Mississippi River Pool 4 Fishing Reports Pool 5, 6, 7 , 8 & 9

[Turk]

04-12-09 Pool Four Mississippi River - Big fish are coming in, at the end of the week I had two big fish trips, were anglers specifically wanted to catch –the BIG one-. Paul Donna, good angler and nice guy to spend the day with, picked up the specific casting presentation quickly, and we fished hard, we did manage a 28” 10.5 pound hog walleye. This fish fought very well and appeared at the back of the boat out of the dark water suddenly with just her jaws wide open and thrashing around like the shark in Jaws, lucky for us she didn’t throw the hook! I thought it was a big pike at first, as I just saw teeth and that big maw, but Paul said – huge walleye!! - The key on this fish was to watch the colored line, use this line as a bite indicator for much greater success than just feel.

The other big fish trip with two good pool 2 river anglers Eric Williams and his college friend Ben, did not pan out, we did work our spots well and cast hard and concentrated, but that is fishing, and wasn’t in the cards. I did have only a half-day to work with for this pair of fishing buddies and I will use that as my excuse! LOL. Saturday I had a trip with Brett Schutz and his fishing friend Richie, these good lake anglers wanted to learn more about the river and they definitely did, first hand by catching some fish. The best were saugers sized muy grande. We found two places with good numbers of fish, Brett didn’t want to keep any fish, and seeing as though they wanted to learn how to river fish, I kept moving anyway despite being on fish. I wanted to show them what I look for and teach how to fish river and find fishy places in high water. All day we discussed flow and current seams, this was a very nice trip.

In conclusion eater trips where anglers targeted good eating sized fish have had better success rates, as walleyes and saugers in the upper teens in length plus 20 inch saugers are biting well. The nice thing about going for numbers i.e. eater trips is big fish are caught as well with longtime guide customer Jim Green, now turned close friend catching a six pounder mid week, and a good buddy of mine caught a 10 pound plus walleye using a numbers or eater presentation that we both fish, so you can get big hogs while going for numbers. I do give casting the edge for hogs especially if they are shallow.

Best depths to fish are in the 6 to 14 foot range, but fish are tight to some banks in 2 feet of water...There is a nice early afternoon bite, so if the morning fish do not cooperate as much as you would like them too do not worry. 1/4 ounce jigs vertically fished or 1/8 to 1/4 jigs on the cast on Everts Resort ringworms (talk to Dean about recent colors, but firecracker chart. tail, chart. orange core, have been hot, hair jigs (green tail or black tail), blade baits, and plain hooked minnows are all catching fish. The weather is great and the birds are singing loudly in the morning, the water is clearing and it finally feels like spring has sprung. River stage in Red Wing is 8.5 and the flow is 50.0 kcfs.

Keep catchin'

Turk

www.croixsippi.com

Year round guide

5 walleye fishing tournament wins

[ike's tackle]

bottom pounder we open at 6am 7days a week.close around 7pm.stop and say hello. IKE

[sam12345]

Turk, arent those B-Fishing ringworms you mean, or does Everts have his own ringworms? How can you find bottom with a 1/4 oz jig with this current?

[GRAND DAD]

Turk Thank you so much for the great trip on the 11th. Anyone that is a newbie to the river I highly recommend going with Turk I learned so much. My first time to the river last year I didn't know what I was doing I caught a mud turtle, so that doens't really count as a fish. I think are total fish count Sat was 32 with 2 saugers at or over 20 inches, I just about [PoorWordUsage]#% my self I have never seen saugers so big. And just like Turk said we could have stayed in a couple of those spots and cleaned house but this trip was more about learning then catching, And I learned so much and after Turk took the time to bring me in to the tackle store so I could get hooked up with every thing I needed to at least have a shot and catching some fish on my own on the river. This weekend I get to play guide to some friends that are coiming down from up north to fish the river. So next weeked all post up how good I did on my own. And Turk I will defantly be sending you and E mail to set something up to fish for some Sturgeon on the St Croix and maybe some ski's to.

[river rat316]

Turk, arent those B-Fishing ringworms you mean, or does Everts have his own ringworms? How can you find bottom with a 1/4 oz jig with this current?

I believe Dean has his own now, they are called ringers, have a better tail also

[GRAND DAD]

Sam12345 It was kind of hard at first for me but mid way thru the trip I had it figured out, The best way for me to explain it is be one with the rod tip. It does a little tick when you hit the bottom and you realy have to watch for it.I never realy felt it like I would running lindy rigs on a lake and that was one of the BIG key factors for us is making sure at all times you know were bottom is. And once I got that figured out it was off to the races.

[Aces In The Hole]

Was out Saturday 8AM to 7PM. Fishing was slow. Started down by Lake Pepin with only a couple of missed fish. Then we headed up towards Hay Creek. Caught a 19" walleye right when we got there. Not much after that execpt for white bass. Saw a 28"+ get caught though. Good weather, bad fishing. Ooh well. Hopefully be back down there one more time looking for the pig.

[Flood the Rink]

I too was out Saturday. 7 AM to 3 PM caught maybe 12 (mostly saugers). I was dead sticking a 3 way rod while anchored and pitching jigs (minnow or ringworm). Could not get a bite pitching but had a few on my dead stick so I threw out another 3 way and caught 2 or 3 every hour biggest was a 19" sauger.

Floating jig on the three way with a fathead.

Had my fill of that then tried some new spots vertical jigging with no luck.

[Turk]

Turk, arent those B-Fishing ringworms you mean, or does Everts have his own ringworms? How can you find bottom with a 1/4 oz jig with this current?

Both B fish N and Everts are good products.

Well a 1/4 ounce jig will not hit bottom in all the winter fishing places. Get to the slower water under 12 fow and a 1/4 is no sweat.

[fish_4_fun]

hey you guys mentioned that there were white bass being caught too. are they hitting fast and hard too or are they slow?

[SCONASOTAN]

I got down there this weekend on Sat and on Monday. Did pretty good. Electric batteries where drained somehow when I got there Sat. but managed with anchor and main motor. Got 30 for my boat on Sat. biggests were 20" sauger and a couple 18" male walleyes. Didn't get any female walleyes that day. Monday got another 15 but only fished morning hours. Pitch and retrieve (slow lift and drop of rod tip) in 9-12 FOW. Bright hair and minnow worked the best.

Thanks Ike for the real good fatheads, really meaty and lively. be back over in a couple of weeks

[OIF_Veteran_21B]

Ike,

Thanks for the info when I stopped in on Friday. We fished down by the covill park on Saturday. Caught one nice sauger, one dink sauger, and a dink walleye. Had some other bites but didn't get them. Did not see alot of fish being caught in the spot we were on.

Next time I stop in will you show me how you tie them hair jigs?

[ike's tackle]

most of the big walleyes have spawned. there are alot of people stopping in and showing me limits of eater sauger and walleye mixed in. most sportsmen are practising c.p.r. ikes hair jigs tipped with a fathead minnow are still working best.for alot of action start at bay point and work your way up to the dam. ring worms are also working well the nice thing with ikes hair jigs is they work well with ring worms so you don't have to bye a bunch of fancy jigs. if you have any questions call or stop by the store. good luck IKE

[brian6715]

These hair jigs must be the shiz-nit judging by how much you hear about them on this forum! I might have to head on down to your place and pick a few up for my next outing

[Sandmannd]

Thanks for the report, I'm heading down there this Saturday.

[fishinfey8]

Thanks ike. I'm headed down tomorrow, will probably stop in!

[OIF_Veteran_21B]

10,000 hair jigs every spring and 10,000 hair jigs every fall can't be wrong

[sam12345]

Hey Burchoid, I use Ikes jigs all the time and they are the best hair jigs i have used. Ive been into ikes and he makes his own jigs I belive. If you don't like his reports don't read them. I know I caught a 8.5 pound walleye on ikes jig last saturday. I also know a 13, 9.5 and the 3 out of the 4 top weights in the FT tournament 2 weeks ago used Ikes jigs. And by the way your Cabela's jig head come from China just a fyi. Thats my 2 cents.

[Burchoid]

I wasn't saying I don't like Ike or his jigs!! Great reports, nice guy, great bait shop.

He ties his own, yes, but I wish they were more than a northland gumball jig with hair. I had a couple fall apart on me too. A little dab of epoxy would make them hold up better.

I like the cabellas jigs because of the unique headshape and horizontal balance. Its made a difference some days!

[smokie30]

Any given day, Any given time, Any given thing, Has and will

work.

Everyone has their favorite set-up. You only catch the most

fish on this set-up, because you use this set-up the most.

He, who adapts the best to any given condition, WINS!!!!!

Tip of the day, "Don't be afraid to try new things. The

fish learn to adapt, so should you."

[Turk]

04/16/09 Mississippi River Pool Four report. Walleye and sauger fishing is still good! Numbers of high teen walleye and saugers are being caught. Big walleye continue to be caught though many have spawned and are not sow bellied sumo sized walleyes where the 28 inch fish goes over ten plus, but they are solid none the less. Tuesday we boated a 28 inch walleye, Roy Janicke, my client dragged that fish in like a pro despite the fact it took of into the current, but when they are hooked with a jig that single hook holds on real tight. We practiced CPR on that fish. We also had Roys limit of eaters.

Today Dwight and Bryce Lindahl, two close brothers put on a clinic in a community spot and boated several 20 to 22 inch walleye and sauger (we CPR these too), and smaller 17 to 18 inch fish for the fryer. This was a fun trip, Dwight booked the trip, he said he wanted to learn –river fishing- so we went to many different locations and used two main presentations the cast and dragging to catch our fish. The interesting thing about the bite right now is that if you are on them the bite is excellent, but not every good spot has fish, such as many times of the year, when you can fish active fish all over. As river fishing is spot specific, currently it is even more spot specific. My tip is to reposition your boat and adjust the angles until you hit the sweet spot, especially when casting. For casting it pays to use a six pound test with a good quality medium light rod, I use the Limit Creek LCS 6’9” MLF and for line I recommend colored Suffix.

Producing techniques are casting, vertical jigging, or dragging jig and minnow, hair jigs and minnow, jig and ringworms (best colors for plastics for me have been lime green w/ green core, oyster shell, firecracker, chart. w/ orange core) or mini paddletails (hard to find but sold at Everts resort).

Client Paul Earney and I boated some nice saugers on the troll on Wednesday, I think guys who have not trolled before and get them in the cold water are always surprised that the cranks work as well as they do, the saugers just dig into that current and fight so nice. Trolling floating Rapalas in sizes F7 to F11 on three ways (same as Wolf River rigs but use cranks instead of a hook – weight in 1.5 to 6 ounce range depending on speed and depth) also has put fish in the boat for us, firetiger has been producing. We have been fishing in less than 17 feet consistently and I would say best depths are from 9 to 11 fow. Casting into 5 feet and sweeping the lures down the break line is also effective.

The post spawn can be some excellent fishing, especially for numbers of big fish that have spawned and are returning to Lake Pepin. This is called the fall back, and I do not believe that bite is on yet. That can be an amazing event when you connect with numbers of big fish.

River stage in downtown Red Wing, Minnesota is 7.6 and the flow is 37.0 kcfs.

Keep Catchin

Turk

[River Dan]

Sorry I missed you there Turk, I was also down on pool four today had a couple clients and we did pretty good, sure had alot of fun and great conversion, here's a couple pics from the outing

[ike's tackle]

burchoid if hair comes off any of my jigs bring them back I will replace them.you are welcome to come to my garage and help me poor the lead for my jigs I could really use the help.IKE

[Burchoid]

burchoid if hair comes off any of my jigs bring them back I will replace them.you are welcome to come to my garage and help me poor the lead for my jigs I could really use the help.IKE

Pouring lead is fun. Have you thought of trying different shaped heads or a shorter shanked hook? A head shaped like the b fishin jig head with a Gamakatsu hook and expoxy'd threads would kick tailfin out there. You could charge quite a bit more too

[Sandmannd]

Turk, excelent report as usual. Thanks for all the info you give.

Dan, those are great fish man.

I'll be down tomorrow morning trying to tangle with a few.

[vman59]

Fished pool 4 this morning, only managed 4 small eyes, 1 -12 lb cat. and about a 20lb cat

[firefish_12]

is the bite pretty much done or is it just getting started???

we're trying to get down there but we have like a 3 hour drive to make?? any advice

thanks

[Burchoid]

I've been down there 4 times this spring already and its been good fishing for some and poor for others. You have to know where to look and what to use!

Every time I go out there are 4-5 guys nearby who catch nothing and 1 or 2 guys catching a few. If I am keeping fish I could limit out with nice saugers/walleyes (16-19") within 2 hours most days this year so far.

Don't be those guys catching nothing and watching others catch fish! Stop in at Ike's baitshop for a good report or Dean over at Everetts to get a leg up on what to use and where to fish. You can't go wrong at either. Don't be afraid to ask for specific lures, depths, techniques, etc.

[fishinfey8]

My 2 friends and I fished pool four on friday 4-17. Thanks ike for all the help, info, and tips! We ended up with only a couple of different types of fish, but it was our first time fishing pool four. Also it was our fist time fishing a river system like pool four, and what an expirience! Sounded like fishing was a little slow during the later half of the day, but all in all an it turned out to be an unbelievable spring day to be on the water. I noticed water temp climbed to about 56 degrees by late friday afternoon, didn't know if this had anything to do with a slower bite??

[Sandmannd]

Fished it yesterday. Little slow, but had two small saugers in the first 10 minutesof fishing. Then it went pretty slow. Ended up with one keeper sauger on a jig and plastic.