Mississippi river pool 11 walleyes

When a person thinks of Halloween it’s usually thoughts of dark, blustery skies with cold, windy temps. Not this year!

Friday brought on a rare fall day indeed with warm temps and glassy waters. Not the most productive type of conditions for chasing wingdam walleyes but a guy just has to suffer through it. With my school shut down for the day (Why…. didn’t care- didn’t ask) the plan was to run and gun a few rockpiles looking for aggressive fish.

Having called Dave Koonce, former owner of BFishN tackle,and asking if he wanted to drop down a pool and be my co-pilot for the day, arrangements were made. Dave was at my doorstep before first light, giving us a great head start.

Hitting a dam that has been holding a huge number of shad and pin minnows was our first stop. Staying above the winger with the Terrova and making long casts with the cranks produced a few nice walleyes. As the morning grew older the stripers moved in providing some nice action, just not the action we were looking for so a move was made south to grind on some different rock.

Still going with the assorted crankbaits and covering the shallow tops just plain didn’t cut it for the next few hours. The bass were there along with the usual sheephead, carp and other sorts but Dave and I knew that the walleyes were in hiding deeper on the rocks. The weatherman predicted slight winds for the day but the smooth, polished water remained, leaving us with little option but to change up our presentation.

Running back into Cassville for a quick burger and beverage(which was an adventure in itself) is where Dave and I decided to break out the blades after lunch and aggressivley attack the faces and bases of the structure……..good choice!

Casting to the tops and pumping the blades upon bottom contact stirred up some walleyes in a hurry. Be sure to cover the top, face and base of the rockpile. When working the base spend a little extra time, not too much but a few extra rips then quickly reel in and pitch again. Dave and I didn’t get into the bruisers that everyone hopes for this time of year but we were tagging walleyes that were coming on something different, walleyes that responded to a totally different presentation.

Dave brought along some great looking blades from BfishN Tackle. With the water clarity taking a slight turn toward the dingy side I opted to start out with the bright orange-red tiger in 1\2 oz. Dave was working the 1\4oz.firetiger but changed up quickly after seeing two fish come to the net within minutes apart on the orange. Two other fish were nailed down off of the same rockpile before we had to leave for trick or treat festivities but not before realizing that an alternate pattern was found for the rest of the fall.

It was a pleasure having Dave Koonce in the rig with me for the day. For anyone not knowing Dave personally, I can assure you that this guy really knows the game and can quickly adapt to what the walleyes are looking for. His arsenal of tackle along with having that "finicky bite" touch was a blast to witness first hand.

Thanks for bringing the awesome proto-type colors on those draggin jigs Dave, we certainly have to do that again!