Pool 4 Walleye Report – Pre-Spawn Walleyes 3/20/06

By James Holst 0

With the rest of the state, and most of the midwest for that matter, sitting on a closed walleye season, there’s no better place to be than on Pool 4 of the Mississippi River near Red Wing, MN if you’re into over-sized walleyes! Water levels have risen slowly following the heavy snows of last week but conditions are in fine shape as we head into the prime fishing of PRE-SPAWN!

Water conditions are actually excellent right now. Levels are up slightly and have stabilized. The forecast on the water levels call for the stage to stay at 3.9 for the rest of the week. Water clarity is reduced to around 18" – 24" depending on your location on the pool. This will in no way hampering your fishing and in my opinion the reduction in water clarity has actually improved the bite with my boat seeing a much more consistent mid-day walleye bite in shallow water than we were seeing a week or two ago when water visibility was in excess of 4+ feet.

Stable water levels and warm weather will lead to one thing… actively feeding walleyes! I think we got to see the very beginning of what is sure to be an awesome spring pre-spawn period on the river.

I fished with Ron Bronk and his buddy Tony from Viroqua, WI today. I did not fish over the weekend but the reports from friends were that the bigger walleyes had been found stacked on sand flats which is so typical this time of year. We started out casting ringworms and k-grubs to 6′ of water and the fish spoke loud and clear to us about their prefered bait for this morning… a 5" Cotton Candy K-Grub fished on a 3/16th ounce jig.

Later in the day we moved well down river to fish some new water and the K-Grub bait faded in exchange for ringworms in cotton candy (this color caught 75% of our fish today), plain purple, and purple with chartreuse tail. We did catch one legal on a hair jig although we didn’t give the hair much time with the plastic bite being so consistent.

Shown in the second photo above is my first "milking" male of the season. This 21" male was ready to get down to business but with water temps holding in the mid-30’s there’s obviously some considerable time to go before fish will actually start any kind of spawning activity.

Ron, Tony and I ended the day with 4 or 5 fish in the 20 – 22" class that were released along with the 9.2 Lb – 28.5" walleye shown above plus 15 – 20 nice eating sized fish that largely ran in the 17 – 19 inch range. I think we’re about a week away from starting to see those true MONSTER 10+ lb fish showing up along with increasing numbers of saugers congregating for the spawn. IF you don’t have your boat out of storage yet… get on it! The weather this week is going to be beautiful and work can wait!

See ya’ on the water.

Click on photos to enlarge images!

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James Holst

James began his fishing career as a fulltime fishing guide, spending more than 250 days a year on the water, coaching clients how to catch walleyes on the Upper Mississippi River and Minnesota’s Lake Mille Lacs. In 2000, he launched Full Bio ›

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  4. Very nice fish James – keep a few penned up for Dave and I on the 31st! We have to get Dave into double digits!!! Congrats on the success. Chuckles

  8. Great way to get back into the saddle after spending ALOT of time doing Sportshows and website improvements as of late Bud. Bet it felt great hey. Thanks for the report and pics. I see the new BFT colors are doing their fish catchin thing quite well.

    Thanks, Bill

  9. Drewsdad and I are chomping at the bit to get back on the water with you on Saturday…Looks like we are going to hit it just right!!!

  13. I have come to the conclusion the pool 2 and pool 4 of the mississippi river have me very confused!
    I fished the IDA tournament on saturday with fello IDAer slipsinker… and well only 2 legal fish to show for it.. And those were sauger jigged out of 30+ feet of water…we pitched and we pitched and we pitched all morning and into mid afternoon long to no end….slipsinker even caught fish the weekend before pitching so I thought we might be onto something! Instead it looked like we were on something.
    This portion of the mighty Miss has kicked my for the last 2 seasons. I get back from fishing and sure enough the masters Steve, James, and Dustin will have some report up how they nailed the fish usually the same day I was down there .
    I like the challenge that the river puts up for me daily whenver I fish it…however with all this time on the river its got to produce soon!!!!! I hope this happens in the next few weeks! Hopefully all these long tough days on the river will reward me with a few hogs this spring!!

    Awesome report James! I am jealous!!!

  14. James,great time of the year for us on IDA.We can read the reports of big fish being caught out of your boat.
    Ryan Hale

  16. Awesome fish James! i was wondering how your fishing your ring worms and k-grubs? Are you swimming them back to you slowly or are you staying in contact with the bottom and just dragging them? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

  18. Quote:

    Awesome fish James! i was wondering how your fishing your ring worms and k-grubs? Are you swimming them back to you slowly or are you staying in contact with the bottom and just dragging them? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

    A slow and steady retrieve is best right now. No rod pumping or quick sweeps. Just keep the baits close to the bottom and moving S-L-O-W-L-Y.

    Today was an even better day on the water than yesterday! Average size is up. Numbers are up. Things are shaping into one of the better plastic bites I’ve seen in a long time.

    I’ll have a complete report up Wednesday.

  19. Calvin, go easy on yourself! You couldn’t have picked a much tougher weekend to fish pool 4 … try it again sometime in the next three weeks and I can all but guarantee you’ll have better results!

    John

  21. J23, Cal is not very coordinated, and I’m sure working a jig is hard for those ranger guys when they have the nose so high in the air.

    Cal, the bite on the river can humble even the most experienced of fisherman. Moving water is a kick to fish, but it can also kick you in the pants. Keep at it, eventually you’ll figure the mighty Miss.

  22. Thanks for the positive feedback fellas and the offers for the open seat… Thats what makes this site so great…
    I am heading up to Rainy for a while to learn how to catch some walleyes. No reasons this time Derek or Kooty…No yellow boat!!!
    I am going to fish only with BFT tackle on Rainy this year…If its only 1/2 as good as last year I will be happy..Look for a complete report and monster walleyes monday!!!!

    Thanks again!!

    PS Kooty are you still jealous you don’t own a Ranger?????

  23. James,

    Not sure if I’ll be in the jon or in the Alumacraft but I’ll probably see ya out there on the 28th! C’mon big eyes!!!

  25. Nice report James! I am having trouble catching fish on plastic this time of year. Maybe it’s a confidence thing. Just had a question or two that might help me put a few fish in the boat. When you talk about fishing sand flats are you focusing on the area’s between wing dams, right in front of wing dams or some other location? Do you start by dragging or swimming the jig back to the boat? Any help is appreciated.

  26. Sorry Calvin, but it could be me….I had similar jinx abilities when I fished the freeze-your-butt with Rocky! I thought by taking your boat the fish wouldn’t recognize me, but I guess they did? Hope the spell wears off soon! Can’t say we didn’t try! See ya at the sportshow.

  27. my boat motor is in the shop and I was wondering if there was anyplace where you can shore fish where may get a eye or two.

  28. James,
    Very nice Walleye, and report. KEEP them coming.
    Kevin V.- first off, welcome to IDA, you will like it here.
    if you are talking pool 4 shore fishing. I know some fish are caught off the Evert’s dock and shore, and also in Red Wing at BayPoint Park, teepee area on north or south ends can also hold some fish on the current edges. am sure others will pipe in with a suggestion or two. good luck.
    Jack..

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