Le Sueur River Walleyes

[Jerry]

Anyone ever fish the Le Sueur for walleye? I have been thinking of trying either that or the Minnesota, but I really prefer smaller streams. I would be wading and/or shore fishing. The best access I know of is Wildwood Park off Hwy. 28 south of Eagle Lake. Are there are any good spots by there, and what are the best bait/lures to use? Thanks a lot.

Also, I searched and found an old thread on this from the spring, but most of it wasn't relevant.

[walleyejim]

I had the post about the river, and I did go to quite a few spots on the LeSueur River. I tried several spots between Waseca and Mankato. I began catching small walleyes about halfway between Waseca and St. Clair. The further west I went the larger the walleyes were. I caught several this summer between 14-16 inches. A friend of mine caught the big one of the summer which was only 17" but still a nice eater. So yes there are walleyes in the LeSueur. They don't bite like mad, just expect an eater or two per trip (plus a lot of little bullheads,carp, and a few cats). As far as spots, look for deep holes in the river. As for bait, I did the best with nightcrawlers. I never did try Wild River County Park, but it would definately be a good place to try. Good Luck!

[PDOGG]

There is a creek that runs into the river right in Wildwood park that has produced for me in the past. Crawlers behind a slip sinker on a phelps floater has been the best for me. There is also a nice access where the river goes under county road 8 south of Mankato if you start there and walk down stream youll find alot of decent places that should be holding walleyes.

[Jerry]

Thank you both for the good and fast responses. I will put your information to good use, probably tomorrow and/or Tuesday.

[walleyejim]

I also forgot to tell you that I had the best luck a couple of hours after dark for the walleyes. Let me know how you do. I would love to get out there this week but I'm so busy with college and work....

[Muddog]

Last year at this time to when the ice flow made it to hard to fish, the walleye bite was great on the LeSueur River. Look for resting spots near fast moving water. Inside bends ect.

[Jerry]

Alright, I put in several hours in the afternoon and evening (until dark) on Monday. I spent most of my time at the Wildwood Park and then fished for about an hour near the Hwy. 15 bridge east of St. Clair. I used crawlers, both on a hook with split shot and on 1/8 oz. jigs. I didn't get one bite from anything. Not even a chub or bullhead. The river is very low right now, so these probably weren't the best places to go. Also, I may have been imagining it since I didn't measure the water temp, but the river near Wildwood seemed especially cold. I knew that on Tuesday I would have to go farther downstream.

So today I fished from about 2 pm until a little after 8. Most of this time was spent near the Hwy. 8 access site south of Mankato, suggested by pdogg. This really is a nice section of the river, and less silted than the Wildwood section. I'm sure under the right circumstances it is great, as there are a lot of good holes, but for now it just wasn't producing. I didn't get anything there other than a small chub.

After a few hours I decided to switch to a different spot. First I considered the access site off Hwy. 16 slightly downstream of Hwy. 8. This area was wide but shallow and didn't look to promising, so I passed on it. Then I remembered that the Red Jacket Trail Park is on the Le Sueur and decided to try there. That is where I finally started catching fish (a little after 6:00). I got 1 walleye about 14" (first time I have tasted walleye in quite awhile), and a channel cat about 11" (my first, and I thought it might be a bullhead because of the size but it had a clearly forked tail).

The real puzzler was the 5 fish I caught that looked like white perch or possibly white bass. White perch are an invasive species, and I don't know if they're in the Le Sueur. So I would think they were white bass, but I didn't see any obvious horizontal stripes on any of them. 4 of them were 8-10" and the 5th was around 16". Any thoughts on what these were? Everything bit on crawlers.

I wish I would have wasted less time on the other spots and moved downstream earlier, as it seems like that was the key. Either that or there's something wrong with technique or approach, which is possible since this is not my usual kind of fishing. But everything turned out well in the end and I would like to make another trip back there when the weather is decent.

[Jerry]

Okay, looks like white perch are only in Lake Superior and the St. Louis River. Those fish may have been white bass then. OR they possibly could have been drum. Obviously I'm not too informed about all the types of fish in this area. I knew I should have taken a picture. Anyway, I give up for tonight.

[PDOGG]

I would have to bet the fish were drum (sheaphead) the river is full of them and I dont think I've ever caught a white bass on it but that doesn't mean there not there.

[Muddog]

Try a blue-yellow jig tiped with a fat head.

[therat]

A jighead with no color and a natural color plastic shad is the all around river killer.

[Muddog]

I was told today the bite is on!

[Jerry]

I was last there about a week ago with no luck, but maybe I'll give it another try.

[zappy]

Thanks for posting this information about the Le Sueur River. My daughter and I checked out some of the locations south of Mankato a few weeks ago and had a blast walking along the river. With the water so low we were able to walk along stretches of gravel. I noticed the water was very clear and shallow in most places. There were a few pools where it got three feet deep and maybe one pool where it reached five feet deep. Are these holes deep enough to hold fish or does a person need to wade quite aways from the access areas to find deeper water?

[walleyejim]

I usually have luck in the shallow water after dark. I caught a 9 lb channel cat and a 10 lb flathead in knee deep water this summer. I usually have better luck in the deeper water during the day. How deep? Deeper than you can wade. Look for the deepest holes you can find. The walleyes and cats move out of the deep water and into the shallow water after dark. I think I'm going to check out the bite on Albert Lea Lake tomorrow night, but Saturday I'll go and hit the Le Sueur and see what happens. Anybody else heading out this weekend?