First eyes of the fall

[Dennis Steele]

Yesterday was the first day I had the opportunity to get out and chase some walleye after a long busy summer traveling and catfishing.It turned out to be a good day.
Rick and Paul Waldowski joined me and it was great having them along in the boat.
The day started out pretty slow as we searched some of my favorite spots for some fish.With the water levels up from average at this time of year some of these spots did not have the shallow water current breaks that hold minnows.Thus there were no fish in these areas.We just kept moving and "testing" the waters.I figured that the fish were going to be shallow and we would not locate them easily with a sonar so it was make a few casts and see if you get bit.
Our determined search took us through an area where we had to "hop" over a log jam with the my River Pro.There were several large trees floating on the surface with plenty of mess around them.One that was sitting far out of the water we tied a rope to and pulled it from the tangle.The rest,I just nudged the bow up to the trees and punched the gas as the boat slid over the mess.When we came to anothe set we hopped again.Unfortunately our destination did not produce any fish.
We finnaly started getting into the white bass at a creek mouth.They were holding in the shallow water on the upstream point of the mouth on a sand bar.Most of these fish were small so we played with them for awhile and then kept moving down stream where there was a rock shelf and started getting larger ones that went about from a 1 to 2 lbs.It was a lot of fun but still not walleye.
We kept moving and at our last stop we finnaly found what we were looking for.
We took a little over a dozen nice sized walleye on the upstream side of a current break in the fast water just before the stream entered the river.We also got a few on the downtream side of the break also.The fish were hitting JR's rattle jigs and Scenic Tackle Pro Series jigs with chartrues ringworms.The jigs were pitched into the fast current with a slow lift and drop to suspend the jig slightly as the current washed it downstream a foot or two before lifting your rod tip and repeating the process.The fish would hit as it was being "drifted" in the faster water.
Here is a pic of a few of the walleye we caught.

[This message has been edited by Dennis Steele (edited 10-15-2004).]

[tom loranger]

nice fish and tree jumping sounds like fun to me

[DTro]

closed circuit to papagrump.....

looks like I better go out with these guys next time .

[Mr Special]

You should have video of this Log jumping. Now that would be one heck of a selling point.

Good luck

[DARK30]

Looks like the guys from corporate did OK! I'm gonna give it a shot here pretty soon...no skipping over trees though...I usually just trip over them. My favorite bartender is twisting my arm to take a trip out to the MO near Chamberlain, SD. the end of the month....might have to do that one.

WET NETS!

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cast,cast,cast,cast......

[Paul Waldowski]

No video, but we do have more pictures:

Dennis, Thanks again for the great day on the water.

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Paul
ProStaff Director
FishingMinnesota
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[email protected]

[eyeballs]

That's on heck of a mooneye there Rick! I've never seen one that big. Congrats on the success
guys!

[FishinLogician]

These are just about as good as a video! Great pics.

[Rick]

All I have to say is

THANKS DENNIS!!

You are a Minnesota River Fishing god.

also..
THANKS PAUL!!
You really know how to make a fishing outing fun.

[river rat316]

I really, really need a Riverpro!!! I dont even no if I would get any fishing in the rig looks way to fun to run around the river on!! congrats on the nice fish

[CANOPY SAM]

Those are beautiful eyes boys! Looks like you were probably pulling some junk out of the intake again too, eh Dennis?

You fellas are some pretty tough customers. I was considering putting the boat in, but the bitter cold wind got the best of me and I opted for a plate of chicken wings and a few cold ones instead!

[Dennis Steele]

Wow!
Didn't think we got all those pics.Thanks Paul and Rick.
Rick went up on shore to try and pull some of the smaller stuff out of our way to let the mass amount of leaves drift downstream.I knew he took a pic but didnt' know he took all those.Cool pics!
I did get a few leaves caught up in the intake but not as badly as it might look.I punched the gas just enough to hop over the trees,then shut the motor down as we went through the worst of the floating leaves and debris to prevent the jet from sucking up all the junk.I didn't have to get wet!!
A clog would have had us walking back as the creek we were up has a lot of water that the boat would not float through. We had to have here on plane and full power to manuever as she steers with thrust not a rudder.

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

By the way, they are still biting.I walked dwon and fished a favorite shore spot earlier this afternoon and picked up three in an hours time.I might have done better but couldn't get my jig to drift in the current seam quite right from where I was casting from shore.

[wastewaterguru]

It was a tad chilly today in the River Pro. Thanks for having me along Dennis. Nothing like them eyes still kicking in the sink one minute and battered on the plate the next.....Yummmy.

Caught enough white bass today to keep the chill off....and the few eyes thrown in sure didn't hurt.

The eyes seem to be starting to move a little deeper with the water temps in the upper 40's and dropping.

It was nice to get out with Dennis so I could scout the river a little. Water levels are up still so I might be able to get my boat to most of the places we fished today...that's always good news.

[Dennis Steele]

Good fishin with ya WWG.

Yup the water temps dropped from the mid to upper 50's last thrusday and are now just about 47.

We were finding the eyes from 5 to 10 feet today.

WWG was pitching a 6" Kalins Mogombo grub and even little white bass and a 13" sauger were hammering it.Just goes to show you your bait can't be too big in the fall!

I like your avatar.Is that a "john"?

[MJCatfish]

Boy is that ever a great commercial for the RP and some super pictures of the beautiful MN River. I've never fished it in the fall, but have heard that the 'eyes cooperate from time to time. Looks like a blast. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

MJ

[Rainman]

Nice fish man! I haven't been on the river in quite a while, to much hunting going on! Maybe in a week or so I can put down the gun for a day or two!

[wastewaterguru]

Yep that's a Jon......Still looking for a quality avatar, but that will do for now.

[Dave B]

STATE RECORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We caught a mooneye that big on the Miss this year. I later see that the state record was only 1lb15oz. Looks like you let a state record go too!

[Papa Grump]

Myself and Ozzy got out yesterday and managed 6 keepers,along with my personal best 26.5",8.5 lbs pig.Good day to be on the water.

[Dennis Steele]

I fished from shore in Chaska last night for about a half hour and popped two more.Its a good time for shore anglers to get a few eyes.They are still up shallow.Just pitch a jig into the current edges right along the bank.If you see a few minnows jump when your jig hits the water spend a little more time there,other wise just keep working you way along the bank.

Nice fish Brian!

I haven't had the luck to get into a big mamma yet this year.I did hear of a 12lber caught in the last couple days.They are out there and from my experiance the early fall bite is when the big one are usually caught.

If Ricks mooneye is a state record then I have set several free.I have popped a couple that went 19" or better.

[DTro]

Brian, you need to stay away from work more often!

Nice fish. Where was that when we were out?

Now ya gotta go shoot that el' plumpo.

[Sheephead Slayer]

Awesome pics guys, looks like a blast!

[Rick]

Hey eyeballs,

that weren't no mooneye, it was a goldeye - honest!

Guess what Dennis wanted to do with it?

[wastewaterguru]

MAybe some frozen cutbait for the Horseshoe.....

Just a guess.

Dennis...I picked up 4 eyes this afternoon on shore and a few small white bass as well. Lost a few jigs but it was worth the stop in the rain. There were 4 or 5 others fishing the shoreline and several had fish on their stringers. Left you a message. Have fun this weekend and I'll let you know how we did.

I'll be in my boat tomorrow in that area somewhere. The Chaska ramp is mudded up pretty good right now and I may have to launch at Shakopee.

[Dennis Steele]

Guess what Dennis did with it?

[Sheephead Slayer]

Hey Dennis, how big is that Sauger your holding with the jig in his mouth? Looks like a pretty big one.

The record is only like 23 inches, maybe It's the picture but it looks just shy of that.

Kevin

[wastewaterguru]

Caught 6 keepers on Saturday and enough white bass to keep us entertained most of the day. We brought a bunch of shiners and small suckers with us and were hammering the white bass under a bobber withg the live bait.

Got all the way to Sand Creek with my boat, but the rain clouded up the creek real bad. Only picked up one eye up there.

Caught two on the current edge formed by the concrete at the Shakopee ramp as we were getting ready to leave. Had a pretty fun day.

[waterwolff]

What better way to spend a beautiful day than a little river fishing. Headed upstream from Shako and managed to pull a few eye's at some of the current breaks and one small kitty all on plastics and all in shallow water right up close to the bank

[Pete Riola]

Hey Dennis no hoarding that catfish bait. Those shoe cats will be in big trouble this winter. Nice fish by the way.

[tj417]

Hey boys -

I live in Shakopee and I would like to try river fishing this time of year - I assume you guys fish jig and minnow - Am I wrong?

If I put my boat in at Shakopee, where do I fish? Towards Chaska I assume, but what spots? Do you eat those walleyes and do they taste ok? I always like to keep a couple.

Any input would be appreciated!!!

TJ