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

[chessie man]

fished Monday as well but from 2:00pm - 6:00pm. Tried by Bay Point Park, nothing. went up river to probably the same creek opening montana49er went to and cuaght a gazillion small saugers (from 3 inches to 14 inches). went to the dam and nothing. went back to the creek and caught a few more sauger in 40 feet depths.

I took the water temp at 35* and fished with a bright orange jig and fathead. I assume it will be about two more week before we start catching them around 15 inches to 18 inches regularly..

[Gordie]

chessie what is the current like right now do you need the heavy jigs yet? or what can you get by with? I know that the riv will change after the storm thats coming thru and I should be there on sunday just wondering? thanks

[Cedarcreek]

3/16 jigs. Good boat control decides the weight for most people. Flow is still minimal. should see some change pretty soon with the rain and melt coming.

[chessie man]

I was using 3/8 jig bright orange and my buddy was using a bright green 3/8 jig, verticle jigging fairly fast, both colors did well. The current isn't fast like what it will be in a few weeks.

[threerivers]

montana49der and chessie man, the creek you were talking about is Hay Creek, if it was just up from Bay Point. If it was just down from the dam it is the Cannon River. The Vermillion and Cannon rivers come together about a mile up inside the Cannon River.

[Gordie]

thanks guys. well I just picked up a hundred jigs so I think I'm close to being ready

[flatheadhunter87]

Hey have any of guys that have been fishing down there frequently been catching any channel cats on accident. Thanks

[River Dan]

Saturday after the FYB my buddy got one around 8lb good fight on lite line!

[flatheadhunter87]

Thanks have you heard of anyone else catching them. Whereabouts on the river was he.

[Jakesbuds]

Was out on Sat from about 9 - 430. Boated only about 8 with 3 being walleyes biggest 19". Anywhere from 21-35 FOW. I seen a few people catching cats around the rollers, had our best luck on floating jigs, never tried plastics but seen many using them. Nice day for the most part, little ice flowing nothing major though.

[youngie22]

Had a pretty good weekend, we need a nice warm rain now to warm the water up. Pretty much 50/50 on the walleye&sauger, had a ton of species though, which made it even more fun... Walleye, sauger, catfish, carp, sheephead, mooneye, gar, river sturgeon, clam, not sure if we got any saugeye; none that we pointed out. Hopefully work/ weather/ and water temp will all come together nice for me soon!

[willyfahey]

Everyone is talking about fishing the Redwing area, but what about south of Lake Pepin?How are the accessess after this warm weather?Should I assume there's a heavier ice flow because of the lake, I am new to the area?

I'd like to thank everyone for the fishing reports and the tackle/techniques advice.It's greatly appreciated.

Willy

[MuskyBug85]

sunday was great for use, we got between 30 and 40 between the hours of 9 am to 7 pm, about 50/50 walleyes to saugers. seemed like the eyes came between 15 and 22 feet and the saugs were in the 22 to 34 foot range. Most came on hair jigs and minnows, trick was to keep them vertical, and a few on three ways. caught some saugs around 3lbs and some eyes in the 18 inch range but put them all back. we could find the "GIANTS" near dark, i know they are shallow near sand but i couldn't find them, any help beyond this would be great..... thanks Jonah

[youngie22]

made it out again from 4 - 7 lots of small sauger, a few walleye, 1 sturgeon. Temp went upi atleast a whole degree in 24hrs. Vertical, vertical, vertical. jig was not as productive as yesterday.

[SCONASOTAN]

muskybug, you helped me at the dock this past fall at baypoint. got to the bottom of my boat issues and plan on getting to red wing a few times in the next 4 weeks. I have mondays off, so I hope to get down there then to avoid some of the weekend traffic. when you heading down next? hoping to be there this SUn or MON.

[liphooked]

Was out on Monday (March 16th) at Red Wing. The walleyes don't appear to be up to the dam, at least not in any great numbers. we did manage to catch about 30-35 saugers over a 6 hour period. Mid morning a bright colored 3/8 ounce hair jig with minnow worked best in about 25-30 feet of water (drifting from dam down past the 3 wing dams). Noon till 3:00pm we used a bright colored 3/8 ounce jig with minnow (not a hair jig) vertical jigging (real slow rise and fall, nothing to fast as they seem to pick it up or bite lightly - some people were using stinger hooks and having slightly better luck. The fishing was on and off most of the day as you ran into schools moving up and down on depth. Would have loved to stay until the evening bite hit but one must work in order to enjoy the R&R time on the water!!

Would expect the bite to only get better the next few weeks if the warmer weather sticks around. Water temp was about 39 degree's when we started and it was 40.5 degrees when we left.....

best of luck

[Gordie]

was down at rd wing yesterday and it was a bit slow caught a few small saugers up by the lock then fish down stream and caught a 20 inch suager and two eye that were 16.5 and 17 inches chartuse twister tail was the only thing that we could get bites on. water temp was 41.7 at the warmest part of the day.

[wakeguy]

Fished yesterday as well and the bite was a little tougher but caught 18, 20 and 22" 'eyes and a 16" sauger. Also caught a couple of cats. All fish were caught on jig and minnow with a stinger. Caught most fish away from the crowds in 15-20 fow drifting with the current.

[youngie22]

This morning was cold and slow... we need some warm rain or something

[JesseParker1]

Jason,

you going out today? I am getting ready to head down to RW

[youngie22]

not today; hope your doing well, beautiful day for it. I wish I could have came to play bumber boats w/ all ya down there. Maybe Monday again

[skunked_again]

Fishing is pretty slow yet. Friday, 6 hours, 4 keepers, saw about 4 others caught. Fish don't seem to be there in great numbers yet. Let the water warm a little, last year it was hot at this time though.

[KTapper]

So then do you think by next weekend it should be picking up?

[Quetico]

I would avoid it next Saturday with the Full Throttle Tournament down there. It will busy no matter the weather.

[River Dan]

next weekend is the FM get together

[montana49er]

A slow day on Sat. Only 3 eyes and 4 saugar. the big fish are there if you can get them to bite. caught my new PBF just short of 10. good luck to all

[skeeterpro1]

Has anyone gotten good help from ike's?

[youngie22]

good bait/ open to letting you know what he has heard

[Stealthy]

Ten saugers and two nice walleyes that were brought home. Plus many more that did not make the 15" mark and a lot of little saugers too small to keep. Pool 4 3/21/09

[NAGORSKI]

Not assuming anything,but isn't the min on walleyes still 15"?