Do you remember your first time? The first time you made that move? You thought all winter long how you would approach her? The first time you got to actually touch her? Every time you looked at her your heart just sank thinking how beautiful she was?
Believe or not I finally made it out to the river this weekend for the first time all year. What’s the date again, middle of March? I wanted to wait until my new Ranger came in but I couldn’t take it anymore. I had a WRH( Walleye Retention Headache). I thought all winter long where I was going to fish first, and how. Was I gonna go big right off the bat just to get one under the belt, or was I gonna just start swinging for the easy ones. Well, I decided to go big and that is what I kind got. I loved the way she moved my rod with her head shakes. She wasn’t enourmous by any means but it sure felt good to get a nice one right of the bat. This was my very first fish for the new year. I hope this is a sign of what the rest of the year will bring.
What ‘s working? Right now the river just rose 5’ in the last two days here on pool 5. The fishing has been very good so far. Most people I have talked to had some great success just vertical jigging the main channel edges and up near the dam. Most having success with Killer jigs, Fisherflick jigs(my dad’s homemade ones), and plain jig and minnow. For myself, I have not vetical jigged yet. I have been looking in the shallows for some nicer fish. I have only thrown two different presentations. First, plain jig and minnow and the second has been the ringworm. Most of my success and the people in my boat have had the best success with the ringworm in 10’ or less on sand. The first part of the week it was the chartreuse/pepper ones and later as the water dirtied pro blue and purple have done the trick.
Some real nice fish were reported today pulling three way and cranks already. 2 fish in the 30” class were measured in realeased boat side. I thought it was a little early with the temps still 35 degrees but if you move slow enough I am sure one will get bit like these guys did. This last picture is John Stears with his nice pool 5 walleye.
I get to pick up my new boat on Sunday so I am sure I will be out later in the day giving it a test spin. If you see me stop and say hi.
Great report! Makes me want to go fishin again
Doug
Great report and very nice fish.
I am ready to hit the water now.
Great report Jarred! Those are some pretty girls you had there.
Thanks for the report Jarrad.. Nice fish..
I have to add my spin on pool 5. I’m kind of a one trick pony with the walleyes. I love dragging ringworms shallow, and for some reason pool 5 is at its best with bright sunshine and no wind. That goes against conventional walleye wisdom but it’s what I’ve experienced. So when it’s the kind of day most guys stay home, I’ll be out there doing my thing.
John
Georgeous…simply georgeous!!!
Thanks for the hot bite report.
Great report
Good luck with your new rig!
Great report Jarrad but does Lana Know your talking that Sexy talk on the internet? I’ve been hitting nice eaters [16 to 20 inchers] along the channel. Seem to be doing best with chartreuse fireballs.I’m going to try and talk your dad into going up to RW for a change of pace. Since your boatless maybe you could watch the store for us this afternoon.
Sweet report Jarad! Can’t wait to hit the river. Sounds like a lot of presentations will put some fish in the boat right now. Cheers
Good to see you up and around Jar!
I hope I don’t have to wait until Thanksgiving to fish out of the new Ride! You really know how to spoil a guy!
3-16
I may be a week off, but I might pass on that Sunday night
trailer and ride down to Holmen with ya.
I will be pitching candy early sat. morning, call me if your still boatless.
Let me know if you need help with your wife.
Your loving neighbor,
Brian
P.S. nice fish
Pool 5 walleyes are still going strong. I was out to take the new Ranger out for the very first ride. Just happen to bring some rods along. Not sure how they got in there.
These next few pics are just taken an hour ago. The best presentation right now is working sand flats. Fire N Ice Ringworms were the best for our boat on 1/8 jigs. Best depth was a 10-18 ft break.
I got on the water about 530 tonight and fished to almost dark. We had over 20 fish and 8 were keepers, 3 were to big. If you are looking to get away from pool 4 pressure the bite is in fine shape down here in Alma. Some people even got a three way and crank bite going.
Steve Ritcher with a dandy Pool 5 walleye…..
Where did you put the boat in?
I thought I saw someone say in a previous post that they were using the ramp in Alma just above the power plant. Nice looking fish fireflick!!! Hoping to get down there now that the spring break trip is out of the way. Got some nice pans up on Wapogasset, but need to get down there now and scout a turkey or two and check out the river. Remember when we were fishing a few years back and you said sshhh when we were dragging ringworms… What happened to that.
Mark
Lets see the new boat!!!
Good Idea Cal!
Me too! Gotta get in better shape for upcoming seasons…
Hey Jar you are looking a little “thinner” guy!
Very nice girls!!! I will be at Everts next Sun nite through Thurs midday…You gonna be around?
I know the ramp at Alma about the power plant is open, I was there a week ago Sunday. I also heard that the Belvedere ramp was open even before the ramp at Alma opened up.
Hey Jarred,
Is your Dad still running the bait shop by the power plant ???? Also is it open this time of year???
Nice Fish.
I see you have an E-TEC on that new Ranger .. Sweet …
Ironhead
Mark,
Internet changes a lot of things…..See you in a couple weeks..
Who did you tell….? No one knew about it until I took you.
Yep, bait shop is still there. Open year round. Stop and talk to him but don’t ask him were the fish are biting.
I have been running E-tec for the last couple years and have been really impressed with their performance. They get my thumbs up…
hi sir
just wondering what kind of depthfinder you use to see the fish, what you recamend to buy for the river
thanks for your time
Doug
Im looking at a x102c from lowrance
In my opinion the Lowrance 110 or the 111 with the 10.4 inch screen is one of the best units on the market it gives you a color screen to see the fish laying on the bottom which is a must in river fishing as “suspended” in the river means 1 foot off the bottom. Lowrance makes other units with color that may be less expensive. The C-110 is my unit and it works great.
fireflick:
uhhh…let me think…who was that again???
Mark
Doug,
I have been running Lowrance for the last 5 years. I have run many of other brands but found the Lowrance have been the best for me in the river. Even better on Lakes. I am not sponsored by them, just really enjoy what they have to offer. One of the new key features I really enjoy is that they now have a backbone system that you can actually view all the statistics of your big motor on the graph. RPM, Hours used, Engine temps, speeds, fuel capacity, average fuel usage and more.