Mississippi River Fishing Report 11-12-07

Since my last report I have had the chance to share my boat with three great groups over the past week and a half. The fall bite on the mighty river is in full swing right now. The walleye have been cooperating nicely with some dandies in the mix and the sauger bite has been very good as well. The fishing has been good enough for my boat that on the last 3 outings it has allowed us to look for the bigger walleye in the shallows then proceed to go after numbers of fish once the big fish bite slows.

Saturday the 3rd I shred my boat with Steve Draginis and his friends Eric and Dale. The three of us spent the morning looking for those bigger walleye and were lucky enough to find a couple that would cooperate. Chartreuse pepper and purple chartreuse tail ring worms fooled the first two dandy walleyes, pictured here in this report, in to the net We had four other nice walleyes to go along with these bigger fish as well. Once the bigger walleye stopped cooperating for us we headed off in search of some faster action. We were focusing on a deep current edge with 5/16oz and 3/8oz precision heads in hopes of finding some active walleyes holding there, but to my surprise, there were some nice sauger in the mix as well . The four of us ended the day with a couple of big walleyes and plenty of fish catching action in the afternoon hours to keep our sprits high. The afternoon bite was a blessing for us on this day as we had a 3 ½ hour lull in the action while in search of those big mama walleyes . It was a great sharing my boat with the three of you and I look forward to doing it again in the future.

This past Sunday I shared my boat with Tom Peterson. Our day started just as all others in my boat do this time of year looking for the bigger walleyes. Tom and I had a nice 21” walleye in the first couple of cast then it was all down hill from there. We pounded around from spot to spot in search of some nice walleyes and came up empty handed . It was evident that in order to save the day we were going to have to go in search of some action instead of size. Once Tom and I made the switch we were able to consistently catch walleye and sauger mixed together in the afternoon hours. Tom was able to boat one dandy walleye in the afternoon on a 1/4oz sour apple precision head coupled with a firecracker/chartreuse tail ring worm. Nice eye Tom! It was great sharing my boat with you again Tom. I will see you next spring!

Wednesday I shared my boat with Darwin Viker. Darwin and I were only able to boat three walleyes in the morning hours but we had two real nice fish make a showing. Those walleyes are pictured below. The eye’s were caught on a sour apple precision head coupled with a firecracker/chartreuse tail ringworm. Almost every nice walleye we caught on this day was on the above jig and plastic combination. This has been a hot combo for my boat thus far this Fall Darwin and I spent the afternoon hours looking for some sauger action with some positive results. Darwin did boat a nice walleye in the 24” class during the afternoon hours as well that we did not put on film due to dead camera batteries . The bite was not fast and furious on this afternoon like it has been, but good enough to keep it fun and interesting. Darwin it was great fishing with you again . I am looking forward to a Spring trip already!

My best bait on the last two trips has been the firecracker/chartreuse tail ringworm for the bigger walleyes. My best sauger, and eater walleye baits have been chartreuse pepper ringworms or paddle tails and purple/chartreuse tail ringworms. All of my bigger walleyes have been caught out of 10’ of water and less casting jigs on rip rap.

The river has continued to slowly drop back down to a more manageable stage and flow. The lower the water gets, a wider array of presentations can be used to catch fish. The water clarity is around 12” right now. The bite is going good right now and should remain this way the rest of the month and on in to late December

I’ll see you on the river!