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so how was the fishing this weekend? Three of us went out on Friday and it was real slow from 7 to 12 then right before we had to leave at 3:30 it really started to pickup-----ending up taking home 8 fish. Had a blast hauling in a few paddlefish and sturgeon----one of the guys had something huge on for ten minutes that hauled the boat all over never coming off the bottom but the six pound test didn't hold up. It was a fun trip, hoping to do it again soon, but the weather doesn't seem like it is going to cooperate.

jeff

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Its those sturgeon and paddies that make for some interesting "what if's". There have got to be some awfully huge fish down there. I've seen guys with braid hanging on for dear life when the stuff won't break and they end up with broken poles and smoked reels. A guy once was into something gargantuan and when it ran it heated up his reel, seized the drag and snapped it off right at the seat....then broke the rod. I punched a 47 pound cat there one day years ago....enough for me.

How were the water conditions? Current?

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A friend of mine said stopped by on his way home from the river. He fished the "freeze your butt" tourney. Which him and his buddy won. First place was $350.00. But the bragging rights is what counts in this contest.

Most their fish came from way,way down river in 7-9 feet of water. Out of the five fish limit they could register, they had over 18 pounds.

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Very interesting Dan. Hitting the fish down river as they start making the way up river, what a plan. Probably was no one else around either. Thanks for the info.

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Yep! Everybody was stacked up from just upstream of Everts to the dam. My buddy and I included. We only managed a couple of dinky walleyes, a 15" sauger, and a 4 lb northern. We had talked about going down river..... Should have done it. frown.gif

mm

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Hey! I saw all those boats out there and wondered if there were any FMs there. I fished from shore both Saturday and Sunday. Fished from both the levee wall and baypoint... It turned out to be a lot of casting practice. smirk.gif (and bonding time with the boy) Of course, he got bored, so we decided to go find massive puddles that he could drive his car through to see how much splash he could make. That turned out to be pretty fun!

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I fished the tourney as well. Managed 1 keeper eye for my boat. Also got 1 nice smallie and pulled the ringworm away from a big northern. From what I hear most of the fish were caught below the Y. There were some nice limits brought in. 62 boats were in the tourney with a lot of really nice rigs.

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Fished Sunday from 6:30am to 1pm. What a beautiful day! 69 saugers/walleyes and 1 catfish for 3 guys. Mostly small saugers (6"-16"). Fished downstream (never saw the dam)vertical jigging plastics. Would love to know where the bigger walleyes are being found shallow. May have to do some exploring. Is it only a low light bite?

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All I can say is they could see the ice from where they were. I hope I don't get in too much trouble for giving away his hot spot, but he mentioned the walleyes were coming up from the lake. Also you have to cast jigs out away from the boat. When fishing that shallow what else can you do? He also said something about being not too far from Point-No-Point.

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I fished the river for the first time this year and got to Everts at 6:00am only to be 10th in line to launch. Didn't know there was a tourney until we got there. Started out up by the dam with few hits. Caught 16 inch sauger just below the Y near the bouy. Decided to try farther down river and picked up a 18 inch walleye (both fish on Lindy Munchies 4# ribbed grub -- glow yellow and pink) just south of Everts on Minnesota side of river near the Y in that area of the river in 12 feet of water. also missed two others in same spot.

It was great to be out on the water again.....looking forward to mid-late March and April for action to pick up.

Liphooked

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Hey Dan!

You have said plenty. Unfortunately I am in no position to act upon the info (as usual). We stayed away from the dam and the scour hole. I had no clue that we should have stayed way away from the dam. By the time I get back there again the places we fished saturday ought to be good.

mm

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It felt like we were fishing down in texas on sunday. Awesome day to be on the river. I fished the dam from about noon till 5pm and ended up with 30plus saugers and 2 eye and 2 sturgeon. I might have been the guy you seen gettin pulled around by something. I chased it around for about 10 minutes and it kept heading up in towards the dam. I olny can fit about 100 yds of line and it was getting slim. What a blast though olny wish I could have seen it tongue.gif but it wouldnt budge off the bottom.

All and all a great day besides getting a ticket from the dnr. And everyone else down there at the dam was very respectfull and polite. A guy cant ask for much more so Thanks to everyone down there that day smirk.gif

We were going to head down river also but I had a rookie on board and just wanted to get him on a few fish.

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Almost forgot we also caught a mudpuppy. Saved that one for the fry pan grin.gif.

Tom,

The water is still pretty clear yet(4-5 feet) and current was down. For the most part I was fishing with a 1/4 ounce jig and 3/8 in 50+ fow with no problem staying vertical.One note of caution! there were some pretty good sized chunks of ice coming down. Be carefull everyone some of these were 8-10 inches thick shocked.gif That could spill a beer blush.gif

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Way to go, 30+ saugers and 2 walleye out of 50+ feet, way to feed the eagles buddy! You rule!

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no doubt, there should be something posted at all the landings explaining the issues with bringing fish up from deep water. i'm sure some just don't care though.

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Blacksheep,

You may have a very good point about a posting at the accsess. I'm sure if anything it would bring attention to the fact about bringing fish up from deep water. I'm not sure everyone knows that released fish from the deep have a higher mortality rate. Some people have never even heard of scour holes. At least it would raise a level of concern.

Great idea Blacksheep!

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Good reply Dave. The last 2 weekends we have been below the Winona dam. Nothing but eyes. Have not been deeper than 12 ft. I've got pictures of the Eagles feeding on the fish from the scour holes. IF you are fishing over 25ft.keep them.Don't know how to post them but I've got got pics of three eyes over 23 inches from last Sun. Please stay out of the scour holes

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Thanks Dave,

You rule too grin.gif

It was my first trip down this year and to be honest the first time I have ever fished up that deep. I usually wait till high flow till we go down there. There were 60-70 boats from the dam to the Y and all but a few were fishing 20+fow and I never seen a floater while we were there. If there is damage being done... I agree put signs up and let the people know because the DNR sure didnt seem to care.

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I don't want to see this go anywhere ugly so I'll just add that at this time of year we ALL need to use some discretion as to where we fish. I have seen floater on many, many occasions that have croaked because they were suck out of that scour as well as the one below the Y. I'll also add that anyone who has fished down there has more than likely fished the deeper stuff too. I think we all are guilty of having done it at least once. The point is, why fish it if the quality fish are not being found in it? The downstrean exit of this scour and the peripheral water surrounding it are far better fish producers than the hole itself. Any one can catch these small fish. But my targets are a bit larger when looking for sauger/walleyes. On occasion I will motor into the hole simply to get enough line down to hit the lip downstream, but I am not putting out fifty feet, I'm putting out twenty five and when I tick bottom thats as deep as it gets. Anyone can fish any way they choose, but the serious fishermen on this site don't need to fish over the twentyfive foot mark and usually much less and do very well.

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I agree Tom. We fished just downriver from the main scour hole on the Minnesota side all day Sunday and did well. Never deeper than 27-28Ft. and mostly 22-25 ft. Plenty of fish (30 or so?)with about 40% walleyes. Size is definately bigger also as I don't think the bigger fish want to fight all that current. Being down river of the large group, I can attest to the fact that there were MANY small floaters being picked up by the eagles all day long. In fact my buddy and I even talked about it as it was our entertainment during the day as well.

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When we are short on flow, that scour doesn't have as much current as you think. That is why the smallest fish are in it. They are not having to fight current. The surface has a good plenty of pull to it but the bottom of the hole is quiet in comparison. If we get some water the problem corrects itself in two ways. First, the extra water will create too much push down in there to hold the small fish; and the surface flow will create too much movement to effectively anchor for all but those carrying a pile of bricks. And then they will have to fish with 3/4 and 1 ounce jigs to stay remotely vertical. Lots of exercise to be had there. lol

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Thanks Tom,

We usually dont start fishing till the 3rd weekend in march. By then the flow is on the way up and fishing deep isnt an option. Myself it was the 1st chance and may be the last I will have fishing that area. Either way I will stay out of there.

On a positive note the eyes we got took plastic just off the wingdams. I olny caught 3 fish off plastics but all were quality fish!! I was using ringies with no luck but switched to a 3 in firetiger grub and got hit right away.

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You know it!!! Its my 3rd year fishing plastics and I would never look back... A few more week and we should have some water moving grin.gif Cant wait

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I don't have any experience fishing water this deep as mentioned here but I have heard of people fishing deep water like this for eyes and from what I heard if you realize that you are fishing this deep you can bring the fish up slowly to help acclimate their bodies to shallower depths. Just like depressuring scuba divers. And this gives the fish a chance to recover and not die when you return them.

I heard and saw this in practice on one of the television fishing shows awhile back, I don't remember which show.

Is there any truth to this theory?

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Good answer about the scour holes Tom. I have fished them years ago before I found out about it so I'm not trying to knock anybody. I have been fishing plastics for more years than I like to admit and to me they are the only way to go.The plastics have improved so much in the last 20 years it is unbelievable. Good luck

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Generally speaking, I don't think gets much practice unless the fish is a hefty one and horsing isn't on the agenda. The current there moves you along pretty good, so you need to get the fish up or you'll be in thirty other lines in a blink.

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Tom, I don't know for sure how much current is down at the bottom of the hole, but even with the water at high level I've still caught plenty of peanuts in the deep water there. They just go deeper, say around 65-70 ft. All saugers and all small. Of course I haven't done that for quite some time, maybe ten years or so as I have been educated a little better since the days of old....Speaking of plastics. Another tip/trick.....when the water is high and muddy, try 6-8" power lizards in black/blue and hang on!

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Being a bass fisherman, I haven't fished the areas you guys are talking about. What exactly is a scour hole and how are they formed?

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Scour holes are created in many ways, but mostly by current finding a soft spot and eroding it out to form a hole much deeper than the surrounding bottom. The holes can be rich in food life that in turn attracts the game fish....generally smaller fish not yet able to cope with the strong current. The depth of these scours can be substantial and fish found in them are subject to air bladder blowouts when hooked and brought to the surface quickly. Actually it is the air bladder expanding inside the fish in such a radical way that it forces the stomach out the mouth. The stomach can be punctured and torn by those sharp teeth. The stomach can also hinder gill function. These fish are also subject to having their eyeballs bulge grossly too.

Whether these problems are or are not detrimental to the fish as far as mortality goes is arguable. Some say it has no ill effects on the released fish, while others, like myself, tend to think that this certainly cannot happen without causing some sort of harm.

Without absolutes, I think people should simply be kept out of those holes.

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