Mississippi River Walleye & Sauger Report 11-8-04

I had the chance to spend a Monday fishing with John Martin from Hayfield Minnesota.

The weather was really great no wind, cloud cover, and great company.

The water temp is really warmer then I like to see this time of year.

Also the flow is very strong and high which can be a good thing.

This first picture is of John with one of his release’s.

The numbers were not there for us today.

We caught just inside twenty fish this time of year that number should be doubled.

Read on if you want to find out our how.

I opted to troll three-ways for our first half day.

This produced only sauger with one really good one.

The target area were the drops and edges 15 to 22 feet.

The rest of the day we spent jigging Bucktails with bait with little action put to the jig just drag it.

We had half our fish slam the bait the other half would pick it up and do the hold it routine.

Our target area was again 16 to 23 feet.

Here is a photo of our best baits for the day.

The cranks have shad bodies with a rattle. You also needed some sorta of yellow.

The Bucktails were the red and white with a minnow.

I think that was Redneck Jrs recipe. It worked perfect.

This next photo is of John with the big walleye of the day.

It was a strong 21 inches. The other was just over 18 inches.

Both these fish came flippin to rip rap on a bucktail and a minnow.

Most all our keepers came with the jigs and bait.

Jeez I hate that word BAIT….

I can’t wait for the water temp to drop so that I can start poppin those plastics.

We saw many walleye taken with the blade baits today I was rigged to do it but we opted not. Cause I didn’t see but one big one caught that way and it was 19 inches.

This last photo is of John with his limit of eaters.

Nice string John. They should taste great.

Had a great day. Thanks and take care.