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

[live-2-fish]

Use as light a jig as you can. In the spring when the water is up and moving I use 3/8 to 1/2 oz.

[JRS1022]

Thanks live2fish, appreciate the feedback!

[mnvikes32]

No need to go 1/2 ounce at all. The water is starting to get dirty up by the dam and we never ran into any debis.. We tried every plastic in the tackle box along with live bait and no such luck. I wish I was going out today because the bite will be much better.

[eyes54]

I was also down on the river yesterday and it is dead. Fished from 8-1 and not one bite. Talked too about 20 other boats and not one fish. I tried vertical, plastics, and three-way rigs. The water is very dirty and the flow is picking up but still manageable. The water temp was up to 38.5 when I left. Beautiful day and it was good too get the boat out for the first time this year. I'm sure once the water cleans up a little the bite will pick up again. I got a lot of should of been here last week. Oh Well.

[Mr Special]

yrs ago when i 1st starting fishing the river an old river rat told me that if ur having trouble feelin bottom w/ an 3/8oz jig then ur probably fishing current to swift try n fish an area with less current

instead of changing to a heavier jig i'd probably recommend tryin to find current breaks or seams that will allow you to fish a 3/8oz jig or lighter

1/4oz are probably my most used size

[DENVER06]

Yesterday was a little tough at times but the walleyes are there you just need to adjust to the rising water levels and flow . Yes the water is dirty but the walleyes still do eat. The temperature cooled off with the melt off so you have to adjust to this change also. The more experience you have on the river the faster you learn what adjustment to make. Don't get set on one color of plastics have everyone in the boat trying something out till you find what they want. We fished in water depths from 8 to 16 foot today. Officer Ron, Don and Jerry were a blast to have in the boat today. Good luck next week gentlemen..

[gloomiseye]

Some good advice there! Everyday can be different on the river, it's those who can make adjustments that consistently catch fish.

[FlyRodAddiction]

Yesterday was brutal, not including blowing a fuse on my brand new motor and spending an hour on the phone with the shop while drifting downstream. I had only one bite, with one other bite in my boat of four fishermen. We did not see a single fish netted all day nor did we see any other boats hooking up. Fished three spots with no luck. Hopefully somebody out there caught some! Threw everything in the box at them. Both bites came on ringworms. If you're heading out, I would suggest finding cleaner slower moving water.

[Old Dewjabber]

We brought home 4. Boated 8. Nothing at all like last week. We had to work for fish, but we did catch some!

[grizrunner]

Pretty slow for me. Got a handful of 10-12" type sauger and only one 17" eye. Fished 8am-12.

Seen a guy haul in probly a 30-40 lb spoonbill.

[Riverratpete]

Tough day yesterday, lost a big girl at the side of the boat, that was it other then a couple bites, waters dirty and cold. 44.5 degrees the best I could find and that was up by the lock where there were a ton of sheepshead. Lots of boats and not much catching except for the guy I watched haul in about a 30lb flathead. Fished from High Bridge up to the dam.

[gloomiseye]

Friday was the worst day I ever had on the river. One dink caught between 3 boats. We tried everything too. We went to an Iowa pool Saturday and had a little more luck, but nothing special.

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

Saturday was aweful for us as well. 6 fish between two of us, all 14" and smaller- ZERO for me. First time ever being skunked on pool four. Missed about ten bites though so i had my chances... VERY light bite. Not biting above the hook.

I believe Lake Pepin is still iced over, is it not????? Once that ice goes it should start to heat up...

[Mr Special]

made the maiden voyage yesterday.

it started off pretty slow and wasnt able to boat a fish til after a couple hrs. the action was not hot n heavy but after tweaking a few things with our presentation, we managed a decent outing and brought home 10 eaters between the 2 of us. quite a few dinks, a few short wallys and sheepies in the mix

seemed as tho they preferred 17-22fow and minnows with a slow presentation but moving at the same time. orange out fished other colors and we didnt manage a single fish on plastics. the bites were veyr light for us as well

however, i did lose a very heavy fish on a Pulse R but who knows it probably was a carp.

there still sum fish to be had, just gotta find out what theyre interested in

all in all not a bad way to start the season

good luck and have fun

[SCONASOTAN]

DENVER we fished in the same area as you monday morning and chatted with you a few times on the water. i was in the blue lund explorer with 2 other guys. Sunday was very slow but monday was an entirely different day. we picked some fish in the morning dubuque rigging but then switched to pitching blades and did very well. hit a couple spots, filled a 3 man limit with reall nice 17-19" walleyes (and a couple sub 15" saugers) and threw back at least another dozen prespawn 20-25" walleyes. Got 10 more tues morning before throwing in the towel after 3 hours due to cold and wet. it is real fun when you figure things out and there is very few boats around. Tuesday morning was a first for me as well, 11am, april 9th, on pool 4, dam side, and we were the only boat!! If you were fishing a jig and a minnow you were not doing very well.

[rosspj59]

Good to read you had good luck monday and tuesday Sconasotan. I would think the lack of boats would definitely help the bite. I agree it is nice to figure out a bite with no one esle around. Was there still a few degrees difference in the water temp between shorelines on near the dam? Sunday there was a 2-3 degree difference between the wing dam side and wisconsin shore.

[SCONASOTAN]

yep, wingdam side we saw 40 and WI side was 38 (highest reading for both we saw). Fish are there, if the water could just warm up a little bit and water could clean up a little more I think the bite would be real good.

[DENVER06]

Had a pretty descent bite last week for some larger walleyes. On average size in the boat over the week it was in the 20 to 22 inch range. Mainly fished in water depth around sixteen feet. The water temp is still steady at 39 so the walleyes are still being a little lethargic. Slow presentation is a must to place walleyes in the boat. I would like to congratulate Pete and his son Alex on their Full throttle win this weekend. Alex caught 2 9 plus pound walleyes something he will remember and his father for life. Here is a picture of there winning walleyes..

[big gills]

Are the fish in these tournaments released or kept. Just curious. Those are some nice eyes Where are the bigger sauger. Haven't seen anything caught bigger than 15 - 17 in.

[John Mickish]

The fish are released if the person who caught them does not want them.

[gloomiseye]

Wow great fish.

[Peter]

Fish in picture are back in the river! Good luck!

[Mr Special]

its was a balmy 32degrees when i launched yesterday morning lol

it was a pretty slow day overall but as expected cz i was after bigfish not numbers.

was also the 1st time i tried pitching blade baits and they wrkd out pretty well.

took me a lil bit to get used to them and dial it in but persistence does pay off.

ended the day with only 8 fish but 3 were over 23" and a few carps to keep it fun. had a beautiful mirror carp about 15lbs get off boatside. really wanted a pix of her cz i think theyre cool lookin

1st fish of the morning

23'

26"

and a fatty 24.5" to end the trip

sorry for the bad pix, didnt realize the camera lens was dirty til after i released her D'oh!!!

fished mainly 15-16fow, most fish were caught in less then 10fow. chartreuse 1/4 worked best

all in all not a bad outing,

accept for the weather forecast was totally wrong 5-8mph winds more like 10-15mph

[rosspj59]

Nice walleyes Mr Special! Any time of day more productive? Early or late? Trying to decide if I want head down early before the tourney starts this weekend or stay late after they quit.

[Mr Special]

may sound cliche but yesterday seemed as tho dawn n dusk were the best. we had a tough time during the day only a few bites here n there. all of our fish were caught the first couple hrs in the morning and the last couple in the evening

[Bassin Assassin]

nice fish! where abouts on the river did you get them? Last saturday I fished to the left side (facing north) where most boats were piled up; just to get out of the current. and were they close to shore at all?

[DENVER06]

Nice walleyes mr special. There are lots of walleyes that size in the system right now glad to hear you stuck with the blades they can be very productive. Those are the best spawning size fish on the river.

Good luck out the guys and gals !!!!!!!

[Mr Special]

nice fish! where abouts on the river did you get them? Last saturday I fished to the left side (facing north) where most boats were piled up; just to get out of the current. and were they close to shore at all?

Please dont be offended but w/o giving out exact spots, plus i fished 9 different spots from near the dam to south of the bridge in town

i focus on current seam w/ soft bottom areas or transition to soft bottom area. i was pitching blade baits and in rocky areas i would loose to many. lol

most of my fish came from less then 10fow, some as shallow as 4-5fow

kind of rule of thumb for me is if ur having trouble feeling bottom w 1/4-3/8 lures then the current is to swift or ur fishng to deep.

i also try to stay away from crowds as i like a slow controlled drift "slightly slower then the current" and cover a lot of water when pitching

but there are times i find myself within the crowds depending on my presentation

water temp plays a big part, when the temps are less then 42i like very slow subtle presentation

hope this helps and have fun my $0.02

[rosspj59]

Thanks for the reply Mr Special. Probably get up before the sun shines then.

[gloomiseye]

Nice fish!