Mississippi River Pool #4 Walleye Fishing Report

Cool mornings and a few rain showers mean transition time here on Pool 4.How do these mother nature effects impact our bite? Read on to find out. A recent video here on IDO does a great job showing just how & when to approach the early signs of fall.IDO’s own Bryan Lyons shown here with a nice fish.The shad are starting to leave the shallow back water bays and heading for the deeper waters which mean "Game On" !

The patterns are just starting to reveal themselves recently.Although there are not huge numbers of fish being caught,the quality is really starting to get the blood going for our most die hard river rats.Experience is still the best lure in the box when it comes to targeting nice eyes this time of year.River Rat Randy has had a few years experience and is shown here with the results !

If I had a dollar for everytime I was asked what the "hot bait" was,I would be a verrrrry wealthy man! With that,3 basic presentaions of casting cranks,bucktail jigs,and plastics seem to be equal in what the fish want as of late.You never know which of the 3 will be most effective till you are out there on the hunt.I would suggest however that you make sure you have a few Firetiger #5& #7 shad type baits for your cranks.Kelly Green bucktails in the 3/16 oz wt for hair.B-fish pro-blue paddle tails on a H20 precision head were the fish catchin "hotbaits" for the fish shown in this report.As we progress to the fall bonanza soon to be on us,be at the ready with a few more agressive plastics as well, such as B-fish K-grubs and or some of Everts large paddle shad bodies.Sometimes bigger is better for agressive trophy quality eyes here on Pool 4.

The trolling bite continues to be an effective presentation.I am finding that the active fish are still willing to chase down a trolling crank.JSR #5 have been the best for myself, but by all means experiment for yourself the most productive style and speed of what you are pulling.Some days the bite window is great and some days it is just plain slow.For the trolling bite now,I would recomend fishing lots of fresh low pressured waters to pick off the most active fish in the area that are willing to commit to the fish’s crankbait of choice.2 – 2.5mph have been my best trolling speeds.

I hope everone is ready for a fantastic fall bite that is just around the corner! I hope to see you at Saugerama Oct 18th!