Missippippi River Pool 3 Report

By chris-tuckner 0

Pools 2 & 4 get an awful lot of attention this time of year and it is well deserved! But if this early Spring bite is a sign of things to come, we are in for a banner year here on Pool 3! All of last Fall and Winter we dealt with an unbelievable shad population. Food was everywhere for these fish! And it shows! No “Skin Tube” body styles on these fish. They all look like me…stubby and chubby! Just the way I like ’em! The fish are in ritual spawning grounds presently and are relatively easy to find. Getting them to bite on a regular basis is the hard part.

Presentations which are working are your typical jig and minnow and jig and plastic rigs. Super Doos (Remember them??)B-Fish-N Paddle Tails and Ringworms work well right along with live bait. Working down river with the current and hovering over the fish is how you fish these. You can also use a heavier jig (3/8 ounce BFT H20 jigs work awesome for this!) and work it slowly up river or side to side while slipping the current to hit fish. Handliners are having some success with male fish hanging out on the faster current seams adjacent to slack water. These fish are staging off rip rap and wing dams waiting for Mother Nature to call them in to father this year’s hatch. Many anglers have been pulling 3-ways and smaller crank baits along those same current seams. Smaller #5 sized floating Raps and Thunderstick Juniors are prime lures for this.

The spawn is in the beginning stages here on Pool 3. We have had walleyes with and without eggs today and one sauger oozing eggs as we released her. Bigger females are staging in current breaks. People ask “Where do you find these breaks?” And the honest answer is “Anywhere there is an obstruction or impingement of flow.” That means WING DAMS!!! And any point that comes out into the channel and provides a back eddy. I have found that not all have fish, so finding active seams means fishing it with a couple different techniques. On seams I fished today with Jami Ritter and Dan “Sauger” Miller, we did just that. Jami fished a jig and minnow, I chucked a Dubuque rig, and Sauger fished a blade bait. As luck would have it, when we did find a hot seam, all presentations worked.

We work these baits into seams where they contact the faster moving current. The current allows the baits to naturally “Flow” with the current. In all and I mean ALL cases, you need to present these baits on a tight line. You need to lift and drop a few inches at a time to keep contact with the bottom and the fish. It takes time, patience and PRACTICE to get it right. There is no substitute for time on the water. You will develop a feel for what I am describing. If the fish are there, the bite will be so violent that it surprises you! Once you master this craft, you will be able to fish any kind of structure where there is current, and you will consistently put bigger and more fish in the boat. Tonight was an awesome night on the water! The sunset was unreal as was the company! Thanks for letting “The ‘Ol Man” tag along guys!

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chris-tuckner

Guide, speaker and tournament fisherman. Member of the , B-fish-N, St. Croix Rods, Marcum Technologies, Topline Controls, Lakemaster.

0 Comments

  1. A few extra shots here…as you can see, these fish were not shy! They were hitting blade baits with reckless abandon! There is nothing like a feeling of a walleye hitting a bait in current! We kept a few eaters of the size I am holding for our Wednesday fish fry!

    And by the way, these fish were all caught after work! So you do not need to take a day off to go out and have fun with these fish! Now that the days are longer you can get 4 good hours out on the water!

  3. Another month or so and Pool 3 will start getting alot more of my attention. For me about the time MN opener rolls around my Prescot bite really turns on. Looks like you guys had a fun day and without the number of boats a Pool 4 bite draws.


  13. Quote:

    Those are some nice walleyes Tuck! The Sauger looks a little short though.

    Good one Jenkawitz

  14. Yesterday I had Chris Miller from Chicago Illinois in my boat for his first ever walleye fishing trip on the River. He scored the biggest fish of the day on the first cast! Today I repeated the feat on my first cast with a Evert’s Mini Paddle Tail on a B-Fish-N H20 jig. A plump 25″ dropping eggs everywhere. Had another big mama on, but my “Extreme Net Man” had issues. The ENM will remain nameless unless he chimes in here…

    And here is Suzuki with a 27″ spewing eggs all over his boat. All fish were returned immediately to finish what they started….

    AND…I told my “Extreme Net Man” that I had forgotten my wallet in my haste of leaving the house after work that we would probably get a visit from the Game Warden. Guess who got a warning ticket?

    It happens ONE FLIPPING TIME, and tonight was the night! Very nice guy though..had a good conversation about IDO with him.

  18. Cudos to my ENM. Sandbar. He did a great scoop job since I forgot the net. Also very cool of Tuck to take pics for me since, of course, no camera either.

  21. Tuck, well done. I forgot my wallet last week as well but wasn’t as lucky as you to get checked. Looking forward to the P3 tour hopefully next week or sometime soon.

  23. ” that I had forgotten my wallet in my haste of leaving the house after work that we would probably get a visit from the Game Warden. Guess who got a warning ticket? “

    Just a thought for y’all, but I have for years been buying printing my license off the internet, and print lots of copies and save it to a file, for later printings as needed. I have them stashed in the boat, vest, hunting bags, (still trying to sneak one into the FW’s purse )

    Just a thought, but this way I never leave home without one.

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