Mississippi River Walleye Fishing Report 11-09-08

By dustin_stewart 0

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!

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dustin_stewart

When not at work I'm busy playing fishing guide on pools 3 and 4 of the Mississippi River.I will fish Lake Pepin but the bite has to be really good on the lake to get me off of moving water.

0 Comments

  1. Here is Al Weber and his good friend Jim with couple of our bigger walleye during our trip together. It was great to fish with you guys! .

    My dad was not left out the day him and mom fished with me, he had the hot hand this day on a firecracker chartreuse tail ringworm .

  10. So is it safe to say we can drive from 4 hours and get a decent day of sauger fishing? Looks like a great report.

  13. Awesome work Dusty! I don’t think I’ll make it back during the Holidays but who knows? Nothing like foolin em with plastics!!!

  15. Quote:

    So is it safe to say we can drive from 4 hours and get a decent day of sauger fishing? Looks like a great report.

    Pretty safe to say that this time of year you will be able to put a good day of fishing together if you make it up. Dean from Everts can point you in the right direction daily and let you what the fish have been doing up until your arrival.

  16. Thanks, we always stop in at Everts for bait and the latest info. I appreciate the reports though, 4 hrs is a long way to travel if nothing is going on.

  19. Dustin, Great report! I’m looking forward to being there this week on Wednesday! My question is, do you know of a web site that has the current water temp of the river at pool 4?

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