This is the time of year we all wait for…. pre-spawn, warming water temps, rising water levels and stable weather bring out the big girls and the last couple days have been incredible for big walleyes on Pool 4 with our biggest fish pulling down a digital scale to 13.3lbs! If you want a big walleye and you’re sick of staring down a hole in the ice, the Mississippi River is the best game in town! 
Mid-week as the water levels started to rise things were a little dicey. We were still catching quality fish with most of our catch being in the 19" – 23" range but the quantity was down from the weeks prior and the bite changed quite a bit from day to day making a guide’s job a tough one to adjust each day and stay on the fish. We found our best fish mid-week on rip rap shorelines with deep water nearby… with little to no current. Water temps were higher by 2 – 3 degrees in a couple spots we found and this concentrated the baitfish and the walleyes.
By the end of the week the water levels had come up over a foot and the river started to look like a river again with stronger current seams to concentrate fish again for the first time since last fall. Within a couple days the fish had settled in and set up shop on sand flats just out of the current and the big girls put on the feed bag!
On Saturday I had a guide trip with father and son Mark & Morgan Stanley. They had fished the day prior and had a tough run of things and in the morning they told me they wanted to go fish for the one instead of pounding around looking for numbers. I love this type of trip and we ran to one of my favorite big fish spots. Casting 1/8 ounce precision heads and 4" ringworms was the ticket as these two guys put back-to-back piggies in the boat in the first 10 minutes on the water. With the dirtier water some of our favorite fish catching colors needed to be put away and out came the dirty water patters… chartreuse pepper, purple chartreuse tail and fire-n-ice. Rigged on orange or chartreuse colored heads to add a little color in the dirty water seemed to help put fish in the boat so unlike mid-winter when we often suggest unpainted or black heads, a bright and contrasting heads need to be considered.
Mark Stanley is shown above in the first pic with a massive 30" walleye that weighed 13.3 lbs on a digital scale provided by Craig Kronbeck who also helped us out as the official weigh-master for this beast…. thanks Craig. 
This walleye was one of about 30 we caught on Saturday. Most of our fish were in the 4 – 5 range with a couple other "bigguns" throw in to keep things real interesting. We fished sand flats and one small stretch of rip rap down stream from the dam to avoid the crowds. Most fish came from 3 – 8 feet with the larger fish hanging in less water than the smaller fish.
Mark is shown again with his "small one" that would have been a day-maker on most days. This fish came from an area with cleaner water and we needed to adjust to more natural bait colors (pro blue + black head) to get bit. Keep in mind the need to adjust bait colors to match water clarity in the coming weeks as different stretches of water on the same pool can have remarkably different visibility levels.
If you prefer to troll, I ran into IDA Pro Staffer Scott Steil on the water on Saturday and he was pounding the walleyes and saugers on handlining gear. He was pulling stickbaits and had good numbers of fish including a 4.5 Lb sauger that is a darn big saugie in any man’s book. The 3-way / handlining bite will only get better as we move further into the month of April so don’t be caught with your stickbaits at home the next time you hit the river. 
Gary Wellman is shown in the last photo. This pic was taken earlier in the week and weighed in at 9.7 Lbs.
All fish over 20" were released in GREAT shape to spawn…. please do the same!
Nice fish
looking on coming to pool 4 on Thurs. my son in-law with crap his pants if catches 1 of those.
Was wondering what landings were open in Red Wing.
Bay Point isn’t open yet. You can launch at the WI Channel landing or at Everts.
Thanks,was looking on yahoo to everts. When does the landing open.
5:30 – 6 AM. They’re usually operational well before sun-up.
That’s an eye of a lifetime right there!!
.
Sunday was slow for us on the numbers side of the game but the quality was outstanding. Myself and partner for the day Darwin Viker put four 7lb to 9lb eye’s in the boat
. Best bite was in the am from 7:30am to 1:00pm, for us on Sunday.
I’ll have a full report with pictures and more details up tonight sometime if all goes well
.
Great report and pic’s James.
Wow, that is a nice fat fish. It sure was nice getting out on the River for the first time. Good to see some old faces again too! As James mentioned we spend the entire day handlining to avoid the crowds. The bite was not fast but the fish were quality. The fish we did get were in that 20-24 inch range, with the biggest being a Sauger that was just shy of 24 inches. This is the bigger sauger I have ever seen alive. Here is a picture that does not do her justice.
We spent the day handlining in mainly low flow areas. There seemed to be some fish holding in really deep water everywhere on the River, but all they would do is slap at our stickbaits. The best bite by far was in really low flow areas near shallow Rip Rap or Sand. Here is Cal with a nice 22 incher he boated this weekend.
Great looking fish. That had to get your heart beating.
Nice time with you on Wed Dustin – to bad the big ones weren’t swimming ..but was a learning day by us..thanks Fishaholic
WOW!!!!!
What a tuna!!!!!!!!
NICE FISH JAMES!!!!!!!!!!
Great fish James! Any chance those big ones may have come from an area down stream we hit last fall? I’m thinking of an area we pitched jigs to that had a long shoreline stretch with just a little current (cabin/home at the end of it)
James,
What a beauty. I’m sure the Stanley’s were happy with that pig. If a 30 inch fish weighs 13.3, I wonder what 32 might weigh, 15 or so. Nice work James and thanks for the report on color and conditions.
5 boats also launched at Colville today still a little Ice but it is open enough to launch
Where are those 13 pounders come tournament time
Very impressive!!!
Turk
Congratulations on putting your clients onto a beautiful fish like this one James!! Just absolutely AWESOME!!
Awesome fish James! Looks like once again this year I was a few days off from the bigguns. Oh well enjoyed sharing the boat with you and what color cranks were the ticket on the hand lines?
It was good fishing with you and the Johns Frank. The learning experinece you took with you is worth a lot more than a 6lb plus fish.
Even though it would have been great to put one in the boat
Really nice fish there Bud. Any chance is that good lookin 13# female single?!?
Thanks for the report and pics. 
Thanks, Bill
Way to go guys, nice one Gary and the first fish of the day too.
Nice work Holsty, you continue to impress with your ability to close the deal on sumo piggies. When folks talk about fishing down river from the dam to get away from crowds how far are they talking? Just a couple miles or do you guys go a long way? Most importantly Holsty, what color rope do you want me to attach from my boat to yours and will you have enough power to pull me to all the hot spots.
Drago, the best color handlining for us was Orange Chub.
Wow, what a Sauger! I was wondering if they spawn with walleyes and what a hybrid would look like? I caught some where I wasn’t exactly sure. Thanks.
The way to tell if its a hybrid (saugeye) or not is the hybrid will have scales on its gill plates. Walleyes don’t, saugers do.
It was a sauger, not a saugeye. The picture does not do it justice. It was huge. I probably should not have cropped the photo.
I have one about that size on my wall. They are something else when they get that big! I caught another a few days later! The Croix has not been the same since those days!
Nice fish Scott!
Congrats James on some very impressive Walleyes. WOW, 13+ pounder. Just can’t imagine trying to move something like that in current and everything else going on. Impressive.
Jack…
Hey there james holst i havent talk to you in a while.
Can you tell me what the walleyes are biting on?
Most of our fish have come on ringworms… if it doesn’t have some chartreuse its not getting bit the last couple days. We have had a few nice fish on hair too but not many.
IM heading down to the Redwing area tommorow to fish the river, what is the water levels like down there with all of this rain in the past week? im planning on launching out of Everts or would it be better just to go out of the launch by the brigde on the Minnesota side? Also where have the fish been coming from? i havent fished the damn area since last spring. I need to get some eyes need to make up for that horrible ice fishing on Mille lacs this last winter..
Jason,
Go in at Evert’s. Steve can answer all your questions, and he has all the baits you might want to add to the arsenal. Jack..