The walleye and sauger fishing on pool 4 continues to be good/fair. The bite has somewhat slowed since my last report. Those fish have not been as suicidal as they were a week ago. Even with the bite slowing, my boat has still seen fair numbers of fish with the quality remaining very good on the average size walleye and sauger. With the windy conditions I have been faced with on the last couple of trips I have spent more of my time just trying to keep the action going, opting to focus on the sauger for the most part. If I am able to convince mother nature to subside those high winds on the days my boat sees the river I will be able to spend much more time doing what I love to do this time of year………..pitch plastics to the shallows for those big mama walleyes!
This past weekend I was on the water Sunday and Monday. The bite was slower on Sunday than the week prior but some quality fish still made it to the boat. The first picture above is of Eric Wolf with a big eye that he caught on a catalpa orange paddle tail in about 15’ of water. Nice fish Eric! Most of our day was spent focusing on the sauger. Chartreuse pepper ringworms and catalpa orange paddle tails took most of our fish on this day. It was good to fishing with you Eric and Joe! I am looking forward to our Spring trip as I write.
With the high winds we were faced with on Monday I again spent my time chasing sauger in hopes of keeping the action going throughout the day. The bite was not fast and furious but we were able to boat a fair number of sauger with some of those “heavyweight saugers” making it to the boat. Chad Huntly is pictured here with a 22 ½” sumo sauger that he was able to boat on a firecracker/chartreuse tail ringworm. Nice sauger Chad. I am also pictured here with my best sauger of the day measuring 23 ½“ caught on a chartreuse pepper ringworm. It was enjoyable fishing with you Chad and Sam. I hope your flight back to Georgia was a good one 
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Wednesday I shared my boat with Ken Christensen and his buddies Jeff and Mark. I went about things a bit different on this day trying to pull a fast one mother nature. Instead of pursuing the faster pace bite of the saugers I decided to pitch jigs in to the shallows during the morning hours before the wind started to howl. It was a good decision on my part! The walleye action was not great but we were able to boat a total of 8 walleye with a couple of eyes in the low 20” class and this big walleye that Jeff is pictured here with. Nice eye Jeff 
. Around noon mother nature had defeated us in the battle of “my boat V.S the wind“. We upsized our jigs trying to stay on those quality eyes but the heavier we went……….the harder the wind blew 
Since casting was no longer and option the four of us switched gears and focused our attention on the sauger bite. We were able to boat a decent number of sauger in the allotted time we spent chasing them. Snap jigging purple/chartreuse ringworms did the trick. Snapping up your jig and letting it fall on a loose line was the trick to getting those sauger to bite. I give Ken credit as he was first to boat 5 fish in a row jigging this way. It wasn’t long and the rest of the boat joined in on the aggressive jigging and saw some success. My vertical jigging usually consists of a snap up off the bottom, hold for a good period of time, then repeat the process. The less aggressive jig motion on this day was not working what so ever, they showed a great preference for the aggressive style jigging motion. Best depths for the sauger were 12’ to 19’ of water, all of our walleye on this day came in less than 10’ of water. No one in the boat caught a legal fish on any other color than purple/chartreuse tail. This color was very dominate on this day. It was great fishing with the 3 of you guys again and am looking forward to next fall trip already
On sunny days chartreuse pepper or catalpa orange paddle tails and ringworms have excelled for my boat. Other ringworm colors that have been putting fish in my boat have been the purple/chartreuse tail, plain purple, the 3 firecracker colors and cotton candy. The darker colors like purple, have definitely excelled on the overcast days. Best precision head colors have been chartreuse/orange, plain lead, black and sour apple.
That’s all for now. See ya on the river! 
Great report Dustin, thanks for the specifics of colors on paddle tails and ringies. I was out last Friday and catalpa paddles were my best color as well.
Very nice fish everyone
I feel your pain, that wind makes fishing frustrating sometimes. Especially when you want to fish a different presentation. Putting some nice fish in the boat can usually ease the pain though 
I envy all of the time you get to spend on the water
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Chris
Thanks for the report and pics Dusty. Nice fish.
Thanks, Bill
Great report Dustin. Good to see a pro doing whatever it takes to get a good catch for his boat. Keep that bite on the good to great side, I’ve got less than 2 weeks to go
dave
Great report as always Dustin,would like to see a little more shoreline in your pics if possiable
Stuart
Great report Dustin, I was wondering if I would get a chance to see that big eye in a picture…I just wish it was my boat that landed that one!
I enjoyed talking to you on Sunday. Hopefully this weekend I can get into some nice fish on pool 9.
Bob.
Great report and nice fish Dustin. I plan on being back up there next weekend with Wats and Mike C. Make sure to keep us posted on what colors are hot
Thanks for the info
I’m new to the river and was wondering if you could tell me how you are fishing with the plastics in pool 4. I have three trips down there and have had very little success. I have been fishing ringworms up by the dam and few other spots. Should I be casting them to the wingdams and shoreline breaks or fishing them vertical. The only fish I have been able to catch are with hair and a minnow. Thanks for any advice.
Hey Nav, while I’m certainly not an expert…yesterday many plastic fisherman were using Oystershell Ringworms at the Y and by the dam some with 50 fish counts.
Stop in to Evert’s and either Dean or I should be able to help you out. Dustin’s around here a couple days a week too…but guiding during the day.
Briank thanks, I’m hitting the river in the morning and plan on launching out of Everts.
Dustin,
Great report and great detail.
23 1/2 inch Sauger…
Yep you are the Sauger King, a title I know we all envy..
Thanks, Jack..
Dustin, I hear you talking of this wind being such a problem for you and controlling your boat. Have you been using Total Boat Control from the Re-actionsystem.com? I know it has definitly helped me the last few weeks of jigging on the Illinois River and Lake Wisconsin. Great fish, Dan Palmer
Nice fish Dustin! Did you get a chance to get out since the 2nd? Looking to hit the water on Election day so i don’t have to listen to those darn campaign advertisements anymore!!
where has some of the best area’s been for a morning bite? afternoon? Looking primarily for some walters but if i have to will venture to the dam area of Red Wing for some saugers!
I was out twice over the weekend. I spent all of my time pitching jigs looking for good numbers of big walleye. The walleye bite is still a bit soft but I have been able to pull 2-3 man limits in a day of casting. I have not boated a fish over 23″ on my last 2 outings but have seen fair numbers of 20-23″ fish. Look for rock with some mild flow and deep water close by.
In the am hours ringworms have been best but paddle tails have taken over the mid day pitching bite for my boat.Chartreuse pepper and purples ahve still been my best plastics colors.
Good fishin!
Yes I have Dan and I must say it has been a great product for me on windy days
. This system is going to be quite the gem come jig dragging time for me 
I will have an in-depth product reveiw of the “Total Boat Control Re-Action System” in a couple of weeks once my guide schedule slows down and I get a break for some fresh air. Until then, anyone who is interested in seeing what this product is all about can read about it here Re-Action System
I have had this system in my boat for over a month now and highly recomend the product for better boat control on windy days
. I do know that Dean at Everts Resort has some available for purchase 
My favorite way to fish the plastics is to cast them and work them back to the boat with the lightest jig I can get away with. They work great vertical jigged as well. When I go vertical with plastics I am either just holding the bait off the bottom or snapping it up and holding it on a tight line. You do not need to move them that much at all. Most of the hits will come while you bait is motionless in the water
Is there a certain time of year when dragging is more effective? Last Saturday my dad and I tried it for our second time ever and he immediately picked up a real nice sauger dragging up river. We continued on and never got another hit. So a while later we headed back down where he picked up the one and tried going down river. In the next hour we caught another 12-15 sauger. All in about 6-8 ft and well after dark. Firecracker chartruese tailed ringies were hot! Wow did they smack it. Kind of odd as I have never caught many sauger after the sun goes down.
A big thanks goes out to Chris Tuckner and all of the other pro and field staff. Without your tips and instructions we would of probably never tried this method.
Good to hear the fishing may pick-up soon. Looking forward to going down soon. As the lakes have slowed down due to water cooling down and have not settle into cold water patterns.
No certain time of the year is more efective than another using this presentation. Dragging is a great low flow presentation
. I do not drag as much this time of year because those big eyes are usually right along the rivers edge, it is hard to drag for them in the cleaner water with out spooking them.
Good to hear you got a few dragging
Thanks for the info Dustin, the saugers yesterday seemed to want the ringworms dragged. Most of our fish were caught were when we were moving and not staying vertical. My buddie also had better luck putting a minnow on along with the ringworm. We did manage five saugers that were around 18 inches.
There were about 30-50 boats out this AM. We did see one – yes, only one fish caught from 7AM to 10:30 AM. Not much going on today except the weather being nice. Maybe next time.
Hey Dustin!
I wanted to drop you a note to say thanks for the report. It has been a few weeks since you put this on the site. Today, the boats were plenty on the pool, but the bite was slow. Warm weather, low wind, and 300 boats had kind of beat up and confused the fish. About halfway through my time on the water today, I recalled readng your article on snap – jigging on the river. This is a technique that I have often used on Winnie but never the river. I decided to get away from the crowds a bit and try snapping off the bottom in the wind blown areas of the river. WOW! My action changed at the first spot I tried. I used several jigs over a 3 hour period with over 40 fish boated. I had only put 4 in the boat all morning vertical jigging. I stopped on my way out of Evert’s to say thanks to Dean also. You know, the river bite can test you on any given day. Reading your article and talking to the boys at Evert’s has really helped me. Today, it saved the day! Good Fishing and thanks Again!
Good to hear you had a great experience on the river and learned a new presentation
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Did you get any walleyes or mostly sauger? What did you catch them on? How deep? What size jig?
Lot’s of questions but it has been over a week since I have hit the river
and was hopeing to get a head start before my outing on Sunday 
We arent telling you….the saugers said it was ok,but the walleyes made us promise not to reveal that info to you!
Good job troller!
Uh Oh….Dean, NOW ya did it….
You can’t just send Dustin out there cold ya know…. somehow I suspect he’ll talk you into getting those walleyes to crack and open up on the secret scoop 
Best action for me came on SuperDoo’s, both blue and pepper worked very well. I also had some action on ringie’s. Dark colors worked best all day. More than color, it seems to be about using the smallest possible jig without losing the feel. Nothing new there! I will be onthe water before sun – up tomorrow. I will have my 14 year old son and his buddy in my 1750 Crestliner. It is black with a 90 Yammy. Say hello if you drift by us. Look for us pitching rocks in the dark!!