After the recent snow and the 17 degree temp when we hit the river this morning, I knew it was going to be a tough bite and it was. As those of you who fish walleyes on the rivers in the northern states this time of year know, it can be a feast or famine affair. As expected, today was one of those days where a guy had to work hard to even get a dink ( sub legal walleye) to bite. For those out there who are not familiar with river walleye fishing, when all else fails you can always find a spot or two or more where you can hammer dinks all day long if you want = they always bite. Those spots are easy to find. Just find a big group of boats, in a small area, all doing the same thing for hours on end.
Anyhow,after 8+ hours on the river and ten or so dink walleyes and saugers and of course, the mandatory Sheephead we called it a day. All of the fish were caught on stuff ( jigs and plastic baits ) that I made which is cool.
After a grueling 2 maybe 3 second battle, I was able to slay the behemoth below unassisted. Heck, I didn't even need the net. The beast fell for a 3" MO Magic on a 1/4oz Worm Nose jig. The rest of the fish all came on a Super Frys.
Though the size of the fish we caught was lacking today, it was still a great day to get out on the river. Todays bonus was that I saw a pile of different ducks that you don't see around here until spring or fall as they migrate through. I saw a few Eagles, Ospreys, Pelicans and what not too. And everyone was pretty considerate of others = no combat fishing. Too bad that won't last = the calm before the storm once the weather gets warmer and Yahoo season starts.
So back to the lab for me to brew up some more baits for the next river mission. Bigger fish ahead for sure.
