2013/2014 ice season that would not end,has now come and gone !!
In just two short weeks I’ve see the river channel temps go from 33 degrees to 46 degrees on this day.
Reports of female walleyes being caught in their spring spawning haunts are filling my ear at almost every turn, I knew it was just a short time before I start seeing the males move into the areas where the eggs will lay awaiting the fertilization from the males..
The Spring turkey hunt triggers me to be out on the river looking for gravel beds. This is where the eggs will settle and the males will put the chew on anything that gets in their way to protect the eggs,
This time of year is where using the handline reel technique is the perfect tool to catch these male walleyes.
Kachman Automatic Retrieval Reel by Riveria Trolling Systems is the reel I have chosen and they have not failed me for the past 10 plus years…
Weights from 1-1/4 pound up to 3 pounds have been used depending on the amount of flow during this time period.
20 pound Clear Suffix Siege makes for the perfect leader material.I choose this line because of it superior abrasion resistance and exceptional knot strength. When your pulling thru all sorts of debris from the flooding Mississippi River you will hook up with sticks and trees, as well as the bottom full of sharp rocks it’s important to have the best leader material so not to loose the crank baits at the end of the line.
Boat control is key to keeping the correct bottom contact so that the Rapala baits are in the perfect position on the river bottom. The speed I have been using has been between .5 and 1.5 mph with movement in and out from the shore line with a slight upstream movement. I like to use my kicker motor for the main thrust and drop my bow mount and use the remote control to steer. This way if I get a fish on I can use the North feature and go hands free and not worry about tailing off into the bank or out to the middle of the channel.
Keeping your weight just in contact with the bottom will put your baits just off the bottom where the walleyes are holding out. If your weight is being dragged on the bottom your baits will be running to low, and it the weight is to high then the baits will be running over the top of them. This is why I handline. This technique will allow you to keep both crank baits right in the fish zone making your day in the river more productive
Some ask why handlining…
“Why cant I just vertical jig them up” or “Can’t I just use a 3-way presentation”? or “I can just use deep running crank baits and get down to them”
Lets talk about vertical jigging…
Yes you can still catch fish this way.. but with the speed of the current this time of year, by the time put pick your jig up off the bottom and set it back down, you could have covered as much as 20 feet of bottom area with your jig a foot or two up off the bottom missing crutial time with your bait in the fish zone.
Running 3 ways is about is the closest to the hand line presentation as you can get, but with the high flows this time of year your going to need an awful lot of weight to get your bait to the bottom and that’s a lot of torque on the stiffest rod.
Long lining deep divers, unless you have a perfectly flat river bottom that just doesn’t change your offering will be in and out of the fish zone to where if your handlining the baits will be in the fish zone 100% of the time..
I love this time of year for handlining,,, I could do it year around, and I have, but this is the time of year I choose…
The open water season is upon us and The Tug is The Drug