Mississippi River Upper Pool 4 Report 5-29-06

The walleye fishing on the upper end of pool 4 has been very good over the course of the last couple of weeks. Best May I have seen in a couple of years for numbers, size and consistency of the bite. Why can’t we have high water year round? With the water being high pre-spawn, an then stabilizing for the most part on the high side for a good length of time, we have been fortunate enough to have a lot of walleye staying around on the North end of the pool this year instead of dropping right back in to lake Pepin.

Several presentations have taken fish for me over the last couple of weeks. Best bite for numbers of walleye has been dragging 1/16oz orange/chartreuse precision jigs tipped with bait down river. The wire “plastic keeper” in these jigs works great with crawlers, almost as good as it does for plastics. Areas with slower moving water and an abundance of clams have been good.

Best big fish presentation for me has been to anchor on some of those high water current breaks and slowly fish them over with jigs and live bait rigs. Once a nice looking eddy or current break is found, it won’t take to long for the fish to make a showing if their in the immediate area.

Trolling cranks has had it’s moment as well but this has not been a solid produced for my boat yet this season. Bait has been much better for me. I look for the trolling bite to come on strong as the water levels continue to drop back in to the river banks and the fish start to spread out a bit more. With the higher flows we have had over the last couple of weeks, it has put big pods of fish in smaller areas making it a good ol’ time once they are found.

With the water levels slowly receding over the next couple of weeks look for areas close to back water cuts and lakes for best results. Fish are slowly making there way back in to the main river and some of the bigger side channels. Fishing areas above and below these cuts is going to be a good bet for some walleye action. I have yet to get down in the lake and try my luck so nothing to report on the lake bite for my boat. I do see some guys have wrote about some successful outings on Lake Pepin in the Mississippi River forums.

The white bass continue to show quite frequently as well. Trolling cranks has seen a lot of accidental White Bass action in my boat. Anglers fishing off the docks in the Everts Resort area have seen success on many different species of fish as of late. Might be because that Resort is close to a back water cut that the fish are dropping out of.

The river is in good shape right now. Water clarity is good for this time of year (or should I say “was” before the big tuna boats tore up the river this Memorial Day weekend) and debris is minimal. With the water levels slowly receding keep your eye’s peeled for new dead heads that may have arose from the higher water we have had since the Spring.

Walleye fishing has been good on the mighty river…………get out and get fishin!

I’ll see ya on the river!