we managed 5 quality fish. What does this 3rd picture have to do with our tourney day you ask? Absoultely nothing. This is a deer Kevin Cain, a camper here took while bowhunting last week. I promised him I would post it in a report for all to see. I don’t have any more recent fish pics besides!!

To keep this report from getting too long, I will answer some basic questions that people are asking everyday and be straight to the point before I comment on one last topic/tip. The majority of the fishing has been focused around the dam area. I have not heard of any fantastic reports coming from the hay creek area yet. The area below the “Y” has not started from what i’m hearing. Best depths are in that 6-12 foot range and gradually becoming deeper for the vertical jig/3-way bite. The water level is getting back to “normal” and it is still pretty dirty as I mentioned earlier, although it should start to clear up soon. The majority of the fish are coming on sand breaks vs. rock. OK…..now on to my last comment/tip. Getting back to the tournament day yesterday, I mentioned there is a good blade (Sonar) bite. Four of our five biggest fish were caught on blades. I’m not sure if this is the place to discuss this, or if it is better suited for the message board, but here it goes anyway. Most people love ‘em or hate ‘em, regarding blade baits. Why? Because of their reputation as a snagging lure. Without a doubt, they can and do snag fish when fished the wrong way……Very aggressive, “rip jigging”, without allowing the bait to sit motionless at all is the basic way to describe it. My theory during the tournament was this, with the water fairly dirty, the vibration the blade makes will attract a reaction strike, plus allow the fish to find the bait easier. Now if you don’t slow that bait down or stop it for a few seconds, the fish can’t hit the bait because it’s moving too fast in dirty water and it can’t see it! So what did we do different? First, we use a superline, PowerPro to be exact, but Fireline works just as well. This doesn’t allow for line stretch and requires less rod action to get the bait to vibrate on the upswing. Second, a slow, steady upswing about 12-18 inches, just fast enough to make the blade vibrate is all you need. Then drop the blade back down on a tight line and that’s when the majority of your hits occur. Lastly, when you get to the bottom of your “drop”, let the bait sit for a few seconds, or twitch it an inch or two and let it sit again. You will feel the weight of the blade disappear as the fish picks it up, or you will feel the slam of the fish hitting it and trying to run off with it! Set the hook! So why am I telling you all this? Well these blades are becoming more and more popular and if people are going to use them, I would rather see people use them correctly vs. snagging fish. After all, it is illegal to “intentionally” snag fish and it is illegal to “keep a snag fish”. I saw some people yesterday up at the dam that must have “tennis elbow” after the way they were fishing them. I’m not telling people how to fish, just offering another method to a popular bait. And now, another picture with absolutely no correlation with this paragraph, but it is another buck Kevin shot the previous week. One was in MN and the other in WI. Good job Kevin and Good Luck fishing to all!