The best way to describe the walleye bite on the river right now would have to be sporadic. The fish are there and can be caught but things have been a bit slow in the past week for big numbers of walleye. It seems a bit of everything will put fish in the boat from jigging, rigging, trolling cranks casting cranks, hair jigs and plastic. The only problem is none of those presentations are putting big numbers of walleye in the boat right now but all of the above have been good for a few fish on my last few trips. I have caught fish in 2’ to 15’ of water on the last couple of outings. The fish are very scattered right now and constantly on the move from one day to the next.
The sauger and walleye have started to show up in the dam area but not in big numbers. Look to the WI side on the sand to produce the best results for now. Minnows and crawlers have accounted to most of the eater size fish showing up in that area. Anglers using plastics, hair and blade baits are seeing some action as well. If you are in the neighborhood swing in to Everts Resort and Steve will be able to give you a daily report on the catches in that area of the river.
Middle of last week I had the chance to get out on the river a couple of times with good results both days. Late last week Chris Froelich spent a day in my boat. We did a bit of everything on this day and saw success on several presentations thru the course of the day. The day started out with us trolling crank baits in 7’ of water with some nice eaters from the get go. After our crank bite died we switched locations and started dragging light jigs in 2’ to 4’of water with fish coming on both leeches and crawlers. After about 4 hours of fishing we decided to cast some hair jigs in hopes of a bigger fish than the bait or cranks were producing for us. It paid off for us on this day as you can see Chris pictured here with a really nice walleye we took in 2’ to 3’ of water on a purple 1/8oz hair jig. Chris is also pictured here with a nice bunch of eaters . After about 1:00 the wind picked up something fierce and made the rest of the day a tough one to do just about anything except cast cranks, which we did to no avail. Thanks for spending a day in my boat Chris and I look forward to seeing you again in the future.
Late last week I had the pleasure of fishing with my dad. The day started out slow for us but it picked up mid morning. We did get some decent fish on crawlers and leeches but the best presentation for the better fish in the 19” to 20” class was to vertical jig purple ringworms in 7’ to 10’ of water in the head of the lake area. The fish didn’t want a lot of action on the ring worm, just a quick snap up and hold about 6” off the bottom for about 10 seconds., all of our fish hit when the ringie sat there motionless. The plastics bite will just keep getting better and better as the water temps keep falling. Last Friday was just a small taste of what’s to come for us plastics gurus.
The last fish pictured here was a nice fish I took casting crank baits last week. The rocks on the upper part of lake Pepin along MN and WI side of the lake are holding really nice fish right now. Last couple of times in that area I have not had big numbers but when you do get bit hold on cause it will be a good one.
This will be my last report for the about 3 weeks. The early part of next week will find me guiding for the full moon night bite up on Lake Mille Lacs. We will be chasing down those big walleye that prowl around in the darkness during the full moon. This is a bite I look forward to every year and am never disappointed in the results. The only bad part about it is a guy will get kind of spoiled catching all those big walleye. Several 6lb to 9lb fish a night are very common on these trips and I do have 2 openings left in the time frame I am going to be up on the big pond. For those of you who are interested in booking one of those nights feel free to call or email me. I am looking forward to fishing with you!
That’s all for now. I’ll see you on Lake Mille Lacs!