2004 Mississipi River Walleye Year End Report

As 2004 comes to an end we anxiously wait and hope that 2005 is even better. For all of you that visited us this year we would like to say thanks for all the great memories and for all the great stories we shared together. We met lots of friends in 2004 and we hope that 2005 will bring us even more. With all the great memories in 2004 I thought I would share some with everyone.

It was another great year for us at River Guiding Services. We saw a lot of nice fish make it to the boat this year for ourselves and for our customers as well. However big fish honors went to this young lad. We did have bigger fish than this for the year, but this fish was caught during the dog days of summer and felt that this fish topped all the rest because of the time of the year it was caught compared to the rest. If this fish would have been caught in spring it would have been enormous. Nice fish!

This year started out again as same as the last three. Three of us Dustin Stewart, Rob Stevens and myself, started out the year by being the first ones out on the river. This was a great way to start the year. This day saw us pitching all day long to structure. This day we had over 60 legal walleyes come to the boat. What a great way to start the year. Check out Dustin’s Report from last year. Dustin’s Report

My tournaments took up a lot of time this past year but we were still able to find some nice fish. The month of March saw me in Spring Valley for three weeks while fishing the MWC and the RCL. I finished 10th in the RCL, in Spring Valley. This was my first Pro tournament my first top 10 finish as a Pro. The month of April and May saw a lot of great fish, both walleye and smallies. Big Bass honors went to Dylan this last year with two smallies that hit only a couple casts apart. They’re only bass Dylan. LOL!

I spent the first part of April fishing Lake Erie for the first time. What a great fishery that is. Here are a couple of my best fish on Lake Erie. See Pics below. This fish a Purple Demon ReefRunner in 30’ of water. The double I am holding came off of crawler harnesses. While I was out on Lake Erie my ol man was mopping up all the piggies here on lower pool 4. Lee caught this one while pulling three way along wing dams. Nice Fish Lee.

The month of May saw a lot of great fish come to the boat also. Here is one of mine I caught while pulling three ways along wingdams on lower pool 4. The end of May also saw some high water and the fish were going crazy while fishing in the flooded trees. During this time 75-100 fish days were common or at least for a couple weeks it was. Josh Petty had his best walleye ever this day. Being only 13 I am sure you will get bigger. I was also out on Devils Lake this month. Scott Steil, Erik Haslund and I had the opportunity to boat some nice catches out there during the RCL Walleye Tournament however they didn’t come during tournament time:(

June, July and August I really spent a lot of time on Lake Pepin. The best thing about June is I was able to get my little sister out in the boat for the first time and she put on a show catching two real nice fish. We got these while trolling sand flat with Wally Divers and Shad Raps. This presentation stayed pretty consistent all the way through the end of august. Todd Poeschel of Mondovi, and Paster Joel Bacon of Alma got to experience it also. Then august hit and this young lad nailed this fish while pulling bait along a rip rap shoreline on lower pool 4. August was still a good month this last year for wingdams. Here is Brian Sylvestor with one of the walleyes he got with me this day. O kay Silly, you got them all this day. There I said it. LOL!

As September came along it found us fishing pool 5 again. Trolling side cuts and live baiting wingdams was the best presentation that month. Jack Reynolds took this nice eye while trolling shad raps on a side cut. In October Ted Kadzie nailed this fish while trolling the same side cut. Less Carson had a good day too with this double he is holding. These fish we double up on while trolling the same side cut.

Then it happened. November big fish came alive as soon as the water temps dropped. Tom Gursky and I had a great trip while pitching rip rap shorelines. Ross Kuhn even nailed this big Northern the next day after the Trip with Tom.

As you can see we had a lot of fun again this last year. None of this would have been possible if it wasn’t for some great sponsors that helped support us all year long. These include. Smitty’s Marine, thanks for keeping me on the water. Lund Boats for the great comfort; Evirude, for taking us to our favortie fishing hole; St. Croix Rods, man those rods are good. All these fish were caught using St.Croix; Gander Moutain, you saved me some major $$ with all your great products; B Fish N tackle, one word- “Plastics”

Thanks to everyone we met this last year. We made a lot of new friends once again. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year.

Bring on 2005.

Rest of pictures to follow in progress.