For what was forecasted to be a nasty weather weekend it sure turned out good, and the fish didn’t seem to mind! Spent this past weekend on the lower end of pool 4 near Wabasha.
All of my time this past weekend was spent pulling a variety of crank baits. I targeted everything from rip rap shorelines to sand flats to back water areas, to wingdams. Almost all locations produced fish with some being better than others. The rip rap shorelines are holding a good amount of fish right now as are the back waters. The wingdams are just starting to get going, and I would look for them to only get better as times goes on and the flow starts to decrease.
My best results on Saturday came from pulling jointed shad raps in 18 to 20 fow at 1.6 to 1.8 mph. Best colors on this day were fire crawdad and red crawdad. Those colors stood out mainly because of the clear skis. When sunday came around it was a whole new ball game. A front came through late saturday and over night. Sunday morning I was greeted with full cloud cover and light rain. That switched my speed and color pattern from the day before. My speeds dropped from 1.6 to 1.8 down to 1.2 to 1.4, mainly because of the cold front put the fish a little on the sluggish side. It also made the color patterns change to more natural colors such as plain crawdad and the the walleye color.
If you are heading out fishing on the lower end of pool 4 I would target any of the current breaks that are there. Most of them I have found have been points on the rip rap shorelines, the tips of wingdams, and any flat just off the main channel with a good break line going into deeper water. Just throw out the cranks and start pulling until you find some active fish.
While I was out on sunday I had a chat with a group of guys that were staying at Cedar Ridge Resort. I had just heard of there new sponsorship with IDA and I decided I had to go take a look. I only got a view from the river and didnt get a chance to go up there and take a look around but from the river it looks like a great place. Very nice cabins and a nice beach area. I am really looking forward to my stay there and will give you all a full report on it after I stay.
Until next time……… Good fishing to all!
Here are a couple more pics. Sorry about the quality as I was by myself and I am still trying to figure out the whole time delay thing.
The whole 10 second delay cathces me off gaurd all the time as you can tell in these 2 pics
Great report Eric. What technique are you using to pull cranks at those depths? seems deep to be long lining. are you pulling 3 ways or lead core or are they just suspended? Can’t wait to get up there the 22nd for the GTG. Will you be up there?
Eric, everybody knows that you can’t pull JSR’s that deep, and they certainly don’t float!! Nice fish, don’t forget your friends!!
Nice report Eric saw ya guys down there Saturday when i was getting on the water….wish I would have gotten there earlier though man did it rain
Nice fish bud 
I am actually long lining. We have caught fish right on bottom in that 18-20 feet and at the same depth but out into 25 feet (suspended). There are two factors when it comes to getting them deeper. #1 line diameter, I use fireline, and #2 sometimes we will pull downstream. With a suspending bait once you get it to the depth you want it, it will stay there, and going downstream the bait has less resistance therfore it can dive deeper.
I am planning on making it to the get together. As long as nothing un-expected comes up I will be there
Actually they do float just ask a certain somebody on here
Friends, I have friends 
We will get you and the old man down there sometime soon.
Great job Eric
You will like Cedar Ridge it is a very nice place and Wes is a great host.
Great report Eric, Thanks
mine actually swim you just have to watch really closely
You let your 70 yrds of mono or fireline with your jointed lure in 12 ft and it will be off bottom because it floats! The bill makes it dive…. You let your 70 yrds of mono or fireline with the same size jig as your jointed shad rap and it will be on bottom because it sinks! Good Luck……
Nice Fish!