Thread: Getting ready now....

...for the fall walleye/sauger fishing on the Mississippi River. River temps are sitting at about 61 to 64 degrees, depending on where you are at and only another 10 degrees of drop will set those fish in action on plastics. The baits shown here are for walleye and sauger but smaller versions of the same molds make dandy crappie plastics for late open water too. The smaller ones will be coming along on the river trips. For the last three years we have seen some unreal crappie action along main channel cuts where wood collects and sinks. Drop these baits down amongst the branches and limbs and crappies won't leave them alone.

Last evening we found em in a barge channel on plastics. Between 5 and 6 we tried to find the carp and channel cats with no luck; so we moved a couple of hundred feet up the wall and put out the crappie plastics about 6 and stayed around there until about 8. Crappies (about a dozen), smallmouth (3), pike (1) walleyes (landed 4, but lost easily another 8 to 10 that came unbuttoned at the surface). Nothing big but a number of the crappies went 11-12". Barring one real dink the walleyes all went in the mid teens for length, fun to catch on the light stuff and big enough to be real good eaters. My partner had the hot hand and caught most of the fish. Best technique was a very slow jigging or dragging along the bottom tight against the wall. There was too much breeze to control casting the light jigs (1/32) on 4# test anyway, but tight against the wall is often the best in that spot anyway.

Water depth was about 8' with a good 10'-12' to the water line including a 5' railing to fish over right at the water's edge. Best tail pattern were white or pearl twister outshined by shad type tails, and color seemed to be important. Standard shad pattern took a few but chartreuse patterns were best at least later on as darkness fell. Other colors were mostly ignored. Jig head color was black, since that is all we have ever found a need for. This is a pocket along the river that has no current which is what allows us to fish so light.

We have found this pattern on again, off again most of the summer. Catfishermen also set up there so it is not always available, and 5' fence at the waters edge is inconvenient to fish over. Last evening the bite started out real slow and real soft. Hands on the rod fishing, producing mostly scattered stragglers at first that were mostly just there, but picked up in both numbers and intensity of take as darkness came on. The crappies and the walleyes seem to have been moving pods, exchanging places with quiet times between them; so this is not that fall bite pattern, but is still much like it.

Bottom line: crappies and walleyes are taking plastics now, although they will certainly be more aggressive about it in the very near future. Last night and for most of the summer that was also off clean bottom.