Patterns for opener on the Chain?

[JoeMX1825]

Finally a normal opener on the Chain? After years of late ice outs & crappy cold fronts, it looks like this weekend will finally be a normal condition opener. I'll be focusing on 8-12 fow and any clumps of weeds I can find, what say you? Anybody hook into some eyes while crappie fishing the past few days? I watched several scatter while putting the boats in at the launches...

[Rick G]

Shallow points or rocky shorlines should be holding plenty of fish. I would think that you will be finding most of the fish holding very shallow yet. If all else fails, hit the river sections. There are walleyes that hold in the river all summer.

[JoeMX1825]

Rick - How far up the river do you go? Past Highway 23 bridge? Past the next bridge yet?

We hit the river last opener when fishing was terrible, didn't get a bite...

[Rick G]

Yes I have gone up past 23. A few decent holes up that way.

But the river channel extends down toward the Cold Spring area as well. When I say River, I'm talking about anyplace that has current flow.

[JoeMX1825]

Walleyes seemed real picky with live bait presentations, but we managed several larger fish with jerk bait patterns...we also caught a 30" Musky on saturday, great fight! can't wait for those fish to start taking off size wise...they definitely have enough bait to eat judging by all the suckers/carp we saw on the camera...

[Rick G]

Thanks for the update Joe!  Heard quit a few reports from the Chain through out the weekend. Some folks really got into them, while others struggled.  Any tips for success? Depth, bait?

 

[JoeMX1825]

Rapala jerk baits in 8-12 fow, like the commercial says, "it's all about the pause"  Had some absolute monster eye's follow upto the boat and nip before bolting away...to me this meant I wasn't in the feeding period at the time... 

Lots of eyes would come upto live bait rigs and then bolt away when watching from the camera, so we switched to casting jerkbaits for most of Saturday....

Then the weather turned crappy and I called it a weekend...

[IceHawk]

Fished the chain Yesterday and today caught  a bunch of fish but a lot of shorts 10-13 inchers with a few 17-18 inchers mixed in. Water is really clean out there. Key depths were 2-8 feet pitching isolated windblown points and rocky shorelines. Key lures were small jig and minnows dragged back not hopped.

[noska]

Anyone willing to pm me some spots.  I only catch and release, going to take a foreign exchange student out tmrw for his first walleye ever.  I tried today with only little walleyes.  I would appreciate some spots that produced a couple nice ones.  Thanks in advance 

[JoeMX1825]

PM sent - remember catch & release

[Rick]

Don't forget, you can post good info in the FM "Members Only" Insider fishing Reports forum and limit it to those who share info here.

 

[noska]

Tried everything the last two days, jig and minnow, lindy rig with leech and minnow, stick baits, crankbaits...you name it we tried it...I saw tons of people out and never say a walleye caught above 16-18 inches almost all were 10-12" fish.  Maybe we were doing something wrong, but the current bite on the chain is not good.  Maybe the recent weather shifts have sent them into non bite mode, or maybe this years spring has them off their normal May spawn/feeding pattern

[JoeMX1825]

The early spring definitely has everything ahead of schedule, especially compared to the last few years...big female walleye's have left the spawning grounds weeks ago, just little males trolling the areas now...

[noska]

So if I head out tmrw should I go deep to catch some nice ones....or go current fishing with the higher water now? Thoughts?

[Rick G]

Would guess with the cold front that came through, things will be tough. If I had to fish tomorrow, and target walleyes, I would try the river first, the seem to be less effected by weather patterns vs. lake fish imo.  With the high water I would hit some of the current breaks that  the points and bends make. Throwing small jigs and minnows or curly tailed grubs would be the way to go I would bet. 

If the river fails to produce, find some nice structure on the windy side of one of the lakes to work over. I wouldn' t expect a ton of action right now, the weather has been a bit too crazy in the last 24hrs for even the fish

[Tom Sawyer]

So if I head out tmrw should I go deep to catch some nice ones....or go current fishing with the higher water now? Thoughts?

The front I'm sure has pushed fish deeper, (base of first break at least), I'd fish the holes in current areas. The walleyes won't be far from adjacent shallow gravel flats were the perch and shiners are hanging out though. So find holes in the river that have these areas near by.

 Keep things simple, plain hook, or a hook and bead lindy rig, or plain jig head and minnow. Up the jig weight so the fish can pin it down without any chase, swim or drag the jig slowwww.  Average size crappie minnows or small fatheads. Pink was the color that was working well out there last week, during the start of the monsoon rains. Good luck and let us know what you find noska.  

[noska]

Thanks for the advice fellas...spent the day searching I caught quite a few small ones, one 18".  The crappies are really biting, saw a couple guys limit out.  Caught most of the fish between 12-16ft.  Most on. A Lindy rig.  It's still a tough bite, hopefully it will heat up soon water temp 58. 

[Coleman]

Noska, have you been working mainly Horseshoe or the river? I think I'm going to try my luck this weekend. I figured I'd work the west banks of horseshoe and the south western bays a bit. 

[IceHawk]

Guys the eyes are relateing to the river channels yet out there. I know they should have moved out but these cold days have kept them in there.  Cover some water  and you will find some good ones. Once we get some warmer temps,  and hopefully the lakes get a little more stained things will take off hard on the main lakes. I will start my search  in some  of these lakes this weekend. I will start by looking for some  new emergent weed beds on some of the flats. Once I locate these  areas Ill likely use a presentation of a spinner and leech  to cover water looking for active fish. Hopefully I find some aggressive ones to narrow my search. If not  my eyes will be pinned on my electronics looking for bait or any activity. If all else fails a jig minnow combo or live bait setup will be the setup to try and trigger a few  bites.  Ill post a report in the fishing reports section at the end of the weekend with my results.

[trappingaddiction]

How are the water levels on the chain after the recent rains? Thinking of coming up tomorrow but I'm not sure if the Horseshoe access will be flooded as the Mississippi near me is flooded well into the backwater trees.

[IceHawk]

Not to bad hasn't came up that much.  Actually the rains will help by creating some current and that creates more defined seams and eddies etc.  And as a added bonus more stained water! I will tell you from experience after some good rains things usally really heat up on this system for eyes.

Edited May 21, 2015 by IceHawk

[trappingaddiction]

Just what I was looking for! Thanks for the info!

[noska]

Yeah I fished mainly the river sections with nearby deep water, I'm hoping they will pickup but this weekend is usually grand central station...I hate holiday weekends on the chain.  Haven't seen many people fishing horseshoe yet. 

[JoeMX1825]

I haven't touched Horseshoe yet this year, but will hit it Saturday for bass opener...

[Dante G]

The front I'm sure has pushed fish deeper, (base of first break at least), I'd fish the holes in current areas. The walleyes won't be far from adjacent shallow gravel flats were the perch and shiners are hanging out though. So find holes in the river that have these areas near by.

 Keep things simple, plain hook, or a hook and bead lindy rig, or plain jig head and minnow. Up the jig weight so the fish can pin it down without any chase, swim or drag the jig slowwww.  Average size crappie minnows or small fatheads. Pink was the color that was working well out there last week, during the start of the monsoon rains. Good luck and let us know what you find noska.  

​hey tom thanks for the tips! I used your advise to hit the chain with my son and we got into some fish! thanks again. your advise has been spot on>

[Tom Sawyer]

Glad I was able to help you have a successful outing Dante G.. 

[noska]

Now that it's warmed up a bit on the chain, what tactics would the vets on the board recommend? Switch to cranks or deep water Lindy rig/jig? Just curious what you would do now that we are almost into June...

[Rick G]

Trolling rigs or pulling cranks over the tops of vegitation will work well untill the weeds get too thick to work with.  

[Tom Sawyer]

Spinner rigs loaded with crawlers or leeches. Use bullet sinkers, to snake through the tops of any sub mergent vegetation you can find, cabbage and coontail being best. Swim jigs with paddle tails or curly tails, tipped with the same ammo through the area once you contact fish.

Edited May 28, 2015 by Tom Sawyer

[IceHawk]

Spinner rigs over the tops of weeds. And rattle traps !/4 oz  pitched along the edges and pockets. Time to move into the lakes things are starting to take off out there great weedlines starting. Wont be long and she will green up out there and looking shallow again in the lakes will be the ticket!