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Minnesota River Walleye Report


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Nice fish smile.gif

Just finished combining corn at the home place tonight, 250 acres to go and the RP can come out of the shed and play again.

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Pretty sure thats a Sauger.

Saugers commonly have a little white on the bottom of their tail. They don't have the pronounced white tip like the walleys do however.

Splotchy sides, spots on the dorsal, brownish color... Sauger.

Nice Buffalo by the way! Nice!

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It also looks mighty close to a saugeye, Nice fish either way. I still have not been able to land a Eye yet since I got here... sigh .... confused.gif

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Saturday with DTRO and LFC was SLOW. Not too many fish seen. Larry got a nice morning walleye. A few sheephead and carp mixed in.

Afternoon with DTRO yielded only one white bass to us.

Sunday afternoon with Shamu I hit a different stretch of river and managed 4 walleyes and a couple dozen sheephead along with a carp in just a couple hours. Just have to keep changing tactics to match the dropping water levels.

I have to stop spending so much time on the water or I might actually figure this river out someday.

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Typical late fall haunts should start producing real soon now.

The main river channel temp is now down to 39 degrees.

From now till ice up, the deeper holes should be holding some hungry fish.

The last couple of times out was not fast and furious, but boated fish in the 4-5lb range.

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anyone have any luck with larger presentation or larger live bait like creek chubs or med. suckers?

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I live up the hill from the hiway 14 bridge over the river in mankato. I am looking at hitting the river tomorrow for some shore fishing while the wife is gone and the kids are at school. Can someone give me a good starting place for some eyes in that area of the river. And what would be the best bait and presentation to use right now. Any help would be great and if anyone would like to join me they are more than welcome. Thanks

Duane

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I cannot help with the shore thing....at least for walleyes. I've always had a boat and tried to keep my presentation as vertical as possible.

At the very least, I would try to find a deep hole preferably near some sort of hard bottom. Jig and fathead, or jig and plastic. If you can find a current seam, all the better, but it might be tough to hit the "sweet spot" from shore.

Good Luck!

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Duane- Dtro's covered the presentation, for some spots in your neck of the woods, I've had good success in the past fishing from shore on the Land of Memories Park side of where the Blue Earth dumps into the Minnesota and under the 169 Bridge that is over the Blue Earth River. Also 7 mile creek up the road towards St.Peter is a good day spot as well.

Good Luck!

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Thanks guys. I'll let you know if i find anything.

Dtro and or papa, I see you are on the river quite a bit, so i have a ? for you. I do have a boat: it is 15 ft cajun bass boat with 90 hrs motor. My ? is would you take a boat like mine out on any part of the river. Thanks for the help.

Duane

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Around Mankato?

I'm not positive what the gauge level is right now down there but the water is fairly high up our way. I would think you would be alright, just take your time until you learn the river. Typically mid-summer around Mankato, its darn near impossible to run a boat unless its a jet, lots of shallow areas!

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Quote:

My ? is would you take a boat like mine out on any part of the river. Thanks for the help.

Duane


Duane, this is always the million dollar question for people unfamiliar with the river. I was there at one time.

My thoughts are that you shouldn't have any problem when the water is at a mid to high level. I would put it at a mid level right now....about normal. Here's the thing, you have to be careful at any level, and with the water temp the way it is now (37-38 degrees) it might not be the best idea to make your first trip a nightmare.

But.....if you take it slow, you shouldn't have a problem.

Another thing to consider is the ramp condition, with the way the water has dropped recently. If it hasn't been cleaned out, then it probably is a muddy mess that can be downright brutal in cold weather.

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Thanks guys.

Actually i wasn't going to take it out this year, just wondering what you guys thought. I've been told that the river gets better for boats around st peter so maybe i will give it a try next year, who knows. Thanks for your input. Wish me luck for tomorrow, I need all the good luck i can get.

Duane

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Was out last night around BP. SLOW SLOW SLOW! Lost two spoons and caught one eye. Not a good ratio.

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Took Softshell Eddy and Jason O out yesterday and we managed 7 keepers and numurous white bass around the Henderson area. Once again it was the current seams and a narrow window of where they where caught, the backside of the hole.

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Got out for a while this afternoon. It was tough fishing with the line freezing to to eyelets of the rod. Got 2 walleye and 2 sauger. One of the sauger was 22" and 4.4 pounds. A few white bass and sheepis came out to play too. Current seams and deep water are still holding fish.

Might be done on the river this year after I broke my reverse gate off the jet pump at the landing. mad.gif

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Only you could do that Ed! So Ed, tell us how does one manage to break the reverse gate off when it is above the foot, and behind the nozzel? Skill?

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No, the boat slid off the trailer before it was in the water. The bunks were iced up and slippery from the last trip out.

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blush.gif Been there , done that the first year I had the RP. But I got lucky and it was right at the bottom of the ramp. Now the safety chain stays on no matter what time of the year it is till the back end is in water.
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Looks like I will cruising over saturday afternoon, is the Henderson launch pretty decent?? I have a 14' boat so it doesn't need to be that great. Thanks for all the info as well, let's see if I can put her to use 1 last time the year.

Mike

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Stopped by the ramp in St.Peter today and bumped into an old buddy. There were about half a dozen boats out with a few fish being caught. I got one decent sauger but over all pretty slow. Lots of boats working out of LeSueur too.

Looks like an agate kind of day tomorrow grin.gif

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Went fishing yesterday, didn't catch any walleyes but caught(snagged) 3 paddel fish from 17-25lbs, a ton of gar and buffalo carp. Them paddel fish put up a heck of a fight!

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Quote:

Went fishing yesterday, didn't catch any walleyes but caught(snagged) 3 paddel fish from 17-25lbs, a ton of gar and buffalo carp. Them paddel fish put up a heck of a fight!


No kidding Kyle?

That's awesome!

I would love to catch one of those. Did you get any pics?

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of course I got pics the only problem is that they are on a disposable camera and my phone! The digital went down on me 2 nights b4 the king of the cats gathering, in a down pour! You catch the rare fish without a digital with so i figure I might as well keep fishing and bring the disposable. I have some pictures of paddel fish from last year but I am not the one holding the fish so I will see if he cares to share the photos or not. They are a blast and really seem to be more abundant this year!

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