Mississippi River Upper Pool 4 Report 6-12-06

The walleye fishing on the upper end of pool 4 was fantastic over the last week………..right up until the cooler weather moved in on Saturday and slowed the bite down from what it was. With the warm temps that are forecasted over the next week, I would expect the bite to get right back to were it was with 30-40 legal walleye a day along with a couple of big fish in the mix.

Last week my best numbers/ big fish presentation was dragging jigs tipped with bait. Depths ranged from 2’ to 14’ of water depending on my location. With the stage/flows getting close to normal, dragging jigs will be my favorite presentation for the rest of the summer. Don’t rule out the cranks though, experimentation on the day you hit the water is the only way to dictate what the walleye preference will be on your outing.

The biggest fish to make it in to my boat last week was the first fish pictured above that Barry caught on Monday the 5th. This fish taped out at 30.5”. Barry caught this fish in 1.5’ to 3’ of water while we were dragging an orange jig thru a shallow back water slough. Barry was fortunate enough to get another big bite in the same area. Both fish were released in fine shape along with 8 other fish in the 21” to 23” mark on this day. Nice fish Barry ! I look forward to fishing with you, Bill and Steve again. I had big bite on this day as well but unfortunately it was of the wrong species:o This big ol’ sheepie was taken in the same area as the big eye’s but was inhibiting deeper water then the walleye were on this day. To be truthful, I thought it was going to be a big flathead catfish.

I did have a couple of days that the crank bait bite shined for me. Tim Feldman is pictured here with a skinny 26” walleye that was caught on a blue/silver #5 shad rap in 4’ of water. Tim and I had 3 other big bites on this day, to go along with a great numbers day, but we were unable to put those bigger fish in the net . We caught fish on both jigs and cranks but cranks did most of the damage by days end. It was good fishing with you Tim. I hope your stay at Everts Resort this week is a good one.

Thursday the 8th my day was spent with Brent, Ryan and Zach Afseth. Our day began with us anchoring in a small area that was producing great numbers of walleye, with the occasional big un in the mix days prior while dragging jigs. Instead of making repetitive passes over this little area the fish were hanging on, I did the most logical thing and threw out the hook. It wasn’t long and the walleye began to take our egg sinker rigs tipped with bait. A 1/4oz sinker with an 8”- 18” lead to a #2 hook was the set up we were casting to this one current break in 2‘ to 7‘ of water. At bit after 10:00am we had 14 legal fish in the boat off this one little spot but we were not seeing some of the bigger fish like I was on days prior so I decided to pull up the hook and search for some bigger walleye. I had a very good idea on an area to locate some of the bigger fish and it took some time pounding the area before we got them to show but they did. Besides the 4 bigger fish that we put in the boat on this day we were fortunate enough to release and good number of 20“-22” eye’s as well. Brent, Ryan and Zach can be found pictured with their big walleyes in the post below this report. Thanks again for spending a day in my boat guys. I hope the three of you had as much fun as I did. I look forward to doing it again in the future!

With the onslaught of cooler weather breaking the stable weather pattern we had going, on Friday the 9th the bite did slow from the 30-40 legal fish days but the quality was still there for the taking. Surface temps on the water went from 75` down to 69` over night.I fished with Ralph Tauke and his good friends Dave and Jerry. We were unable to boat more than 14 legal fish on this day but half of our catch was over the 21’ mark. We had 3 big bites on this day as well, all fish were caught dragging jigs in 8‘ to 12‘ of water. Ralph, Dave and Jerry can be seen pictured below with there big fish. It was good fishing with the 3 of you and am looking to do it again in the future. Thanks again for spending a day in my boat.

Best jig colors for me last week were orange, blue, black and chartreuse. All 3 colors took some big walleye for my boat. Best crank colors for my boat on the days I took fish trolling were fire tiger, hot perch, blue silver. #5 Jointed shads in the red-craw, fire-tiger and brown-craw took fish in some of the areas I fished with deeper water. Regular #5 Raps worked better for me last week. Most of my trolling success was done in 2’-8’ of water.

I have not ventured on to Lake Pepin since mid May . The only Lake reports I heard of are the one’s being posted in the Mississippi River walleye forums. Sound like some are finding success.

I look for the walleye bite to remain strong with the warmer temps back in town! Get out and get fishin!

I’ll see ya’ on the river!