Fall patterns have emerged on the big river for my boat on the last couple of trips 
. Casting or trolling crankbaits, along with pitching hair jigs and plastics in less than 12′ of water have been productive enough to put quality walleye in the boat. The walleye are more than willing to cooperate when found but we have yet to see big numbers of fish come to the boat.
My best crank baits have been #7 flicker shad in the firetiger and orange craw patterns and # 5 jointed shad raps in firetiger or red craw when trolling. Casting cranks has been more of a challenge to pattern a hot bait with walleye making a showing on a variety of styles and colors. More important than color while casting cranks is to make sure you have a crank bait that runs true. If you have a finely tuned crank bait on the walleye will usually go for it when they are hot, no matter the color in most shallow water situations.
The best color plastic on my last outing was purple chartreuse tail ring worms and white paddle tails on a orange/chartreuse colored precision head. My best color hair jig was patriot. Hair jigs boated more fish on this day but the 23+inch fish all came on plastics.
The best day I had on the river in the past three weeks was not because of the quantity or quality of fish that came to the boat but the company that was kept for the three hours we got to fish. Myself and son Kaiden, along with my dad, trolled crank baits for those three hours with some nice walleye making it to the boat. Kaiden is pictured here with a couple of the fish he got to reel in. We had one really good fish on this day so dad had to provide some assistance
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The waters coming up, get out the jig rods! 
Here’s a couple from the last trip
Kaiden is brain damaged 4 life..GOOD JOB DAD
!!!
Nice job Kaiden!
Glad to see you’re getting some walleyes Dustin.
Way to go guys! I’m glad Kaiden was able to get you on a few fish
Great Report
Dustin !!!
Deb and I were reading your report and Deb said..”Is that Kaiden?”
He sure is getting big !!!
Thanks for putting the smiles on our faces !!!
Great report Dustin looks like a new guide in the makin there
Wow! Time sure flies. Last time I saw Kaiden he was an infant in Dad’s arms. I need to get down there on a Wednesday again. Great report sir!
Joel
GREAT report and pictures!
Great report Dustin, time to hit the river!
Nice report Dustin. The boy is getting big fast.
Great report and nice fish. Kaiden is one lucky boy, not only does dad take him fishing, but they actually catch fish!
Joel
Great report Dustin. Kaiden sure is growing up. He’s gonna make a great river rat.
It was great seeing you on the Rainy trip again.
Maybe we’ll get another chance to make it to P4 yet this fall. 
Atta-boy Kaiden!
Three generations of Stewarts in the boat at once. It really sucks to be a fish when that happens.
Nicely done!
Just a quick update from my last river outing.
As we all know, the water is rising rapidly. There is a lot of debris in the river right now, navigate with caution!The water is dirty but walleye are still being boated. My dad and I boated 14 walleye the last time we hit the water with 9 fish over 21″ on up to the best of the day going 24″. No big pigs on this outing
but plenty of action to keep us entertained 
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With the high water targeting areas with slower moving water in them is key right now. Vertical jigging purple/chartreuse tail ringworms or fire an ice ringworms is what worked for us. We tried casting jigs in some of the areas we were targeting but it seemed with the dirty water going vertical and holding your bait right in front of their nose got them to bite.
Don’t let the high water deter your fishing plans! Right now the river is still within it’s banks and if you can find some walleye, there is a very good chance there will be plenty of them in that area looking for their next meal!
Just another update from today’s outing.
Take the good with the bad
. Today we only put one legal walleye in the boat on a hair jig/minnow. 
. Water has become very dirty in the areas I have been getting fish. Hopefully that MN river water gets thru the pool 4 system really quick! Not to scare anyone away from the river but I think the dirty water is here to stay for a couple days 
. If you do make it out, navigate with extreme caution……lots of debris out there!
Sounds like my outing on P2 last weekend. Muddy Muddy Muddy
I cannot imagine what it looks like right now
Dude, What happened to your face? I liked it better when it was covered. Razor go berserk on you?
Give Kaiden a high five for me!