March fishing on Pool 4 is always unpredictable, largely due to the uncertain early spring weather. Saying last weeks bite was tough would be a gross understatement… We got on the water Sunday afternoon with high hopes…albeit cold windy conditions.
A newbie to our crew, Dr. David Lambrix from Marshall, MI scored a nice 7lb 4oz Walleye on a paddletail…
Dave’s boat was run by Yooper regular, Mark Flunker. Mark had the touch on two really big Paddlefish and a 3 foot Sturgeon (not pictured). They eventually netted a few Walleye and Sauger for our shore lunch.
My partner Al Erickson and I struggled to put even one legal game fish in the net Sunday, so we got on the river early Monday morning and the first ½ hour found me with two decent Walleyes, a 6.6 lb and an 8.4 lber. Though both girls are bleeding it was not from the gills, but from tongue and above the gill connection. Both were CPRed and swam to the depths.
Wednesday morning was a bust again but the ¼ oz gold blade took this fat 3.5 lber for Al and later a 5.25 lber on a 1/16oz jig and mini paddletail… The cold chilled me to the bone and I eventually came down with a dandy cold.
My best advice is to slow down and down size as much as possible. Our best luck was with Orange and Gold 1/4oz blades and Orange jigs with Chart/Pepper or Oystershell plastics. Fish are there but they are cold blooded and need warmer water to resume spawning and feeding…
Dave took some really nice pics but sent them in Bitmap…I asked him to resend in JPeg and I will post them…The E and ESE winds were up to 30-35 mph at times…right up the river.
Mon – Wed and then the snow and cold blew in to seal the deal the rest of the week…
MY goal now is to be recovered mentally and physically for the 5th of April and mount up again!
Thanks for the report Tom, hopefully the bite will be better when you come back on the 5th. I will be at Everts that weekend as well looking forward to seeing you again.
Good report Tom, atleast you got a few to show something for your efforts. Theres a warm front coming the 2nd. of April here and maybe it will make it to where your at to make things a little more comfortable for you and your friends. Good luck and let us know again how you did.
It was nice to meet you this week Tom.
You hit the nail on the head a guy needs to down size his bait. I had a lot of short bites because my bait was too big or moving too fast. Them eyes were not agressive. I just wish I waited until next week to make the trip.
Good report
It was nice to meet you this week Tom.
You hit the nail on the head a guy needs to down size his bait. I had a lot of short bites because my bait was too big or moving too fast. Them eyes were not agressive. I just wish I waited until next week to make the trip.
Good report
Thanks for the report. Looks like it was a little cold???? Nice to see the other night at WS. Have a great weekend.
You guys got some decent fish considering the conditions Tom. I don’t expect much better for this weekend but I am going to give it a shot anyway. I was off the river last weekend and it sounds like I missed alot of the IDO crew.
Tom,
Am glad you were able to get some nice fish in some pretty tough conditions.
Good Luck next week.
Jack
Thanks Dan…BTW the Walleye Seekers Seminar was excellent! Met a bunch of IDO guys and Jason and Dean were great!
Sorry I missed you Tom, I’ve been on some of the other pools, Workin my way up to see Dean!! Hope you recover from your cold!! Thanks for the report.
Tom,
Not sure how we missed seeing you guys. We hung around right out front until 1:00pm.
Tough bite but at least you guys managed to put a couple of good size females in the boat. Hope you hit it right when you return next week!
Boog