I knew the conditions would be tough for this 6th annual March excursion…but persistence sometimes gets rewarded…The River is the lowest I’ve seen it in several years and also cold due to the cold winter/spring.
I had my Yooper fishing buds Al Erickson and Frank Pearson with me and a new crew member Bill Kehoss, all from Iron Mountain. Dean quickly accepted my (wife’s) generous Oatmeal raisen cookie "BRIBE" and filled us in with the latest important tackle and technique report. Thanks to Dean and the great info from latest reports on IDO we were able to focus on a game plan and eliminate a lot of time "searching" for patterns/locations to fish. Monday afternoon We opted to avoid the large knot of boats at the Dam and drift along the miles of exposed rip rap/rock shoreline and pitch ringworms, grubs and paddletails. The slow current made it a pleasant, albeit cold afternoon. We slipped past a small rocky outcropping when Bill had his Everts firecracker/chart offering thumped by this gorgeous 28" Walleye, a personal best…
After I managed to stick a couple smaller Walleyes on a Pro Blue Paddletail we had drifted down to an exposed sand flat…I moved out a bit and Bill pitched his favorite Cicada lure toward the shoreline…soon his 6′ Medlight rod was in a deep arc again…"are you kidding me?" another 28.5" tank! Beginners Luck? The "Guide" was getting his butt smoked…Another personal best for Bill…I think the next best thing to catching a trophy Eye is netting one for a friend. The cold seemed less offensive as we motored back up for another drift…
Last March I was fortunate to catch a nice 29" Eye near the Vermillion so as we drifted in that area I was especially focused…My 3/16 BFT jig was just about right as it tumbled slowly toward me, carrying a Stewart’s Pro Blue Paddletail…The guys kidded me about spooling some (classic)"Golden Stren" 6# Mono on my reel, but in the grey overcast skies I could see that line like it was glowing…My new TBS 66MLF rod was suddenly rocked by a hard pull from something big! After a tough battle we slid the net under this big Girl…just shy of 28.75", full belly, and very close to spawning. We CPRed her as with Bills first two… I looked at my watch…two hours on the water and three outstanding walleye already? Pinch me…
We headed up river as the Vermillion and Y areas were starting to be congested with boats drifting over scattered schools of early run male Sauger…a technique that was to be both fun and effective the next couple days…We saw that jig/minnow, hairjigs, and plastics vertically jigged were effective on these fish. An ocassional chunky Walleye or spawning Sauger ending up in a net. Working down the Wisconsin side we dragged both hair and plastics along the sand flats…picking up an ocassional Eye or Sauger but small sized males. Darkness set in and I opted for one more drift…pitching a purple/glitter 1/8oz H20 jig and Oystershell ringie. My gold line still visible…I got that wonderful "THUMP" that we feel all to few times, but tell you that a "TANK" has enhaled your jig… The big walleye fought my little blue rod to a standstill, but in the waning light I was amazed to see this 29.8"…11.4# beauty slide into the net…Thank you Good Lord above! That matches my personal best from P-4…What a Day!
We were blessed with a half dozen more big walleye the next few days which I will post below… and caught many smaller Sauger and walleye during the mid day by drifting/vertical jigging. The fish seemed scattered everywhere, up/down all across the river. Our most effective pitching/dragging lures were Paddletails and trimmed Ringworms. Smaller 3" firecracker/chart grubs (available at Everts) were very effective for the deeper water mid day bite on a 1/4 or 5/16 oz jig. We had much better success (all around) with 6# mono…either Golden Stren, Sufix, or UltraCast…that braid this trip, especially in the 28-36′ vertical jigging depths. Best colors were Pro Blue, Oystershell, firecracker/chart tail…Blades= gold and copper.
The overall spawning numbers are not there yet but the fish of your lifetime may be waiting for you! See you back there in about a week! Get out and get fishing
BTW…If Oatmeal Raisen cookies aren’t available…Million Dollar bars will really get Dean’s attention!!!
Some other outstanding Pool 4 beauties..including one of several “toothy critters” that were also biting there…
The happy faces say it all Tom ,looks like you guys a great day out
. nice looking bunch of fish 
Nice job Tom
Dont you just wish it was closer to home?
Wallster ><((((>
Awesome fish, Tom… I think I saw you on Wednesday, looks like you guys were having a blast catching those nice saugs…
We had a great day and caught some nice fish, but no big girls to speak of… maybe next time 
Willie…It is my goal! I have a daughter in Stillwater and am working on the wife constantly…
I LOVE the whole area!!!
Congrats on that hog Tom! Great report
great report! Nice photos
Great Report Tom
Nice Fish Guys
Congrats on the personal best guys!
Some dandy walleyes you caught.
Nice report Tom!
Boog
Whoa…nice fish!
Enjoy your write ups Tom,some of the best!
Congrats on those slobs
Very nice fish Tom! It looks like you guys were having a blast. It sounds like the bigger walleyes were hitting good enough through your whole stay. See you in april!
Good work Mrs Gursky!!!!
Nice Job good seeing you out and about
Congrats on your personal bests!! Great report!!
Great job Tom!
You know your making time stand still for me with this report. I’ll be on the water up there next Friday.
I was fishing next to you most of the afternoon on Wednesday. You guys were all over those small sauger
Man I cant take any more of these pics.I need to get the boat out next week and head down there for a day or 2.I dont suppose they have the channel markers in yet?I dont want to put the new bath tub on top of a wing dam right away
Ill have to see if they are on my Lakemaster chip.
Great report and nice fish Tom. Grats on the PB
The channel markers are in year round. There are 4 wing dams in the upper part of p4. Two of them are right up near the purge pool to the right of the Y and the other is by the first green can from the lock. These three are shown on the ’07 Lakemaster chip. The fourth WD is in a backwater chute by the public access off of hwy 63 and is not shown on the ’07 Lakemaster chip. As long as you put in at Evert’s and stay in the main channel the fourth isn’t a worry.
I haven’t explored the backwaters that much so maybe someone else will chime in if there are more hidden back there.
Chris
Thanks
The one to watch for is in the mouth of the Vermillion…about 2′ under the surface
Dont venture too far inside the green channel buoy… 
Nice fish Guys!
Thanks for the report..
Another wing dam to watch for is, if you plan to launch at the back channel where the no wake buoys are just up river of the launch theres a wing dam that goes all the way across the channel.
Just a side note if you are new to Pool 4 and have a fairly heavy boat, lauch at Everts Resort its not worth slideing your truck in the drink off the steep launch in the back channel. Its a bad time of the year for that launch!
Tom those are great looking fish.
How cookies does it take to get the really info from dean? 
hi Jim,
I hear the weekly Auto-Ship method is about the most effective.
Jack.
hi Tom,
Great Report, and super Walleyes. hope you can get back soon.
Jack..
nice fishys
wish i lived closer to there so i could fish , guess ill have to just go catch panfish for a couple more weeks through the ice !! 
nice fish!
Way to go Tom and the rest of the yoopers!!! Always nice to hear reports from one of the other northern guys!!! Wished I could get down there a little more often. Going to try to get up to Gogebic and try to ice some perch here in the next two weekends.
Mark
Nice report Tom and congrats on matching your personal best!