Mississippi River Pool 4 Walleye Report 6-16-07

Well where to begin, the walleye bite on Pool 4 is in full swing. With the water temps finally hitting the 70 plus mark.

Mike and I spent sometime last week prefishing for the Port of Call Tournament. It is a great time to be fishing this pool. You still can pretty much choose your favorite presentation and catch fish. The trollers were doing well the live bait riggers were catching fish and the wing dam boys were hogging them.

Mike and I opted to drag light jigs with live bait.

We were targeting current seams, down timber, and sand breaks some as shallow as 2 feet.

This first photo is a 29 incher we took on a leech on Thursday, prefishing. The winds were not as strong this week and it made boat control alot easier.

Mike and I started our day out of Everts at 6:00 am on Thursday. Thanks Dean for the bait.

Mike is really not a morning person until he gets his first walleye. Which on this day did not take him long.

He got the first dollar today.

This next shot is of him with a nice 22 incher we took on a current seam on a crawler.

This fish was in six feet of water.

Mike and I were trying to put together a game plan for the tourney.

We were looking for 20 inch plus fish.

Here he is with another fish that I think was 20 inches.

Anyway we had a great time fishing the north end of the pool and we thought we were being very successful.

I knew that last years winning weight was just a little over 25 pounds. Mike and I have been doing that the last two times out, so I was very hopefull for a good finish.

Little did I know the South would rise again.

Saturday morning up at 4:00 am and we had a nice thunder storm working the area here in Wabasha. Not alot of rain but alot of thunder and lighting. What was really nice not much wind.

Well Mike got the bait ready and I did lunch, we packed up and off to the boat check in site which was right in front of the Port of Call. At 5:30 am Brent did the honors of inspecting the boat and we were cleared to launch.

City harbor here we come, Mike backed the boat off the trailer and I was off to park the truck.

The tournament hours were 6:30 am to 2:30 pm. Take off came and went with out a hitch and away we went.

We had high hopes that the mighty Mississippi would give up winning fish to us today.

Well 20 minutes into our day we are at our starting spot. The first pass and I hook up, yes, it is a good fish, nice head shakes, and I drop her off half way back to the boat.

Bummer and a couple of discriptive adjectives and we continue on with another pass, yet another, and another no bites.

Well what to do, no problem plan B. Well we pack up and move shop.

Get to our next spot, 10 minutes into our pitchin and Mike is hooked up into a nice fish. Well five minutes into the fight I realize, it is a stinkin flathead, about a 20 pounder that we waste another 10 minutes landing.

A few minutes later Mike hooks up again with another nice fish, I have the lines cleared and the net ready and we drop this fish. Well about now I am starting to get alittle disgusted.

We are now going on 8:30 am and we do not have a single fish in the boat.

Time for plan C so we pack up again and move. Set up on our new spot and five minutes into our pull. Mike is hooked up and it is a good fish. I clear the lines and am ready with the net. Finally up pops an nice 23 incher and she is in the net. Great job Mike awesome fish. First fish in the boat at 9:30 am.

Wow what a relief the ice is broken. Now we just need to light the fire and fill the box. Well we work the area over and over and just a couple short fish and short bites.

On to plan D, we pack up and run again. First pass on our next spot I hook up but it is just a 18 incher, time to choose and I make the call and box the fish.

Now we are looking at 11:30 am and we only have two fish in the box and one is not what I wanted. The plan was for nothing under 20 inches. But the clock was ticking and we just were not getting bit.

Time for plan E, we move again, and it was a good call, Mike hooks up a great 24 incher, in the box. next pass Mike hooks up another 23 incher. Great job partner. Next pass I hook up a nice 29 incher..we are on a roll.

Now it is 1:00 pm and we have five in the box.

We make another pass nothing, another and we drop a fish, finally at 1:25 Mike hooks up another 23 incher.

What a great day. We pack up and take the slow drive back to lake city, I hate pounding the boat if I do not have to.

What Mike and I did not know was that the south end of the river had been putting out record weights all day long.

We weighed in 25 plus pounds of fish and finish in sixth place. Ok I will quit whinning I had a wonderful day on the water with my nephew and he has turned into a great fisherman.

Congratulations to all whom fished the tournament, and a very nice job to the top five teams you earned it awesome job guys.

This last photo is from the weigh in.