I had the chance to get out on Sunday for a few hours. I met my good friend John Sullivan at the boat launch at 7:00 am. We had a decent day out there. Plenty of eaters for the frying pan. Here’s John holding a 19 incher that fell to a ringworm.
John and I started our day up inside the lock. We dropped our superdoos down and within seconds we had a double going. Both fish were saugers about 15 to 15.5". We stayed there for about an hour and caught around 15 more fish, with only three more making it to the livewell, so we opted to change location.
With a southwest wind and low flow, we decided to hit some wingdams. These conditions were just right to slip the face of them. Using the trolling motor, we were able to work the wingdams just fine with very little effort. We pitched ringworms and vertical jigged superdoos and paddletails. The day ended up the day with a limit of saugers and walleyes. Here are the patterns that worked best for us.
Just to let you guys know, I’ll be working Thursday night the 17th from 6:00pm to 7:30pm at the Outdoor Show in the Rock Island Conservation Club booth. Stop by to say hello. I’ll have IDA sticker’s and some BFN plastic’s to give to anyone who has not had the opportunity to use these great baits. Hope to see you there.
Way to go Tony. Great report! Are your backwaters down there still solid?
Good to hear from you Tony. Were those the hot colors that you have pictured?
Great report Tony
. Did you have any trouble launching?
ACJ- The backwaters are still pretty solid. Most of the main river is still very wide open.
Hey Dustin, Those where the exact patterns that worked for me and John on Sunday. I just had to change out the plastics because the one’s I had on got pretty ripped up.
Hi Jeff, No problem launching at all. Both Sunset Marine river side(IL) and the Marquette St.(IA) landing are very clear for putting in. By the way, those where some nice Browns.
Tony,thanks for the great post,kinda looking for a place to fish the river,sounds like pool 16 might work…
Tony,just where is the ramp that you used,is it in davenport?were you fishing above or below dam #16?I have fished davenport area,but can’t remember what the name of the ramp was.it was close to old oscar myar plant.
Thanks for the great report. Looking for a place to go as soon as we can. Tony is pool 16# the one where you putin in down town Muscatine at the park ? Jim
Hey walleytracker,
I put the boat in at Davenport. You want to take the Marquette St. south the the river. It’s a very good ramp for this time of year. They still have the docks in the water, easy to load and unload your boat.
Ia James,
Muscatine is on pool 17.
If either one of you are coming down to fish, let me know and I will try to help you out. Stay away from the rollers and concentrate on the wingdams of Credit Island, thats were we found the more active and quality fish.
Tony thanks for the quick come back. We Walleyetracker and I might make it down this weekend. It depends on the weather of course. Will let you know if we are comming by e-mail or PM. Jim
Tony, I know where that ramp is and it is a pretty decent ramp..is the bait shop on river dr. open?did you fish with live bait at all?
Walleyetracker,
We did try some rigging with live bait. The only fish that we caught with it were sheepheads, cats and suckers.
The Credit Island Bait Shop is open, but I don’t know what their hours are. . To me, this time of year the smaller fish always strike natural baits where the better fish are taken on jigs and plastics or # 4 rapalas pulled on three ways. I hope this helps you out.
it helps a bunch, thanks tony==
Your more than welcome Walleyetracker,
But remember one thing. Fish the way you have the most confidence in. My reports reflect only on the way that I fish, not yours. The best thing is to be open minded.
Tony:
Thanks for a very thorough and detailed report!
My wife is due on 2-24, so for the time being I am staying close to home. My mother-in-law is coming out to help us out with the new baby for about a month. With a soon to be 6 year old and 3 year old son already on the ground, we’ll need the help! My older boy has been coming out with me on the ice quite a bit this season, I suspect once I tell him they’re catchin’ saugers on the river, he’ll be rarin’ to get out in the boat as well.
When my mother-in-law is in town, my wife is gonna let me out of the house at least once.
It sounds like I may need to take a trip to Davenport… 
Did you guys try pullin’ any rapalas? I did OK over on 14 in late November pullin’ tandem floating raps on 3-ways.
Regards,
Joe
Hey there Joe,
We didn’t pull three ways at all. The plastic bite was working just fine for us.
Congrats on the coming of the new addition to the family.
I’ll be out on the river again this weekend. Give me a shout when your coming so we can get together.