Mississippi River Upper Pool 4 Report 10-13-05

Since my last report the river has more than doubled in stage and flow. Along with the higher water came lot’s of debris and very poor water clarity . Late last week the water was very muddy and made for a real tough walleye bite. Walleye are being caught, and some nice ones to boot, but the large numbers of fish that an angler can catch on pool 4 in one day just are not here yet. All though it should happen soon………real soon! Now on with the bite.

With the water conditions I have been faced with on the last couple of outings looking for slower moving water has been the main key to finding some of those big mama eye’s. Yesterday I once again hooked up with my dad for a day of walleye chasing. As is expected this time of year, we covered lots of water trying to find an active school of fish. With not a lot of catching going on in the early am hours . In the early afternoon hours we turned our attention to a large area of slower moving water. Focusing on the bank out to 13’ of water. We took some 16” to 20” fish casting ringworms to the banks and slowly hopping them back to the boat . Dad rigged up a 5/16oz blue/white precision head with a chartreuse pepper ringworm and went vertical in 10’ to 12’ of water for a spell while I continued to pitch jigs to the bank, at least a close as I could and not get stuck in the trees. About 15 mins later dad yells “get the net“. To my surprise I had the pleasure of scooping the first of 3 walleye from 24” to 27” he boated on this day vertical jigging that dang ring worm. I really had to think hard about giving up on the casting to shore thing after dad boated his second eye that went 24” but I didn’t because my bigger fish almost always come shallower towards the banks this time of year. Notice I said “almost always”! This was one of those “almost always” times were the bigger fish wanted a slow moving vertical jig presentation. I admit it………I was very stubborn in not switching over to a vertical presentation once that second fish was boated knowing that there could be a pattern instead of one of those “blind squirrel finds a nut deals” dad but you know how much I like to vertical jig. Once dad put his next fish in the boat at 25” I finally buckled and went vertical . After doing so………neither one of us ever boated another walleye. Guess I missed my opportunity! But a good learning experience to put in the ol’ memory banks for future reference! All in all we only boated 7 legal eye’s on this day but the size was good.

The water clarity was much better yesterday than it was last weekend, visibility was right around 4-6”. That’s what we typically see in the summer months on upper pool 4. There is still quite a bit of floating debris in the river to watch out for. The river has crested and is on the down fall as I write, look for the debris to slowly filter out. If traveling the river with wide eyes you will be able to safely boat to and from your favorite areas.

Anglers staying at Everts Resort are getting some walleye and sauger action fishing the mouths of the back water areas around the resort on the upper end. 3-ways with minnows or crawlers seem to be the baits of choice. Targeting these areas with some plastics and hair jigs would likely pay off as well. If in the area stop in and have a chat with Dean, he’ll be more than happy to steer you in the right direction.

I spoke with some on the water acquaintances Wednesday with some fair reports of a 3-waying bait bite on some 16-18“ fish. Spoke to another that had found some success vertical jigging hair jigs. Also spoke to another angler who had a good morning on some bigger eye’s as well casting cranks to the shoreline. Like I stated above, no one is getting in to a large number of fish but things are gradually making an improvement. The best bite of all is still to come !

See ya on the river!