Mississippi River Walleye Fishing Report 11-09-08

The water temps on the ol’ Miss have plummeted in to the upper 40’s in short order over the past couple of days. The last day I was on the water was Friday the 7th. This was the first day the colder weather had set in with air temps dropping almost 30 degrees over night. Needless to say, the walleye bite that I had been targeting dramatically slowed for my boat on this Friday. With the weather stabilizing the bite should be back to what it was, or hopefully better, in no time.

Up until the cold snap set in the walleye fishing was consistent for my boat. If my customers and I were targeting walleyes for the day we were boating seven to eleven fish a day with two to four fish in the 5-9lb class on a daily basis. The walleyes have yet to go on their Fall feeding binge but we were still able to boat nice fish on our trips in the last two weeks. I have yet to establish a consistent pattern of baits on these walleyes, every day a different bait, or color of bait put fish in the boat. The only plastic that has boated more than one walleye in a day for me has been a firecracker chartreuse tail ringworm on a 1/8oz or 3/16oz sour apple colored precision head. Crank baits, paddle tails and jig/minnow have all boated some nice river walleye in the past 2 weeks. The walleyes I have been targeting are holding on rip rap in 1’-12’ of water. Up until this cold weather set in being versatile once fish were located was key to put more fish in the boat.

On days when the wind blows, in return eliminating my walleye waters, I have been targeting sauger with great success. Casting, or vertical jigging blade baits, have been the predominant sauger pattern for me. Plastics, hair jig, and jig/minnow were very hit and miss for my boat over the last couple of weeks. The one pattern that held strong was the blade bait bite. Gold blades have been best with chartreuse, or white blades a close second.

With the cold weather finally upon us the bite in general for both walleye and sauger will only get better. With the rivers water starting to clear up the better walleye bite will shift to the low light periods of dusk and dawn for your best action on the day. The sauger will become almost suicidal, locating them is the hard part, once found they will be very cooperative.

I’ll see ya on the river!