Work has taken all too much of my time of late, but I finally managed to shake free over the last 10 days and do some serious walleye hunting! The bite has ranged from fair to fantastic, with many presentations effectively catching fish over this period. Some very nice over 20" slot fish have been coming from wingdams, as well as this 28" pig my brother took with a lindy rig and crawler.
I’ve found one key to success has been to follow the solunar tables and fish accordingly. My best fishing has been midday and evenings on several occasions. This 21" eye came from a wingdam at about 2 p.m. pitching a jig and leech. In my experience, if all other conditions are favorable the best summer fishing often comes at peak times on the solunar tables.
On Sunday, June 17th my friend and I picked up over 20 fish on wings and dragging jigs over 6 to 10′ in sand during the peak boating time in the afternoon. Lots of wakes, noise and heat, but the fish where on a tear. We did notice a lack of larger fish, but lots of eaters and smaller slot fish.
The trolling bite has also been good to great, with flurries of activity coming throughout the day. My best day trolling was a hot, humid afternoon with my sister. We trolled several short runs in sand and rock, as well as the clam beds and dunes. Another over 20 fish day, with most of the eater sized fish that we took for a family fish fry coming mid-afternoon. Several larger fish came early and late. We had a bonus 32" flathead this day as well. What a fight she gave on 10# mono!
All in all, the fishing is about as good as it gets on this pool. Get out and pound that water, and the fish will cooperate! Don’t let boat traffic or afternoon heat keep you from hitting the river, just remember to rehydrate often and let the piggies go!
I neglected to mention my best baits for the period trolling have been jointed shad raps and wally divers in many colors and sizes. It seems that if you can put a noisy bait in front of the fish, they’ll eat it!
I had to remove a #7 jointed rap from a one 19″ fish post mortum, as she had the back treble in her stomach and the front in her gills.
Also, the time I spent trolling I tried a wide variety of speeds, but my best luck by far came running 1.2-1.4 mph gps. Over that, we did not get many fish.
Looks Like some spectacular walleye fishing there John. That is a nice piggy also. Congrats to your Brother and congrats to you for putting him on a nice fish that that. Great Report John.
Nice report John and congrats to your brother on a dandy walleye!
Boog
Great report John! Glad to see you getting out there and getting into the fish!
Joel
dd, I couln’t have done the trolling bit without the sweet running kicker I got from a great guy on this site! Thanks a million!
My pleasure John!
And give that little girl (I guess she’s not so little anymore) a hug for me! Some day I’m gonna make it down to pool 14 and get in on some of that action myself. Take care sir! 
Joel
Great report John!!
Hey John great to have you back on the pool and a great job on the Walleyes. We talked several months ago. I live in Camanche maybe you remember. Great Job and nice to have you on the air
Don
Nice going Jonh. I’m glad to see that you put your sister on the fish. Keep up the great work. I hope to get out with you soon.
nice fish! might have to drive 10 min up river to give some of that a try
Thanks for the report John and congrats to your brother on that pig
nice report John, have you seen your buddy from Princeton, keep looking you will…………..
John
Glad to see that you’re getting on the water and catching some beautiful fish. Even better to see your post! I always look forward to them because, they always contain great information.
It’s kinda interesting but, I found the same thing last week when I was out, bright afternoon sun and heavy boat traffic didn’t seem to slow the bite very much. Just eaters and fewer piggies.
Good job john! looks like your having fun
John, did you weigh that 28″ eye? It looks very healthy I’m thinking around 9lbs. Awesome fish.Thanks for the pictures looks like you had a great time.
Rick, we had her out of the water longer than I like just getting the pics, so we did not take time to weigh her. With the heat and extended fight to get her to the net (6# mono) we just wanted her back in quickly! I was guessing somewhere around 9# also. Very thick, healthy girl. Hopefully she’ll be swimming for some time yet!
john, good work on the eyes. it’s pretty amazing that those fish can get the entire bait that far into their mouth while it’s moving away from them but sometimes they are pretty intent on getting that bait.
good work
Here’s a cell phone pic of the big Flaty we trolled up. I forgot my good camera that day.
Very poor quality, but hope it shows up!
I thought I would add an update on the walleyes on pool 14. I was out yesterday and caught 6
. A 14.25, 15, 15.5, 19.5, 21, 23.5. Not bad for a 1/2 day of fishing.
Have a great day
That is quite the flatty.