Thanksgiving week has been and is almost gone now. Along with good food and time with the family it has allowed some great trips out on the Mississippi river to chase big fall walleyes. After our 1st trip last Tuesday it didnt take us long to find these fish also had there Thanksgiving feed bags on like this nice one Calvin caught Saturday evening.
Most falls I spend a majority of my time pitching wingdams and rock piles on the river for walleyes. This last week we have been working on switching up this program and by far have been spending much more time dragging jigs for them. Our locations have been rocky shorelines just off the main channel, wingdams and the stray rocky structures around them. Just as long as there is a little flow mixed in with the rocks there is a good bet the walleyes are not far away like this nice 26"er that was Cals 2nd fish of the night.
As far as baits this last week BfishN Tackle plastics have been it. Style of plastics have changed between ringworms and kgrubs depending on the night. The nights when dragging Kgrubs is going the fish have been making some very vicious strikes on them. They have been hitting the ringworms pretty good also but its hard to beat when they smack that Kgrub.
Colors have been bouncing around a bit also. Purple/chartreuse ringworms have been pretty consistent this last week. Motor oil K grubs are good also. Fire cracker and oyster shell have been good performers to. It never hurts to put a little variety in front of these fish. Here is a nice 26.5" that hit a fire cracker K grub.
Jig weights for dragging it has varied from 3/16th earlier in the week to 1/8th and even 3/32ths last night. This all depends on the area we are working, the flow there and if we are going into the current or with it. As always the large hook and wire bait keepers on BfishN H2O jigs are perfect for this approach.
Along with the great fishing this past week it has been equally fun running into all the familiar faces from the web site down on the river. There is getting to be quit the group of regulars down there. Many of which I know have been on great fish this past week to.
It looks like the temps are going to take a dip towards this next weekend. Water levels have been dropping pretty good the last few days to. With any luck things will stay open until the end of the month. For those of you that are getting out good luck and I hope to see you down there.
I do like to add with my post for this time of year a note about being safe on the river. The river is not a place to take lightly this time of year. Wear those life jackets. The inflatable ones are great nowadays and you dont hardly even know they are on. If you are planning on fishing after dark get those lights on and take a extra minute to clean up the boat so you dont end up tripping on something. Be extra careful if you are running around after dark. About a week ago we almost hit a half submerged can in the middle of the channel right after dark on the way down river. A barge that came by had drug it out there while we where up river and it took us completely by surprise on the way back down.
Be safe guys.
Good report from “Up north” Mike.
Might have to try the night dragging down here next week.
Thanks for letting me tag along Mike…I learned a lot fishing the river last night…
nice looking fish Mike.
apparently i have to mix it up. killed them shallow on rock last weekend about 26 walleyes. 25 of them came from 1 spot. then, both fri and sat only 2 walleyes and 2 saugers on wingdams. 1 walleye was 27″ thou. 0 fish off that spot for fri and sat.
27″ my buddy rick caught 2 sat’s ago. biggest was 27 1/2″, but this was have more fat.
good report and nice fish Mike. seems like I see you down there almost every time now. the time spent is paying off with those sumos you’re catchin.
J
Lookin good Mike.
It has benn a fun fall on pool 2. Lets hope the weather holds on for a while longer
Thanks guys. Nice fish Dave. Sounds like you guys have been getting into them pretty good.
Jake. That photo you put up on the walleye forum is a tank.
Here is Tom’s big fish from Friday night. 27″s. As many of you know Im cursed with cameras and this photo shows it.
You shouldn’t take the heat on that photo Mike…my camera’s flash had been disabled by my brother in law…
and it sure was fun fishing with ya!
I’ve been lucky enough to catch a lot of 27-30″ Walleyes over the past several years, but few as fat as that toad!
The next four months will be tough for me…waiting for open water and fishing the mighty Mississippi again!
Nice report Mike…
Nice job Mike.
Great fish Tom.
Nice work Boys!
Good to see the smiles!
Great job, Mikey! Always love your reports!