Mississippi River Walleye Report Redwing 4-08-06

By greg-vandemark 0

Can you say change. That is what has been happening on a daily basis on the river in the last 12 days. Here is a photo of Brad Laabs with a fish we got on Saturday. This fish was taken on a jig and minnow vertical presentation in 16 feet of water. read on to here more

Well with the water coming up over 7 feet in the last 12 days or so it has been a crap shoot out there. One day your a hero the next a goat. At least this weekend it DID NOT RAIN. I almost forgot how to fish without being under a hood. This next shot is of the lock and dam area on Saturday. Now you can’t tell from the photo but we counted over 50 boats in this area. The sun was out so I thought I would take a shot.

Here is a picture of Brad Laabs on Friday. This fish was taken on a Chartreuse pepper ring worm and a orange 3/16 oz H2O jig. Pitched up in 10 feet of water. Notice Brad is not wearing a hat. He told me he lost it running up the river. When he turned to get it the current had other ideas and it was gone. I forgot to tell him that I carry two extra IDA caps in my storage compartments. He was using my boat for the day.

This last Picture is of Brian Tangen and Brad Laabs with there fish to take home. We only kept one 16 inch eye. The rest were all small sauger. The biggest fish on the stringer is 17 inches. Saturday was the best bite for our boat. I would say we boated over 40 fish. You had to catch 3 to 4 little ones before we caught a keeper. A 1/4 oz fireball jig and minnow was our best presentation on Saturday. Good luck to everyone and becareful out there. The current is very strong and watch out for debris.

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greg-vandemark

When I'm not fishing or working I'm looking for nitecrawlers...and Tournament Angler for the past 20 plus years.

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  1. Awesome report Vandy and congrats to Brad on the piggie. I was down to the resort briefly this afternoon and Dean had a PILE of big fish pics on the counter from catches over the weekend. The high water has made things tricky but those getting out are getting into some real hogs.

    And I don’t get out until Wednesday…

  2. Great report guys….
    The smiles on your faces look pretty big…. well deserved….thoes are some nice fish…and I’m sure with this nice weather coming up its going to get a little crazy down there..so lets hope everyone keeps their IDA respect while out on the water….
    I see you guys like to use RING WORMS and JIGS alot…understandably …..they catch alot of fish..and sometimes thats all the conditions will allow….
    Just wondering if CRANK BAITS or BLADE BAITS.are ever in your vocabulary this time of the year???

    thanks

  3. Jim Walsh shown with a 291/2″ Personal Best and Congrats! H2o jig and Chart-pepper ringie.Jim came here for one fish,and got the job done!

  4. Hey James good to here from you, we missed not seeing you out there this last week. We had a blast spinnin stories of the past.

    This is my first post of the new year man time flys.
    Here is a brief update from my boat on the last 12 days.

    The last 12 days has seen alot of change on the water. March 27 I was taking nice eyes vertical in 22 to 24 feet of water. Mid channel with clean two foot visibility.
    March 28 the first 50 degree day and let the flow and color begin. The water was coming up about a foot a day. I had some fish on some current seems vertical, but the pitchin bite was hit and miss for me.
    My Partner and I were getting ready for the MTT on April fools day weekend. He had busted a couple 25 inch plus fish and I had not found anything over 22 inches. We had a riggin bite that we thought would hold for us. The water kept coming tourney day we were snake bit. We could only come up with 4 small males each day, not what you need to make a paycheck. They all came pitchin to what we thought were our big fish spots. Oh well that is fishin.

    Here is a photo of my friend Jerie with a pitchin eye. Bucktail and minnow. This was on the 29 of March.

  5. Kurt Delong shown here with his personal best as well caught on Bucktailwaynes,kellygreen and a minnow.Netman and guide Jeremy Frigo put fish in the boat as well!

  7. Hey Craig,

    Blade baits and cranks both work this time of year.

    As a matter of fact I think that the gentlemen whom won day two of the MTT were pitchin blade baits in a current seem.

    The hand liners did pretty well also with the crankbaits.

    There is a lot of debris coming down river so you need to watch your cranks careful so they are not running fouled.

    More update I had the honor of fishing with Ken Miller and friends on the 30 of March. I don’t now if I mentioned that the water was rising about a foot a day and raining every time you turned around with some wind added just to make it interesting. This day saw rain all day and made it tough for me. We managed to scrape out 11 eaters and go dry off.

    Here is a photo of Ken with big fish honors.

  8. Hey nice fish Dean.

    Say I new they were biting some where, always are.

    I am just not always in the right spot at the right time.

    Well with the water warming I think these big girls are all going to be doing there thing.

    So pick your spots and take some pictures.

    Take care and good luck fishin.

  9. Thanks for the post Vandy…..computer time here as of late has been VERY limited,Sorry I havent been able to do more reports….Tis the season on pool#4!Everone please keep on the watch for logs coming down,although not alot of them,it only takes one,So slow down and everyone in the boat keep there eyes open for the driver,the fish will wait for you even if it takes 5 minutes longer to get there.

  10. A 4.02# and 3plus # sauger caught by Jeff Harcy fishing the tourney this past Sunday.The pics dont do these fish justice.But anyone that saw them said Wow!Good job Jeff!

  12. Thanks Chris.
    This past weekend we targeted pitchin current seams with ring worms and k-grubs. And vertical jigging 16 to 21 edges, with jig and minnow. We spent more time vertical so of course for us we caught more small sauger than walleyes.
    But it was awesome to be in the nice weather and getting our lines stretched. Here is a Pic of Brad with a walleye taken on a Tequila Sunrise with a Green 3/16 H2O head. He pitched this up on a 10 foot edge. She was released to fight another day.

  14. Great report and pictures guys. I got down on Saturday and after Dean gave us the latest info, we had a great time and lots of fish. With a hand full of big mamas.

  16. Hey Don,
    Nice job boy it sure was a great day to fish on Saturday wasn’t it.
    No rain and low winds…and it was even warm.
    See you on the water.

  17. Thanks for the reports and pics Bud. Glad to see Brad and Jerrie out on the water too. What did you have for water temp last weekend?
    Thanks, Bill

  18. I was one of the many boats that fished on the lock side above the Y on Saturday. We fished from about 10:00 to 4:30 and caught about 35 saugers. Mainly fished jigs with minnows, but did catch a few on ringworms when we first got there. We caught some real nice fish with the biggest being just over 20 inches. All were put back. Wanted to try fishing some shallower water in hopes of a big mama, but my friend wanted to stay on the action so thats what we did. It was a great day to be out on the water.

  19. Hey Bill top of page on my report.
    For the most part I was reading 45.
    There were a couple of shallow areas that I read 47 with the sun on the dark water.
    Hey CentralMnEyeGuy yes we came in and pitched the rocks twice but we didn’t have any luck. Saw some nets coming out in there when we were there. Glad you had a good day.
    Good luck on the 2006 season.

  20. Those are some super nice fish Thanks Dean for sharing those pic’s and keeping people aware of the debris coming down riv with the high water.

  22. I plan to fish pool 4 for my first time on Friday, April 21st. I could use some advice on where to go, what time of the day seems to be the best and what lures seem work this time of the year? Are there any dangers in navigating the river around pool 4? I’d appreciate any advice that I could get. Thanx

  23. Hi Ron and Welcome to IDA.
    I sent you a PM.
    The waving flag next to the forums button.
    Just give it a click.
    Good luck on your trip to Pool 4.

  27. Hey Don, I saw you out there.
    We were the first to the spot Saturday we were launched and on the water at 5:15…we had it all by ourselves for about 35 minutes. Then there were 12 to 20 boats with us all day. But we all took care and fished very well together.

    Hey Tom your back.
    Alright nice sauger.
    I hope you save a couple for me this weekend.
    I’ll be up Saturday.

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