With our first shotgun season for deer coming up, I could not get my mind off old marble eyes, so I gave myself a birthday present and hit the river for a few hours. With a northwest wind at 15-25 mph plus, I was prepared for a tough time, but with some adjustments for the wind, I was able to put 6 very nice fish in the boat pitchin’ paddletails from BfishN tackle. My third cast brought this 23″ fish to the boat!
With the wind blowing down river boat control was tough, so after struggling for a brief time, I dropped anchor and worked small areas with short casts and sweeps of 1/4 oz H2O and draggin jigs with several different colors of paddletails taking fish. The key for this day for me was to anchor upstream and upwind of my spots, make short casts with the wind to prevent bowing the line too much, and then just hold on when the fish smashed the jig! This was my first experience with the draggin jigs, and all I can say is I’ll be ordering many more. In two hours of fishing H2O jigs, I lost 3 to the rocks. The other two hours I used a 1/4 oz draggin jig, and not only did I not lose it, but I spent much less time pulling it off bottom or rocks. They are the best jigs by far I’ve ever used in rocks!
Having confindence in your spots is critical for this presentation, as frustration can set in and put you on the move too easily. Keeping good records of flow and stage can remove a great deal guess work when it comes to locating fish on wings this time of year. When fishing a wingdam I have not fished lately, I like to slide across the face with the bow mount, with either a Dubuque rig with bait and plastics, or a jig and plastic until I find fish. A quick mark on the gps and the location can be found again later or in the coming seasons.
The fish are exceptionally fat and healthy this fall, with my fish ranging from 19-25 inches, and very thick. I worked three wingdams in 4 hours, only one other boat encountered all afternoon. (jigfan I believe!) If you are looking for eaters or saugers, there is still time to fish the dam area, but for great quality fish on unpressured water, you cannot beat late fall wingdams mid pool and below. Paying close attention to detail can make the difference between a frustrating unproductive day and a day to remember. Pool 14 is producing better quality fish each year since the imposition of the slot limit. Lets hope this slot trial becomes a permanent law, so we can continue to enjoy the fantastic improvement in the quality of our fishery!
Nice job John!
Nice birthday present to yourself btw. 
Great tips on the anchoring, short casts and most of all, being confident.
The slot seems to be treating 14 very well.
Nice fish and report John!
Well done on figuring things out under tough conditions as well.
John
I’ve been fishing the draggin jigs on “sticky” wingdams and riprap religiously since they came out in the heavier sizes a few months ago. Basically that jig is incredible at fishing through some of the snaggiest garbage a guy can throw into while still retaining an excellent hooking percentage. When I showed those jigs to DeZurik his reponse was “sure, they come out with those now that I’m no longer guiding!” I could see his point. If you were to add up all the jigheads he’s lost with clients on guide trips I’m sure that would come out to be a pretty big pile of jigs.
For those that haven’t seen this jig before, he ya’ go.
http://www.bfishntackle.com/draggin_jigs.html
Great report John.
Nice to hear that some people still are young enough to be willing to battle the wind and cold and get rewarded for their efforts.
Hope that everyone has a great Thanksgiving. Save a few fish for next year.
One use was enough to convince me of the value of these jigs. I intentionally fished them in a way I would not dream of fishing any other jig on a wing dam with some very nasty metal and wood stuck on its face and in front. Not one serious hang up, even in the worst spot I could find. They also cut the current so well I was greatly impressed with that aspect also. I’ve used several other types of “snagless” jigs on wings, not one can hold a candle to the draggin jig for pitching to wingdams!
Great report John!
I was in at BFT/CJ&S office a few days back visiting with Bob, and I looked at some of the draggin jigs- Sweet Jigs! I can’t wait to try them out this winter in the boat at Guttenberg, Muscatine, and New Boston!
Now if they would just come in the 4 oz size.
Nice report John…makes me want to call in sick tomorrow…you know…P4 flu?
Nice report John! Makes me wish I wasn’t winterizing the boat over the weekend…but everythings iced solid up here.
Way to go John!!
Pool 14 is a tough pool
I have friends on your pool and it is a tough nut to crack.
Maybe we can trade trips sometime
p 4 for p14?
Thanks guys! It has been a busy fall for me so I’ve not been on the water as much as I would like, but I have NO plans of putting my boat away any time soon.
I never winterize, just go south until I hit open water. Usually that’s just down to Davenport.
Brian, that sounds like a plan to me! I’ve fished pool 4 a couple times, but have not made it back up for a few years now, and never have been there in the spring or fall.
Even if I don’t make it to P4, you are welcome to share my boat whenever you are in the area!
BK, could you just tie a bowling ball to a draggin jig and make that work? Shouldn’t bother those whisker fish I don’t believe. I’ve seen ’em eat a tennis ball anyway.
What launch ramps are still open down there at 14? I have used one on the Iowa side by the casino before that could be iced in by now.
D Man, I have been using the Albany ramp, but I think Fulton marina is still open, and the 25th Av north ramp in Clinton is open. If you are not familiar with that one, it is on the north end of Clinton, 1 1/2 blocks north of Main Ave.
Also, the South Clinton ramp in Beaver Slough is open most of the time, except for during very cold spells during the winter.
Fulton is the only one of these with a launch dock, the rest require beaching the boat. Hope this helps ya!
Great pictures and report John
Sound like you had a great B-Day John. We saw you up there , that has been a good producer for us to. We had been fishing since day light that morning and the bite was terrible early . I fished that dam first with out a bump. They bite started for us about 10:00 ,with a pretty steady bite after that. I think we pulled 4 off the spot below you , but we were half froze by that point so we called it a day. I hope you can get back out soon.
I guess I hit it just right for a change. I was upset I didn’t get out until mid morning, but it worked out great. I fished from around 10 to 2, and the bite slowed the last hour or so. All in all a great way to spend a few hours on my birthday.
Good to see ya having a good day on the water John!
Is anyone is the Metro area stocking these yet for the folks like me who are too impatient for the UPS man to arrive?
Alvin, no one that I can say for sure. We are selling mainly through distributors so it’s hard to tell. HOWEVER, if you order this weekend it will go out Priority Mail Monday and you should have it by Wednesday.
In stock here Mike,if you are still planning on coming this way.
Great report John.
Those draggin jigs are some great time savers less re-tying and lots less snags, plus the way they pop off of snags they can trigger bites.
Nice Fish by the way
Thanks Greg. I plan to give them a real workout tomorrow, taking out a guy new to pitching, and walleye fishing in general. Should be an absolute test to see if I can get him on some fish, especially with forecast winds at 20-30 out of the Northwest again….
.
It should be a very interesting challenge!
That is what I like to hear, Thanks Dean!