Mississippi River Walleye Fishing Report 5-06-08

The mighty river has changed considerably since I last wrote a fishing report. Even though the water levels have changed considerably over the past few weeks, the big walleye have continued to feed

My boat did have a week in the middle of April were the walleye bite was very slow . The water temps had dropped, started to get dirty, and most of the fish were in spawn mode which made for slow going . Tim, Jack, and the “Swede” were fortunate enough to experience that week with me. Even though the walleye did not cooperate like we were hoping in this time frame, I still had a great time fishing with the three of you and hope you learned some tactics that will progress your walleye arsenal on the big river! Now that we have the fishing out of the way, I am really looking forward to doing the catching part of the game with you guys sometime the near future .

The rest of this report will cover my last three trips to the mighty river on April 23rd, 25th and May 2nd .

The higher water has put those big walleye in the predictable post spawn drop back areas. My boat is still seeing very good plastics bite with pro-blue ringworms being the most effective and pro-blue paddle tails a close second. Precision heads in the chartreuse/orange, sour apple and chartreuse sunburst have been essential on these natural colored plastics. Black heads have been good in areas with very clean water. I have boated some fish on crawlers or minnows but plastics have still been best for my boat. Plastics or hair jigs will remain the two most dominant baits for casting in my boat until the water temps hit 65degrees, then bait or cranks will pretty much take over. If you locate fish in shallower water don’t be afraid to cast cranks at them . The areas I have been targeting have been in the 10’-22’ range for the most, casting a crank bait in to those depths just isn’t an option for me.

The river is still forecast to rise close to another foot from today. If the water stays clean like it has thus far, we should see a great pre-summer walleye bite in the flooded timber like we experienced a few years ago in June . Get your crank casting rods polished up !

Trolling cranks will be a very effective way to boat walleye right now as well if you don’t find fish concentrated in some of the big eddies along the rivers edge. 3-waying bait has been very effective for some also. This is the time of year were several presentations will put fish in your boat.

I am sure a lot of you are excited about the opener. I know I am, because once the opener rolls around, I will see less boats on one of the best walleye fisheries in the Midwest . If you are pondering where to go for the opener, give the Mighty River a try. If you are tentative in doing so because of higher water and lack of river knowledge, I know a fishing guide that would gladly show you around .

I will post more pictures from the last three trips in a post below .

I will see you on the river!