Man am I a lucky guy this week! Four months away from the river and I get to go twice in less than seven days. What more could a guy ask for? Well some less than miserable weather conditions might be nice, but who knows what you’ll get if you complain? This morning I woke up to thunder, lightning, and pouring rain, not ideal circumstances for any outdoor activity, so I sat around drinking coffee for a couple of hours and the thunder finally ceased and the rain let up a bit. After refuting every excuse Nick had not to leave the house on his day off we were on our way to the river in the rain. We drove through torrential downpours all the way to the ramp, sometimes slowing all the way down to 25-30 miles an hour just to see. Needless to say, I began to worry that despite my best efforts, I wouldn’t be getting on the river today, but like a gift from above the sky cleared just as we reached the ramp. So, after pulling the plug and draining three inches of water out of the boat we were on our way up the river. Nick is pictured with our first walleye of the day, a healthy fish that gobbled a chartreuse pepper BFT ringworm on a 1/8 oz. precision head.
Our program today was very similar to that detailed in my last report, targeting slack water areas with or adjacent to deeper water, and also looking for the cleanest water we could find. If I couldn’t hold the bottom wth a 3/16 oz jig, I simply couldn’t get bit. Our water clarity started out pretty good, I’d say at least sixteen inches, but steadily decreased throughout the day, ending up at less than six inches, which seemed to really slow our bite down. Nick is pictured here with another nice eye from today’s outing, this one was also taken on a chart pepper ringie pitched on a 3/16 ounce precision head. We pitched every color in the catalog today, but the fish were in the mood for chartreuse, and we weren’t in the mood to argue.
The pleasant surprise for the day, and our savior in numerous slow spots, were a couple of pods of smallmouths. These fish were just voracious and very scrappy, eating everything from hair jigs to blade baits. The bronzebacks have been a welcome surprise on many recent fishing trips for my boat, and definitely illustrate how catch and release can rejuvenate a fishery. I can recall several years recently when we caught very few smallmouths at all, and those that we were lucky enough to catch were usually small, but in my outings last fall and this spring, we have seen many fish in the 17-18 inch range. Remember to continue catch and release with these fish, especially in vulnerable times of year like the spring and fall, so our smallmouth fishery will continue to improve. Nick is pictured here with a healthy bronzeback also caught on a chart. pepper ringie. One week the guy won’t keep his hand out of the minnow bucket, now he’s stealing all my plastic!!!
The one thing that I feel really paid off for us today was persistence. We had to stick with the areas we were confident were holding fish, and wait for them to bite, rather than attempting a run and gun approach as the walleyes just didn’t seem to be as hungry as I’d like today. Once the fish decided they wanted to eat, we would get several bites in a very short time after pauses that lasted over an hour at times. Looking at the weather, we’ve got more rain on the way, but these fish have still gotta eat sometime. Hope to see you out there!!!
Pretty decent walleyes and not to shab on the smallies eighter. Did you guys try any minnows at all to see if they were taking them?
We tried them, but they seemed to prefer without. No walleyes were caught with minnows and not very many smallies.
Nice report Sean
. Good to see you guys getting out. You should get the ol’ man out there, if nothing else, he can bait your hook 
Thanks for the report, Sean. Good looking fish! The spawn should be in full swing there isn’t it? Were those males milking or were they spawned out females?
Nice fish guys! The cedar down here has been hot too. Talked to a few guys that were doing real well at the five and one damn in cedar rapids. Also the bite has picked up on he wapsi to good report coming from all the low water damns. They are goung to spawn inthe next few days by what i have seen.
Great report Sean. I really like the looks of those small mouth. It is a ton of fun to run into smallies when they are aggressive like that.
Andy, they’re split about half and half, just not running into the big sows I’m looking for, and Dan, in answer to the minnow question, ditto what Nick said, we always take them along on the Cedar, but the fish have been snubbing them of late, plastic has gotten the nod continually. I have fished minnows/hair and minnows to death without any noticeable results.
Great report Sean! I am almost ready to get the long rods out…
He’s built kinda close to the water, so would make a good net boy also.
Good report,glad to see your getting out!!
Leave the old man at home and take Riley out. He’s better at netting anyway.
Happy April Fools Day to the Lyons!
Bk
Nick…good of ya to let Sean reel one in…
Sean and Nick, have you tried working them slow and right one the bottom. Your jig weight is the same as I use. My favorite jig is a chartruese colored bucktail and a big minnow and just hop it on the bottom. I only lift it 6″ or 8″ off the bottom then let it fall and they’ll hit it everytime on the fall. It might be this neck of the river is diffrent then yours. Theres alot of rock bottom in most of the areas where I fish walleyes, some sand transitions in a couple other close by holes there too. Ive got to shingle the garage roof today but im going to go take a look at the water and fish tomorrow out of my canoe over a couple walleye holes,,,if I can manage to get there. With the water warming and thier appetites coming around the females ought to be hungry. If I can make it there and the waters not to high and looks good enough I’ll post if I get anything down this way.
Great report Sean, nice color to those smallies.
Jeremy
No kiddin’ Deano!!! Nick really put it on me the other day, but all that aside it’s great to have a good stick like Nick in the boat with you on those tough days, he stays on the fish and I get to experiment with a thousand things that don’t work!!
Nice job Guys.
Glad to see you hitting the water.
BK,Dustin and Stuart;
Thanks alot,I miss one weekend and you all turn into haters
I’m gonna put a spellll on youuuu
where on the cedar have you been fishing??im in the wloo c.f. area and fish the shell rock mainly but have spent most of season on mississippi,curious to known what stretch of cedar your repoting on?