After what has seemed like an eternity from the mighty river, I was able to find some free time this past week to get back at it. From the looks of things, many other anglers have taken advantage of the milder temps over the past week as well. It was nice seeing some familiar, and new faces the couple of days I was on the river this past week.
In the early am and late afternoon hours I have been concentrating my efforts on shallower sand and rock in 15’ of water and less looking for active walleye’s. Casting ringworms has been my predominant presentation for this time frame when looking to hook in to some nice eye’s. Oyster shell, pro-blue, chartreuse pepper and purple have all taken some nice fish for me. This bite has not been real strong but I have been able to boat any where from 8-10 decent walleye in these time frame’s on the last couple of outings. Black or white precision heads in the 3/32 to 1/8oz size while fishing in very slow moving water have been best for me. If targeting a deeper current break in faster moving water 3/16oz to 5/16oz have done the job. I did mess around with the brighter jig colors but didn’t see an increase in my catch rate’s. While fishing sand, making a long cast and slowly reeling in slack line was best, no fancy twitches or aggressive jigging motion of the bait out produced a slow crawl. Those fish just don’t want that bait moving very fast right now.
Once mid morning would roll around, the walleye bite was a pretty tough go for me forcing me to do something I really don’t like to do…………………vertical jig the deeper depths for some sauger action. Even though it’s not one of my favorite fish to target, I was sharing my boat with family members and friends on these past couple of trips so just getting bit was what it was all about. If they were having fun, I was having fun, kind of!
The sauger bite has been pretty good in the last week. Targeting depths of 20’ to 28’ of water mid day has been the most productive for me. Chartreuse pepper paddle tails have been my top sauger producer with oyster shell a close second. Ring worms have not been as effective as the paddle tails have been in my boat while going vertical. Chartreuse pepper and catalpa orange super doo’s have done some major damage on the sauger for my boat as well. Best jigging method for me has been to hold the bait off the bottom about 6” to 12” and just hold it there for 10 to 20 seconds. The less that bait moved the more bites I would get. Nothing fancy about it!
The weather’s mild and looks to be sitting on us for a bit. Get out and get fishing. There’s no better way to pass time away than fishing open water on the mighty river in early January! Leave the ice house at home, hook up the boat, an make a day of it. Everts has the ramps in great shape.
See ya on the river! 
Great report Dustin
Sounds like you guys are having a good time on the water up there. I hope to make it up there again sometime soon. Keep up with the reports 
We noticed the same thing today Dustin.
The few we kept were LOADED with #5 Shad Rap sized shad!
That is one healthy looking fish Dustin. That guy in the pic must be a good guide!! Glad he was able to put you on some fish
…….B
GREAT REPORT DUSTIN. I COULD TELL LAST MONDAY YOU DID NOT CARE FOR THE VERTICAL JIG OR MAYBE IT WAS THE MEATHEADS FISHING BY YOU! HAHA. HOPE TO SEE YA ON THE RIVER AGAIN THIS WINTER. MAYBE DEAN CAN EVEN GET AWAY. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!! STAY OFF THE ICE
Dustin,
Great report and thanks for the help on the water.
I was struggling with the vertical bite and found the head weight made all the difference. I like to say light but it’s not always the answer. I was making bottom contact but I suspect when I held my lure off the bottom the current was sweeping it up out of the strike zone. A 5/16 oz head stayed down and I started catching fish, details-details.
I went back on Thursday, and after a bout with motor problems, I fished shallow from 1:00 till 4:00. I pulled chart/pepper ringworms, upstream in 8-15 FOW on 1/8 oz heads and did manage a dozen or so 15-17” walleyes plus a few sauger. It was slow but I had my fill of vertical.
Thanks to Dean at Evrets for the help with the motor, I owe you buddy.
John
Glad to help out!Just a quick update for those wondering,the bite today is very good,only a handfull of boats but 2 boats in with 2 and 3 man limits of saugers.Superdoos for one boat,and ringies for another.Location,drift speed,jig weight,jig color,and ringworm color are crucial to your catch success.Stop by and will do my best to fill in on the latest combination.Dave C shown here with a nice catch today.Happy newyears everyone!
Great report Dustin,
I was out Monday and only managed a few sauger after spending the first several hours targeting the shallow walleye bite you described.
How are you positioning your boat when working the shallower depth sand? Are you drifting, anchoring or slipping? If you are anchoring, are you positioning above, beside or below your casting spots?
The sauger bite has been fun but a guy needs to master more than one tactic to consistently put fish in the boat.
Hi Martin,
Boat positioning has a lot to do with the area I am targeting along with the how fast the flow of the river is. Right now if I was to concentrate on a small key area I would anchor and cast down river to it working my jig back upstream.
If looking for new fish holding areas, or in unfamiliar waters I’ll slip drift the river keeping my trolling motor tuned with enough power to slow me down a bit slower than the current flow. Then I’ll fan cast off to the side of the boat until my jig get straight behind the boat. If your boat is drifting faster than your jig try going to a lighter jig.