I am home for a couple days then back to Evert’s. The week started pretty tough with cold temps and high water. We fished everywhere from the head of the lake to the dam. Except for a few bigger female sauger and walleye the sporadic bite was vastly male sauger. The dam rollers remained wide open all week and pushed the fish well up into the trees and any current breaks or eddies with mud or sand bottoms. Here is Muskyman with a nice 8 pounder that succumed to a well pitched hair jig.
I fished with a great bunch of friends from the U.P.,Frank Pearson(Pearson Outdoors) and Al Erickson (the creator of the BallPeen jig). While we had no problem catching enough “eaters” for a fish fry each day, it wasn’t until Tuesday that we were able to find some bigger Sauger like this one that nailed a BFT Purple/Chart tail behind a 1/4 oz purple Nuckleball jig. At this point with two days of drifting/vertical jigging and anchoring/pitching I would say that the fish equally went for artificials vs jig/minnow presentations.
Even though Wednesday morning greeted us with a cold front, we were heartenend that the river had stabilized somewhat. The morning bite proved tough again….although we tried some other rip rap and wingdam locations we ended up back upstream. I decided to venture deeper into the trees…knowing we would have a LOT of snags and other scary things to deal with. Feeling like I was pitching for Southern Largemouth, we were soon rewarded as Frank pulled this nice lady from the Willows.
As the sun hunkered in the West most of the boat traffic left and we had a really great time since some new pods of Sauger and Walleye moved up the current breaks. Just about any dark colored Ringworm with a bright tail would provoke a strike. I had two good friends in the boat with me wed afternoon…Rich Clarke(Palatine,Ill) and Wayne Partica(Cadillac,Mi). We probably caught and released thirty fish in the last couple hours. Al Erickson, fishing a few yards away caught this nice seven pounder on a Blue Ringworm.
Barring some weather disasters the high flow should abate by Tuesday and with warming water temps the bite should improve. One tip I may pass along with these cool water temps and less agressive biters I like to trim about an inch off the head of the Ringworm to make it more appealing to these non agressive fish. I also restate…use the lighest jig you can make bottom contact with…just pitch upstream a little more to help it out. I managed to use 3/16 much of the time with 1/4 oz for vertical drifting.
The only way to REALLY find out is get out and GET FISHING!
Warning!!!! There are still many big logs/trees coming downstream….USE CAUTION WHEN MOTORING ON THE RIVER!!!
Here is Rich Clarke with a typical “eater’ sized sauger
Wayne says: You can catch anything on these jigs! He wasn’t sure what that lil horsey was but he was happy
Nice report Tom!!!
Can’t beat fishing like that!
Looks like fishin’ is going to be good.
Question for fishin’ the river – Next week on the 12th I plan to give pool 4 a try – suggestions as I normally fish lakes and only occasionally rivers. When I have fished pool 4 it has only been at the damn. So Help! Want to have a good and we catch and release.
Thanks, Rich
Thanks for the report Tom, I will be down on Sunday fishing the Walleye Searchers Tournament. See Ya on the water!
Rich…There will always be some boats on either side of the river (below the dam) drifting and vertical jigging. The Wisc side would be an easier drift. The preferred baits are 1/4 to 3/8 oz jigs tipped with minnows or plastic grubs or worms about 3-4″ long. If you are catch/release mode you may want to stick more to the plastic lures. Drop your tipped jig to the bottom and lift it a few inches higher so it will drift along just above the bottom. Ocassionally drop to the bottom to make sure your depth stays consistent.
Using your electric motor try to keep the boat and fishing line going the same speed as the current…you will ocassionally have to run it against the current to do this. My favorites are the BFishinTackle Ringworms and SuperDoos along with Yum or Munchie Grubs. My jigs for VT drifting are H2O Precision 1/4 or 5/16 or FinTech Zone R. I like Superbraid for VT fishing and prefer Stren in HiVis Gold. My mono line is Trilene Sensation in 6# Hi Vis Solar. Hi Vis line is an absolute necessity for me to see what my line and jig are doing!!!
A 6-6’6″ ML fast action rod for VT and 6’6″-7’for pitching.
Watch the other boats around you and you should catch fish.
Evert’s bait shop has all the gear and bait plus good advice. I’ll be staying there and running a black 1750 Crestliner with a 115 Yammy outboard. Stop and say Hi!
Hey Tom nice report.
The photo with you and the T-shirt….Fantastic.
Can’t wait..
Tom,excellent report.Looks like you guys did a fine job of putting fish in the boat.
We still have a month until our season on eyes opens back up on the Iowa Great Lakes.I can’t wait!!!
If you get time I have some pics from the Spirit Lake Hatchery in the Iowa forums,check them out if you have time.
Ryan Hale
Thanks guys! BTW St.Croix has released a 6’9″ ML xtra fast in their new Legend Tournament Walleye series…I stopped in Park Falls on the way home and checked one out…WOW!
The same sensitivity in the tip as the Avid Drop Shot version but a touch more quickness and backbone due to the AST technology.
Yup….Had to get one
Can’t WAIT until Sunday afternoon to try her out!!!
Great report Tom, hope to start reporting myself. I’m having a bad spring. I can’t believe I missed March Madness walleye run. That was always one of my favorite mouths to post. Work has me penned up
I will be back, night crawlers are out now so walleyes fishing can only get better. I just have to fine time to fish. 
Got to work so I can pay for my play 
I hear ya Jeff….
Tom,
Thanks – I’ll be looking for you and in person give you a big thanks. Looks like rain but so what???