After a long break from the river mainly due to hunting season, I finally made it back. Despite the cold temps and wind it was a "warm" welcome back I would say. I would like to thank both Nick and Mike W for joining me the last couple of days. It was great fishing with you guys and look forward to doing it again.
The bite window right now is fairly short and has been moving around from daylight to mid-day to late afternoon. There is a couple things that are influencing that at this point. The fronts and dramatic tempature changes are having a major factor in it. Without steady weather I believe the fish just dont know what to do from day to day, therefore making it hard for the fisherman to get a pattern put together. There also seems to be a fair amount of shad still around. With food readially available it makes it even tougher to get them to take our offerings.
The recent reports I have heard, have put the bite from sunrise until about 10 am. Of course I didnt fish those times the last 2 days, so we ventured out kinda blind. With that in mind and giving the conditions I knew we were going to have to work for our fish. I decided we would concentrate our efferts on a few known wintering spots that usally hold a fair amount of fish. Every spot we were at we marked fish on the locator and saw fish on the camera. With the amount of fish that we saw it should have been easy pickings but it wasnt so. It is truely humbling seeing all those fish and having a tough time getting them to bite. I would truely suggest to rent the Marcum that Dean has at the shop and see for yourself. You will be amazed at what you can learn without even wetting a line.
With the fish in a fairly neutral mood, I had 2 plans. One would be to work plastics very slow, and the other would be to work blades and hopefully get a reaction strike. Considering we were fishing the middle of the day, we spent the majority of our time working blades. That proved to be our best producer, with gold taking top honors for color. Firetiger and black were a close second.
We did try some late day dragging and pitching with nothing to show for it. The fish were there and everything "felt" right, it just didnt happen for us. I would look for the bite to improve with steady temps and a little warmer weather. Every day should be better and better as it brings us towards the SPRING.
Until then…….. I will see ya on the river
P.S. If your looking for something to do this Saturday come on over to the Skeeter Boat Center for the Side Imaging Seminar. More info can be found HERE or HERE
I cant say that I have ever known anyone to catch a sheephead and striper at the same time on the same bait.
Whats your secret?
The secret is……………………………………….
It’s a secret
Not the report I wanted to hear Eric but a good one none the less. If it is a predominantly blade bite I am hosed
I have had the itch for a week or two to hit the water but my days off aren’t coinciding with anything close to fishable weather. I was figuring the dragging bite should be on by now–it is that time of year— but then again nothing is normal this winter. Good to see you made it on the water and thanks for the report!
Rich
Thanks for the report Eric
Rich, I should have stated that a little clearer. I do believe there is a plastic bite and a dragging bite. It just happens to be in the morning lately, and I didnt fish those times. It has been changing time of day about every week from what I have been hearing. In other words, tough it out all day and at sometime those fish will bite, just a matter of when.
As of the past 3 weeks the early AM bite has been very consistant for several of the regular anglers.They have been going verticle with smaller profile plastics.I am sure bait would work fine too,but really hasnt been necessary unless you like cold hands.From 11 AM to 3 PM has consistantly been slow till the evening bite kicks in.
Thanks for clarifying that Eric!
Dean, quick before the morning bite ends—-run up to the dam and drag a 1/4 black jig with Redneckcracker at .6 upstream in 12 feet of water and let me know how you do
Thanks for the open-water report,Eric. Helps my cabin fever and keeps the brain tuned to think like a walleye……can be a long winter if you don’t get into the hard-water stuff. why is Pool 4 so far?
Well Rich if could get fish on blades you can too, I’m finally starting to get the feel and confidence. I have no doubt it’s an awesome fish catching technique. You should catch a ride with Eric sometime
It was great to be back on some soft water!
Thanks for the report Eric.
.
going to fleet farm to buy 100 pounds of ice melt for the driveway so the boat can be river bound.
Might have to finally take a ride in that new skeeter of yours
See you this weekend over at the humminbird seminar–
jeremy
Nick, I ‘m not sure what it is but I am learning impaired when it comes to casting blades
I fish them for an hour or two and then go back and catch fish on plastics right away. I have fished beside Eric,Dean,Jim B.—you name it and watched each and every one of them till I thought I had it down. I duplicate their actions and catch nothing. Heck, the boy can be in the front of the boat catching fish on blades and I still blank. I’ll keep plugging away and one of these days maybe I’ll figure it out 
Just jerk harder and you’ll be able to snag them too
Just inquiring…
Is anyone fishing Winona area dams for Walleyes through the ice?
Tried 5A two nights ago… not a hit.
When it comes to blades, those as can do, those as can’t eat carry out chicken
Rich, knowing you as I do I have no doubt you can. You just need to convince yourself. There is a very good coach right on the dock at Everts. Hope to see ya on the water soon
That snags a nerve. I have been fortunate enough to fish with some excellent blade guys, Eric is one of the best! Have you fished with him? I have, and I will stand on the fact that more fish are snagged on ringworms than blades.
However, we seldom verticle jig and never jerk the bait too hard. That would guarantee a sore arm and poor results.
I agree Brian. You watch good blade guys and you are gonna see some ultra-finesse fishing. They are catching those walleyes in the mouth after they hit. The guys vertically cranking with their $20 ugly sticks using 30 lb braid are the snaggers.
dd
Good report Eric and I’m glad to see you’re back fishing again!
See ya Sat. 
I hope your speaking in jest! If not, your seriously underestimating the ability of these fishermen.
Easy guys, WalleyeHunter is a good buddy of mine and another SD boy so I get his humor
I guess the good news is that I can stumble accross a walleye every now and then casting plastics so it makes a good combination with the boy in the front casting blades and me in the back casting plastics. It sure is a lot more fun doing it rather than sitting here thinking about it 
Brian,
Dean has walked me through the whole bladebait approach in the shop. When I get on the water I feel I am doing it right but for some reason the walleye don’t think so. I have NEVER caught a walleye casting blades—vertical jigging I have.
I would love to share the boat for a day with one of the bladebait experts but so far it hasn’t worked out. Maybe I scare them off with my expertise in negotiating over sandbars–or–possibly my ability to attract small but fierce rodents into my boat—or –it could be that a son of mine jumps on every open seat that is offered but for whatever reason it hasn’t happened YET
Well Rich you have the Redneckcracker Crown exclusively to yourself.
I bet wearing that gold crown gets a bit cold this time of year though. 
I was just kidding guys, because I know they get quite the bad rap as a snagging lure. I like to stir the pot
I have CAUGHT many fish with blades. I just couldn’t resist though when there is a picture of a Wiper hooked in the gut
Doesn’t anyone use jigs and minnows anymore? I would think with the fish in a neutral mood a lively minnow in front of their nose would cause a bite too. I know plastics work, but some days live bait will out fish them.
Lots of people still use jigs and minnows and it still works as well as ever. But you can’t get as good of a discussion going about it. When the artificials are going good you also have your line in the water much more of the time and you aren’t freezing your fingers rebaiting. I just don’t like hassling with bait, especially in the winter months. And this is strictly anectdotal, but I think on average I get a better size fish with the artificials as well.
dd
Exactly
It pains me to actually put on live bait in the spring, fall, and winter when fishing for walleyes. I would have never thought plastics were better until I was proved otherwise. The majority of the fish I have caught with plastics have been better quality than live bait caught fish. Once I run out of plastics from B-fish-N Tackle, it will be a sad day, unless they are still carried in Gander 
I have had several of the die hard livebait guys in the boat in the winter/spring timeframe and every one of them has conceded that the plastic bite is better. There are periods when livebait will get the job done but when the water gets to the temp where it is now those days are very few and far between. Believe me, I resisted change but I have been converted to plastics for quite a few years now.
There are many, MANY days in my boat that plastics reign supreme. Easy to tune the length, profile, color, and action of a presentation using a soft plastic…tough to do that with a minnow.
However, when the fish are netural to negative, in gin clear winter water like we have right now…a very compact, completely natural presentation like a minnow on a small jig or even a split shot rig will generate some extra bites.
I was just thinking yesterday that I’ll be dipping into the minnow bucket for my Sunday and Monday trips…right before the bottom drops out of the thermometer again.
I’ll vouch for that as I asked Rich ” We are not going to get any minnows? ” and his response was ” if you want them get them I’m PROBABLY not going to be using them! “
From then on out plastics have been the bait for me on P4 and not only that but if BK is working he charges double for making him scoop minnows
Great Report Eric
It sounds like the bite is about the same now as I experienced. Take a look at Jason’s update for more info and some good tips. Hope to make it out again as soon as this cold snap breaks.