This past week has been a wonderful example of some of the best fishing the Mississippi River has to offer as well as a text book case of how weather can impact an angler’s success rate and influence strategy to keep the percentages in one’s favor.
Earlier in the week the weather was calm and unusually warm for mid-November. High clear skies and bright sunshine made time spent on the water an absolute pleasure… and the walleye and sauger seemed to be on a near relentless feeding binge! 
Water clarity is still a touch dirty but only for this time of year. All that rain we received a couple weeks back really stirred things up and over the last 10 days or so things have gradually cleared but we’re not seeing the ultra-clear conditions we often see by mid to late November. And this may be one of the reasons we seem to be seeing our best fishing on bright days…. with the best bite happening from 10 AM – 3 PM! 
Our strategy on these bright days has been pretty simple… hit the shallows early with k-grubs in search of a piggie or two and then retreat to the deeper water during midday to stay on fish.
Rip rap and/or natural rock with some current rolling past has been the place to be when looking for a 5+ lb fish this past week. Sand gave up some dingers for Dustin a few trips back but those fish have all but dried up for us with the rock fish making a strong showing instead.
Water depths have been 8′ or less when looking for these shallow fish and many of our biggest fish are coming from just a couple feet of water.
Once the sun gets above the trees, 9 AM or so, this bite dried up and then it’s off to vertical jigging in 15′ -19′ of water to stay on fish.
And this vertical jigging bite has been nothing short of fabulous. I had the chance to fish with Steve Vick, manager of Everts Resort, and his father-in-law Ron Holmgren on one of those days when the fish seem to be far too cooperative once a guy has figured out what they were looking for!
The 3.25" Paddletails from BFT have been the ticket for big numbers of dandy walleyes from "just legal" up to 23" and some super sized saugers up to 21.5"…. like the one being held by Ron in my second photo. The trick to fishing these baits was to find bottom (we used a 5/16th ounce head in orange/chart. or lime green/chart.) and snapped the bait upwards a few inches before allowing it to settle for a generous pause. Most strikes come about 5 – 10 seconds in to the pause.
One other item worth noting concerning our water clarity. Season after season Dustin and I find our best results coming this time of year on natural colored baits (blues, purples and other subdued patterns, etc.) but so far this month oranges (catalpa orange) and chartreuses have got the nod day after day. Chartreuse pepper, in 5" k-grubs, ringworms and the new paddletails from BFT, seems to be about the best thing going on bright days with oystershell popping some nice fish when the clouds roll in and the skies darken.
We’ve also noticed an increase in success when we add a contrasting colored jig head in front of our baits (photo to follow). An orange head in front of a chartreuse pepper paddletail has been a top producer and a lime green or chartreuse head in front of a oystershell ringie is producing better than a plain lead or black painted head. Just a couple "minor" details that seem to really be making a big difference…. 
Once the fronts started coming in this week the terrific walleye and mega-sized sauger bite that was taking place mid-day really slowed and our best periods of success came early and late in the day with our better bites happening from 7 – 9 AM. During the cold temps and rainy conditions late this week we found we had to turn to the saugers to stay busy once the walleyes had fed their fill in the mornings. Other anglers turned to pulling 3-ways and small stickbaits with some solid success (mostly 14" – 18" saugers) but the numbers were much better than the jig guys were seeing. Slowly dragging 3-ways and bait was also a good alternative to the jig bite as the fish just flat out wanted baits moving as slowly as possible.
By Sunday 11/21 conditions had warmed and the sun popped out and Dustin reported the bite has returned to something "similar" to what it was before all the wind, cooler temps and rain. His bite held out strong until 11 AM with nearly 25 legal eyes caught pitching.
I’d love to hear how everyone else has been doing lately and as always pics make us all smile so don’t hesitate to share!
Dave Mason with a nice walleye – caught on a 3.25″ paddletail. MAN did that sun feel nice!
Our best k-grub colors of late have been chartreuse pearl and chartreuse pepper. During the first couple hours of the day fishing “big and shallow” has paid off handsomely!
There’s actually been one heck of a goo d smallie bite lately. I know of a couple reliable reports of big numbers with a couple fish over 4.5 lbs with the largest a touch over 5!
Steve Dragins with a nice 24″ walleye we caught on Wednesday.
We caught this one from a spot that was tied up by another boat for what seemed like an eternity! One of my first casts with a chart. pepper paddletail was greeted by one of the most most vicious hits I’ve had in some time!
Just some examples here of some of the brighter colors and contrasting heads and plastics we’ve been using lately. We’ve been using a lot of 1/8 ounce B FISH N Tackle Precision heads when pitching shallows and the 5/16ths have been perfect when we drop out deeper to vertical jig.
Nice photos. Ill have to keep in ind the jig heads on monday. Its hard to believe that the fish are on the go on sunny days but now that you mention it we have found about the same on 2. It has been tough fishing since last wensday.
Nice fish, James….makes a guy want to call in sick for a few days, and hit the water. Incidently, I played around on the Wisconsin at the Dells last week, using some of the sample paddletails I got with my recent order. The eyes clobbered the catalpa orange, and although the ringies got some action, too, that paddletail was the ticket. My buddy was pleading with me for the other one I had, and after seeing a grown man on his knees, gave it to him. I was up 6 fish to his none,(he was using live bait on jig), and as soon as he put that thing in the water, he started picking some up too. Gonna be adding some of those to the arsenal.
James!
Thanks for the great report. Pete Dumas and I were there on Wednesday and saw you pass by. I think you recognized Pete. He sure stands out in a crowd, doesn’t he?
We were there for a few hours in the afternoon and managed some sauger and one walleye [off the rocks]. Most fish came on a jig/minnow but did get one nice sauger on a purple/white tail ring.
What a great day, sitting in a boat in our shirt sleeves in mid-November. Gotta love it.
Swede
Great report and pics as usual James! Nobody has a bigger Walleye smile than you Bud! Thanks for the informative scenario on adapting to the changing conditions. I am hoping to catch an open seat next Friday morning as I am visiting the family in Stillwater and certainly begged at least a morning off to visit pool 4. I am itchin to try the Paddletails…(hope Steve has some left)
James,
Good posts and great pics, got to love’em, keep’em comin.
got down this afternoon for only a couple of hours with Steve, whom you met again last week. fishing was alittle slow but got some descent bites, not too many boats either. the visibility is picking up some. back on the weekend. Jack..
Great report and pic’s James, someday, someday, HMMMM
Paddletails 
James… Your the mannnnnnnnnn
I used to have a small walleye boat just for thanks giving and on through the
winter. slippery boat ramps & all…
You have just confirmed where my over time money is going
Took the day off today (Tuesday 11/23) for a solo trip on pool 4.
Got on the water before sunrise and started having decent action right away casting chartreuse pearl k-grubs shallow. About 20 minutes into my day the back edge of that cold front came through raking the few clouds from the sky and whipped up the wind pretty good. The bite pretty much died for an hour or so for me after that. I planned on casting the whole day so the winds made it kinda tough for me to do the pitching thing in some of the areas I wanted to try. I spent a good part of the day anchored up and casting to rock in some of the classic spots. I worked from the real shallow stuff to about 15′. Two Fridays ago I got some fish south of Red Wing but today I could only find them up towards the dam.
I only managed around 8 or 9 walleye but all were better than 15″ except one. Also got plenty of them good ol’ saugers. Got fish on K-grubs, ringworms, and paddle tails. Of course that’s all I used! Ringworms caught the most by a slight margin and glitter patterns seemed to work the best for me. No huge fish but did get a couple of twin 20″ + saugers. One came on a chartreuse pepper paddle tail and the other on a fire and ice ringworm. No pics but I’m hoping to finally get a digital soon.
A common phrase I heard from the few other fisherman that were out was, “We had to work for em”! Hopefully the bite will get better for the Holiday crowd!
Chris
Thanks for the report Crankbait. Sounds like you had a good fun day on the water.
Jeff, the paddletails are at a cheap price. Gotta have em! They catch fish!
Thanks, Bill
Speaking of fun on the water, I wanted to say “Thank you James” again for the good time we had with you on the water, we beat your expectations for the day when we started (told you so)! It was a great learning expierience and I hope to do it again sometime, my only complaint and it really shoudnt be one is leaving when the bite was sooooooo good, but I understand what strange things love can do to a guy, in all seriousness it was getting late but that was one heck of a crazy bite, Thanks again!
Yeah, I hear you on that one! We could have stayed there and caught fish for quite some time the way they were going… as much as I hated to do it we had to pull the plug some time. Can’t fish forever although if I could that would have been one of the days to pick to do it.
It was a pleasure to fish with you guys!
James,great pics and report.It is always nice to read your reports,keep them coming.
Ryan Hale