Smallmouth to Walleyes?

[jclymer]

I have an area I fish on the river in St. Cloud area when I do not have the time to get the boat out but would like to fish for a couple hours. Last week in one area that is a fast moving current with rocks straight down the middle of the river creating a large pool on one side I caught about 20 smallmouths in less than 2 hours including a 22 incher. Yesterday in the rain the water levels rose tremedously and not one smallmouth was caught, instead I caught several walleys, all of them 20"+ including a monster that was lost that would have been 10+ lbs. Smallmouths in this area on Tuesday last week and walleyes filled the area with no smallmouths to be found yesterday. Can anyone explan why the rising water levels will push the smallmouths out and move the walleyes in? EVERY single fish was caught on a bright colored mepps spinner, with a large blade. The slower and deeper I have been able to run this lure the more fish it has produced!

[smallie_hawgin]

We'll assume you were actually fishing for walleye the other day prior to the bass opener???
But back to the question. Let's look at fish physiology and behavior. Smallies while well adapted for living in rivers are a broader and taller fish than walleye which are more cigar-like. Smallmouth have been shown to move to the current breaks when the flow increases (DNR telemetry study 2001-2002) and this time of year fish are moving through readying for and actually spawing in certain areas. When flows increase the walleye have two advantages, one being their shape and two being their ability to see effectively in dim lighting. So the answer if any is probably related to feeding behavior and physiology. Hope this helps. May want to lay off the smallies until this weekend though.

[jclymer]

I may be wrong, but i thought in C&R portions of the river one could fish them for smallmouths all year as long as they are being returned to the water. May be an assumption I made, and if i am wrong, then I will lay off

[Tour. Pro 175]

Smallmouth or any bass are off-limits untill this weekend!

[EBass]

The only catch and release areas on the sippi well this whole state from what I understand is Pool 2 which is open all year, but catch and release for walleys, sauger, large and smallmouth bass. Of course this is just south of MPLS. Pool 4 has special regs to, but I don't know what they are. Otherwise bass opener is May 29 which you already know now. I know, I can't wait either

[jclymer]

Well i guess i was in violation, maybe?? I was catching smallmouths, but I guess I would not say I was targetting them, rather whatever bites. The way i was catching smalmouths is the same exact way i was catching walleyes. I did not take any photos of the smallmouths, all were return immedatly to the water, with no harm done. I guess that would have been up to the CO if I would have been spotted catching Smallmouth, although no harm was intened, I will stay off this section till season opens!

[BigMike]

Ebass... what a slacker LOL. For all of those posts, you'd think he'd be a "prostaffer" by now. j/k.

Ebass, I think it's time to party like it's "1999" with the posts.

I think I'll make it to 1000 posts right about the time Ebass hits 3000.

[Lost]

On the other website that I go to I quickly hit 2000 posts. I'm taking my time here.

Glad to hear that the smallies were immediately released. I made the error last year of assuming that smallies could be kept until the bass season was closed. Two days later I read the regs and found out that we were one week past keeping smallies, that they were just C&R at the time. 10 smallies out of season. Oops. I'm still kicking myself for not paying better attention when I read the regs 50 times or so during the summer (it gets quite boring at work during the summer).

I definitely have to agree that the change in fish at the location you were fishing has to do with their physiology and feeding patterns. The explanation given was well done.

[EBass]

If you didn't know you didn't know. I'm glad that you put them back. Looks like you found a nice spot. I look forward to reading your reports next week.

Later,
EBass

[Mark Christianson]

2 more posts Ebass!!!

2000 posts.

Do you work???

[Aquaman01]

All the "season this & season that" stuff aside, I believe smallie-hawgin was right on when he mentioned the walleye's sight abilities.

A river on the rise is a murky river, and the fish with the best eyesight or smell wins. Of the two species mentioned, walleye win on eyesight.

Keep that spot noted and frequently visited - it'll probably produce many species throughout the year, depending upon water levels, current speed, water clarity and seasonal forage.

Ahhh - two more days and the smallie baits come out! Yahooooooooo!!!!!!

Peace and good fishing,
Rob

[EBass]

Hey now, most of my posts are informative Key word there is MOST. LOL

Yes I work, just not while I'm posting - shh don't tell my boss.

I think they'd ask me by now to become a prostaffer, but they haven't so...I just fish and post.