This beautiful Sunday morning found my brother Roscoe and I launching at the 494 ramp at 8:30. There was no wind and the river showed a slight skin of ice. The decision was made to run to the Airport and work the wing dams. As we worked our way upstream , the boat movement caused hundreds of ducks and geese to take flight ahead of us. What a sight. There were even a couple of eagles soaring in the air.
With the calm waters we were able to work the wing dam easily. Too bad the fish were a bit slow in deciding to bite. We did pick up a few walleyes and sauger with both Superdoos and a jig/minnow combo. The action is a bit off this year and I am guessing it is because of the lack of current in this area.
After a couple of hours fishing in this area we did move downstream to work the main channel , north of the Wakota bridge. We immediately found active fish ,a couple of walleyes but mostly saugers. I had one a bit over 20" and another at 19 1/2". There were very few fish under 15" for the trip.
We did see a couple other regulars from In Depth Angling on the water. Jon J was fishing with his brother and Mike W was fishing with Joe Smith. I was surprised to see only 3 other boats considering it was such a nice day. The weather forecast looks good for the next few days. See you on the water.
Dino
Dino,
Thanks for the report. It was definately a nice day to be out. I made it out both Sat and Sunday nights for some wingdam action. Saturday evening, I left the water just as the sun was setting. The wind all day long finally got to me and I decided to call it a night.
Last night was a gorgeous evening to be on the water. 38 degrees and not a breathe of wind!! I proceeded to bump into Mike W and Joe Smith as we crossed each others paths. I ended up boating 10 fish after dark off the wingdams. Biggest running in the 25″ range.
Dino,
Did plastics take any fish for you yesterday while you were vertical jigging?
Hi Steve,
All of the fish in our boat came on plastics verticle jigging the main channel and channel breaks in 18-25 feet. Super doos, ring worms and sassy shads all worked. Green and blue were top producers. Tried blades and spoons for a while but they did not produce.
Jon J.
Are fish where taken on plastics also. Doos and ringworms. Light colors during the day and darker colors as the sun went down. Good to see some saugers and eyes showing up again.
I noticed the schools of rough fish started showing up around the wingdams and other areas again. Did not notice them in the last few weeks but they where sure there yesterday. Looks like the camera will need to come with in the next trip.
Boone and I were able to get on the water early on Monday afternoon. We moved into the same area north of the bridge and did find a few fish willing to bite. I was using the same green Superdoo that worked for me on Sunday. Boone experimented a bit more and used both Ring Worms or a jig/minnow combo to catch a few. The bite was a bit slower and the average size a bit smaller from Sunday’s trip. Boone did have the nicest sauger at 18″.
I hope to be back on the water on Wednesday.
Dino
Thanks for the report Dino.
Gator Hunter
Here is a picture from Sunday on pool 2. This is my brother in town from Colorado for the holidays. When he agreed to go fishing, he assumed we were hitting the ice.
Nice sauger!
Or saugeye?????