Mississippi River Pool 2 walleye report 5-17-08

This is kind of a mixed bag report of walleyes and crappies from this past week of several adventures. I told myself that this year of 2008 I would like to make more time fishing with my family members and my buddies and scale back a little on the guide trips…and this past week I did just that. Between May walleyes on Pool 2 and spring pre-spawn lake crappies, I am torn almost a dead even 50/50 at times.

This past week I talked my Dad (Jimmy D’s hair jigs) into coming down and share a boat with me for the day on Pool 2. We got on the water on a beautiful sunny morning and ran immediately to one of my favorite little honey holes for this time of year as well as this time of day. As I was dropping the anchor on a nice current seam I look back to see my Dad setting the hooks into fish #1….OMG, how the heck did that happen so quick? Dad and I proceeded to pop about 6 fish right off the hop. All these fish were cooking cutter 24”-25” fish except for Dad’s nice fish just shy of 27”. After about an hour on this spot, things slowed and we were off to a milk route of old standby spots as well as some intriguing looking new ones. Some of this stops produced fish right away, some after a little persistence and some were plain duds! One thing I have found consistent this past several days now is that the walleyes are starting to move into the current a bit compared to sitting in the slack waters of the current seams. With water temps hitting 60 degrees now, I guess we should expect that to be the norm from here on out and eventually fish starting to set up on the wingdams in the weeks to come. Dad and I pitched Jimmy D’s Chartruese Weenie 1/4oz and 5/16th oz hair jigs most of the day, however the few moments that I did throw a crankbait, I got quick results. With 60degree water….cranks are really starting to become a preference more often than not….even for this old hair jig thrower. Dad and I had a great day on the water together…Thanks Dad for taking the time when I was a little boy to show me this great sport!

My brother Tony and I got out this past week also to chase some pre-spawn crappies on a lake we grew up fishing on but had not fished it for awhile. This is one of those lakes that has potential for some real nice sized crappies when you can find them. After a little hunting, Tony and I got into them on a deep old reed patch in 6-8 feet of water. This is a place were these crappies like to stage before water temps heat up enough to draw them into the shallower depths. We spent the remaining afternoon/evening sitting on this small weed bed and plucked several nice 13-1/2”-14” crappies. We kept just enough for a small meal and let the rest go. This trip sure reminded us when we were kids and our Dad used to take us all out (4 boys) on a similar spot on the lake….good memories.
Thanks Tony for dragging me up there to take advantage of this fun afternoon.

I got a chance to run out solo this morning until about noon. Upon arrival I noticed the river had dropped about 10”-12” over the past couple days. I started out early checking some backwater areas that has been holding fish. After boating a couple quick small fish, I moved out to the main channel to check out some main river current breaks and low and behold found some fish right away. Not only were the fish hanging around the current seam, they were hanging out in the current. My approach this time of year seems to be pretty easy, I start out throwing crankbaits to these current seams first and then follow up with hair jigs. The active fish are usually on those cranks right away and then I need to scrub out a couple more reluctant fish. With warmer waters temps I have also been finding fish really starting to spread out. Instead of finding 4-5 fish per spot, I am picking up 1-2 fish per spot and that’s it. So staying on the move right now seems to be my best approach for getting on numbers of active fish.
So in parting….Get the cranks out, stay on the move and as always practice CPR at all times here on Pool 2!
Good luck to all!