River Walleyes

[RiverRunner]

I am having difficulties catching river walleyes consistently. I usually can catch one walleye a outing, but no more than one. I generaly catch most of my walleyes by trolling up stream with rapalas. I'll catch one mark the spot, then either troll or cast through the marked area. Does anyone have any suggestions on catching more Walleye in the river? I generally fish the Mississippi around the Monticello area.

[Mike W]

Hey River runner. I dont have any experince with the Miss. eyes up that way but i do chase them around on the taylors falls portion of the st croix. I am looking for someone to tag along with in the Mont. area of the miss so i can start to learn that portion of the river also.
I could give you some pointers on what and where i find the eyes over here. It would be interisting to see if the eyes follow some of the same patterns over there.
I run a 14' john so my boat should be suited for the Miss. up that way. We could take mine out or yours or i could just tag along behind. I really want someone to show me the channels up there. I learned them myself on the croix. That was a good time.
I would also be willing to swap a trip with someone if you are interisted in trying the croix sometime. The eyes are a little slow over there right now but I hope to see them start picking up for the fall bite pretty soon.

[Guest]

Sounds to me like you are doing pretty good. I have fished that stretch of the river for many years and I usually consider myself lucky if I can catch a walleye each trip. The smallies keep getting in the way, have had much better luck fishing farther down stream, Elk River to Coon Rapids. The water slows down a bunch and is much easier to fish.

[kwkfsh]

Here are some tips from things that have been working on pool 2. Since last thursday I have been out 6 times and have landed 133 walleyes. The bulk of the fish have been caught on lipless cranks ( rattlin raps mostly ) Color does not seem to be a big factor although the natural colors do seem to be better than stuff like firetiger. The fish are very shallow 3 to 9 ft. with the fish getting bigger as you go deeper. The fish want it slow, and trolling against the current has outproduced trolling with it by about 10 to 1. The best spots have been on inside turns over sand and sand with scattered small rocks. The most strikes have come when the lure is pulled forward a couple feet and then allowed to drop back, Alot of the strikes are coming as it drops back. Also the smaller lures about 2" have been working better than larger ones. Hope this info will help you out, just remember this could all change tommorow but it should be a good starting point. Good luck.

[Rick]

To see the type of Cranks he's talking about:

Click Here.

These are very effective lures for River fishing walleyes.

[Guest]

All well and good, but first you have to be fishing in a stretch of water that has more than just a couple of walleyes in it.

[kwkfsh]

AliveinMn, Don't shortchange the mighty mississippi. It is a veritable fish factory and probably the best kept secret in Mn. If you are not catching fish do yourself a huge favor and hire a guide for a day. The river is just chocked full of about every fish that swims in the state. The great thing about a river is once you learn to read the water you can just look at it and tell where the fish are going to be. But just as in a lake 90% of the fish are going to be in 10% of the water. There are feats of angling that can be done on the river that can not be duplicated on any lake in the state. Just in the last two seasons I have had the pleasure of enjoying such things as,6 drops of the jig 6 fish of 6 different species, first drop of the jig opening day 2001 32" walleye, 12 walleyes in 12 casts, many 50+ walleye days, 100+ white bass in a couple of hrs., 25 lb flathead on a jig and a minnow on 4 lb line ( too much work ) and many many 50+ smallmouth days. Life would be grand if this could be attributed to my piscatorial prowess but the fact of the matter is its the river that is so good to me!!!!!!

[kwkfsh]

Riverrunner, the cranks that Rick posted a link to are similar to the types I have been using. The lipless cranks have been the hot ticket for most of this summer. Although I have not used any of the millenium series and therefor cannot vouch for there effectivenesss. (wink, wink, Rick)

[Lip RIPPER!]

Don't you just love those rattlin' raps? I fish the Red Lake River in Northern Minnesota and besides a jig, these are my favorite lures to use. They are so versatile and you don't have the lip on the front to worry about if it is tuned properly or not. You can cast them into the wind a long ways, pull them slow, fast, and even rip jig them right beneath you. Our river is pretty stained and baits that rattle definately catch more fish than those that don't. When wading the river, it is also easy to tell when your plug is fouled because the noise of the rattle disappears. If you don't have any in your tackle box, I suggest stocking up!

[maplegrovefisherman]

What pool is it considered between Dayton-Elk River and from Elk River to Monticello?

[Guest]

Kwkfsh,
I have fished this stretch of river ( from the Coon Rapids Dam to The Monticello power plant ) for almost 40 years in some kind of boat and 10 years before that from shore. See I have grown up on the shore of this river and I have fished it almost everyday, heck I fished it before it became popular. I know almost every rock and rapids in the river by name. I fished it before there were any catfish in it. I have caught and released hundreds of small mouth bass over five pounds, but never have I caught more than three walleyes in one day. I must be doing something wrong. Anyway I think I know what I am talking about when it comes to that particular stretch of the Mississippi River.

[kwkfsh]

Alive, I was'nt judging your angling ability. Its just that the river is so chocked full of walleyes that it is hard to believe that there are not many in the area you fish. I just know that there are a tremendous amount of fish in Cass, Winni, Pokegama, all the way down thru Brainerd and St Cloud. And In pools 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,etc. It just seems hard to beleive they are not in your area.

[Rick]

kwkfish,
you gotta try those lipless Millennium Rattle Shads. They are similar, yet they have tough rubber coating on them that looks like the real forage in the river system or a holographic lifelike image on them.

The folks who've used them swear by em

For those of you who are curious, you can see them by clicking here and looking for both sets of Rattlin Shads.

[This message has been edited by Rick (edited 09-08-2002).]

[swamptiger]

Just wondering how deep those cranks run? And how good do they run at higher trolling speeds?

I am fishing the Rainy, and its hard to find anything that will run deep enough & fast enough to work up there.