Minnesota River Walleye Report

[wastewaterguru]

Was out with Dennis and Shamu on Saturday searching for some eyes.

We targeted creeks and inlets and covered 7 miles or so of river hitting a half dozen or so different spots. Fish were caught in 3 or 4 different locations.

We managed to boat 12 walleyes ranging in size from 15" to 21".........more than a dozen white bass.........and two sheephead (both caught by Dennis ).

We were on the water from 2:30 to about 6:30 PM so the action was pretty good for four hours of fishing.

We had a variety of baits that caught fish including a simple jig and twister........a jig and minnow (both fathead and sucker)........and beetlespin.

All fish were caught in 3 to 8 feet of water.

Weather was gorgeous.

[DTro]

Good to hear, thanks for the report. Creeks and mandmade inlets are the ticket right now, at least till the water comes down. Depending on the weather, I may try to get out this afternoon.

I went out with PG on Sat and we had a spot pegged, we thought we would try a little further up the creek to make sure they weren't there and come back and work the mudline good......in the meantime a boat came an anchored there

Not enough room so we pulled out and moved on, plenty of other spots, but we would have like to fish that a little more.

[DTro]

Snuck out for a few hours this afternoon, until the rain chased me off. Found 3 nice eaters (high teens) and lost a high twenties at the boat also a few cigars mixed in. I couldn't get a good pattern though. Fish were caught working a jig n minnow, slow, dragging, and fast.

Also caught a nice quillback (first one of those I've caught). Nobody to take a pic and didn't want to set up tripod in the rain.

[ec30_06]

Fished a creek mouth tonight for a couple hours. Used a jig and minnow and a jig with a twister. Caught about 30 sheepies, 3 channel cats, and 2 white bass. I had on a few fish that felt like walleyes, but the hook poped out every time.

[ec30_06]

Got out again tonight with Kyle. Got one 4lb walleye and some white bass and sheepies.

[wastewaterguru]

I was out last night as well.

Caught a dozen or so white bass, a couple sheepies, and a nice eater size channel cat. No walleyes.

River is on it's way up again.....gonna be a crazy fall.

[HossFisher]

What affect do you guys think all of this rain will have on the walleye bite?

[Mrkeb]

I got out in the rain for a short bit today before going into work and managed one eye. Measured 22.5 inches didnt get a girth but it was eating well. Had a big belly on it. I fished between 1:00pm and 2:00pm. Missed one other fish. The walleye took a 3 inch white twister tail on a chart 1/4 jig. Not too bad for a quick little outing. I'd say they are starting to turn on from what I've heard and seen.

[HossFisher]

I also got out in the rain today from 4-5 and couldnt get a fish. I might have missed one fish. I was using a jig and fathead in a spot where a creek ran into the river. When i was at that spot last saturday i fished from 2-3:30 and between me and my buddy caught 17 eyes with the largest a hair over 20"

[ec30_06]

All of the creeks entering the river yesterday were muddier than the main river. I think it will take a few days for things to calm down before I try it again.

[DTro]

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All of the creeks entering the river yesterday were muddier than the main river. I think it will take a few days for things to calm down before I try it again.

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Clean water seemed to be the key out there tonight. We caught a handful of nice walleyes, and the things in common to the places we caught them were clean water, and baitfish present.

We also stumbled into about 50 white bass...that was a lot of fun.

WWG lost an eye at the boat that was 8-10lbs

[SneakAttack]

Was out Saturday a.m. in the burnsville to shakopee area. Water was extremly high with a ton of debris. Fished in the only clean water i could find and managed only one walter that went 17". Threw fatheads, small suckers, and plastics with a variety of jighead sizes and colors but i could not figure out what they wasted or if they were even there. I did get pretty nervous when a dead tree about 50 feet long was coming around the bend and heading straight into the creek mouth we were fishing only to hit the shore about 25' upstream from the creek mouth and then turn back into the river. Definatly see something new every time your out there.

[wastewaterguru]

Good times on Saturday with DTRO and Shamu. The white bass were keeping us busy for sure.

Went out again on Sunday afternoon. Managed only one eye and 4 or 5 white bass. It's amazing how the river changes from day to day with the high water. River was up another foot or two from Saturday to Sunday. Hope she peaks soon.

Also hope they get the ramps cleared off when she starts dropping. The ramps don't get much attention this late in the year. There ought to be a couple feet of mud on most of them by this coming weekend.

[DARK30]

It took a little snoopin around but I put the hurt on a bunch of pig sauger tonight on the Minnesota. Many fish in the 20-21 inch range with a few eater size walleyes in the mix....all wanting a taste of some curly tail. Finding cleaner creek water was the first clue. The second clue was jumping all over on the surface

Was up fishing the Otter Tail River this last weekend and pounded on a bunch of nice chunky smallies in the 15-17 inch range. The little slimers were thick too and I even got to play with a few feisty rannel rats using tails. Kermits were all over along the banks...poor little guys are starting to get rigamortis bad.

[DTro]

Nice Dark!

We found some more hungry eyes right at dark tonight. When they were hungry, boy were they hungry

Yep, clean water.....and those jumping things

Took a couple eaters home and just finished cleaning them. One was stuffed full of little green sunfish

[wastewaterguru]

Yep, that was a good time last night Darren. Really strange how they shut off all of a sudden though. We just hammered them for about an hour and then kazaaam they were gone.

There is still a ton of debris and deadheads in the river. Don't think that just because the water is high that it's safe. Lots of saturated logs that are hanging right at the surface.....or right below the surface.

I think the best thing is for everyone to just stay off the river the rest of the year.

[DTro]

all kidding aside, he is right. Major trees coming down the river, and hidden debris. Now is not the time to venture out if you are unfamiliar with running the river. Not only that, but the launches are in fair to poor shape and will only get worse when the water drops.

[Lowblazah]

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One was stuffed full of little green sunfish

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Silly walters...dont they know the law and that they can't eat those.

[peder]

Shore fished the creek at the Chaska landing yesterday right at sunset. Saw that John and Darren were out. I caught 2 white bass and 2 eyes pitchin jigs into flooded timber and brush. Man the river is high right now.

[DTro]

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Shore fished the creek at the Chaska landing yesterday right at sunset. Saw that John and Darren were out. I caught 2 white bass and 2 eyes pitchin jigs into flooded timber and brush. Man the river is high right now.

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Don't get John in trouble now he wasn't fishing last night.

That was actually me and Harvey Lee.

We had a hard time finding some clean water, and when we did, we ran into some backwoods dude in waders occupying the pool. I thought about breaking out the Jacks Link Jerky, but decided to let him be. I've seen what happens in those commercials

We did manage one nice eye and white bass, then had some motor issues and got back to the landing creek too late to concentrate real hard on fishing.

[harvey lee]

You are correct on the motor issues Darren. The boat is going in Monday to be fixed. At least we made it back upstream to the landing and didnt float the other direction downstream.

[Carp-fisher]

Well I finally tried to eat a Minnesota River walleye. Caught a fat 17"er this morning along with a nice white bass. The walleye tasted just wonderful; it could've been from northern MN as far as I'm concerned. The white bass did have a distict musty taste on parts of the fillets, but it wasn't too bad. Looks like I'm going to start eating walleyes out of the Minnesota...

[DTro]

What a difference a day makes. Fished a good part of the day on Sat and found a bunch of hungry eyes and sauger, most around that 17-20" range with WWG boating a dandy 6 lber.

Went back out this afternoon and found that the water had dropped another foot. We were only able to find a couple of dink eyes, and baitfish were really hard to find.

We are in another transition period. The shallower creeks will only be fishable for probably the next 3-7 days, then it will be back out to the main river current seams and holes.

[wastewaterguru]

The shad were not to be found last night.

4 hours for two walleyes and a baby white bass.

Pretty slow for sure.

I love the transitions though. It just means that I have to put more time on the river to stay on top of where the fish are.

[DARK30]

When the river is dropping a foot a day, its tough. I spent the weekend hunting agates. Picked up another 3 or 4 lbs including two reallly nice ones...I Am The Eggman koo koo kookookeechoo

[wastewaterguru]

Was out again last night....three days in a row.

Hit a different stretch of river with DTRO.

We found some fish but only a couple walleyes.

DTRO had the excitement of the night by catching a monster buffalo (15 pounds and change) and a pig white bass at over 17".....and for getting his boat into places it shouldn't go.

I landed my biggest sauger ever at almost 23".......she was a hog.

[wastewaterguru]

Less than an inch short of the state record fish. The one I got last night was pretty darn fat........Maybe we should have gotten a weight DTRO. I bet it was pretty close to 6 pounds. Just about had me a state record!!!!!!!

Sauger 6-2.75 23 7/8 / 15 Mississippi River Goodhue 05/23/1988

[DTro]

That's funny because I looked that up right away this morning. For some reason I think the record was broken again last year over at Red Wing.

Either way that was a hog sauger you caught.

I was hoping you didn't share the weight of that buffalo because we were going play a little guessing game

The picture makes it look like a 30+

I might even share a pic of that sauger and the little used tactic that could become the next "gotta have it" rigs on the boat.

Also, I didn't realize my boat had 4-wheel drive.

[wastewaterguru]

I would say that was more like all-wheel drive.

The picture I got makes that thing look pretty huge too.

Based on the picture I would have guessed 30+ pounds.

[DTro]

The tactic I referred to earlier was mentioned in another post by Stu Mckay "catmendo". He posted about using a vexilar in open water. I brought it up to WWG and we decided to tote the Marcum along.

It still needs a lot of fine tuning, but I rigged the transducer out on a paddle, and locked it into a rod holder. I could've used a few more feet of cable and a longer mast, but it still worked pretty darn good.

Who needs ice?

Also after looking at the pic of the sauger, it could be a saugeye.....

and the big buffalo....