The Immortal River runs by its own schedule. Most years bluegills & crappies are seriously spawning on Memorial Day weekend–which is next weekend. Moon phase and water temperature also factor into timing of the great pannie egg dump. Water temp is already perfect71-73 degrees in less than 4 fow in quiet dark-bottomed backwaters. The full moon is Thursday. My guess is it will be go-time within 48 hrs. Many panfish spawning areas–especially at the north end of River pools– have visibility of about 3′ right now. No need for electronics. A stealthy approach with the trolling motor and a qualit ..read more

Pool 9 is a couple of feet up into the ‘action’ stage right now, which means some of the upper pool access points on the west side require knee boots. High water crested about 2 pm. last Thursday. Level is stable now, with a slight fall beginning in about a week. To my mind, all habitat parameters–including level–are pretty much perfect. Water temp is 61-66. Clarity is excellent off of the main channel and good in the channel itself. Crappies & gills are shallow getting ready to spawn. A lot of perch are shallow, too. Bass are within one week of spawning. Walleyes & pike are i the midd ..read more

Pool 9 at Genoa is supposed to rise 3′ over the next week–a couple feet downstream at Lansing. Yesterday water temps on the River mainstem were in the mid to upper 50’s. Wind has been a perpetual factor. All things considered, conditions are pretty much status quo now after a roller coaster since open water became pretty much navigable in early February. With River level climbing well into the Action stage at Genoa fish in the River mainstem seek water with less color and turbulence–like the downstream end of islands where River rise results in bays & pockets loading from downstream. Once ..read more

main reason for this blog is to let you know the Blackhawk Bridge @ Lansing is now open! Just in time, cuz River is supposed to rise to ‘action stage’ in pool 9 by late afternoon tomorrow, 4/21. When the River comes up to action stage the road to the new Albin boat ramp closes, forcing west side access to the pool south of Lansing @ village Creek or limited access north of the Mn. state line @ Visigar’s and a mile north of Visager’s @ Millstone Landing. Either way, when River gets to action stage a pair of knee boots is part of the program. Re-Opening of the bridge also means access from the w ..read more

Jesse L’s quest to best his PB 26.5″ walleye was almost realized at the very last micro-structure we probed yesterday. The fat girl ate a #B-Fish-N Tackle purple/silver B-3 blade snap-jigged back to the boat from 8-16 fow, coming unbuttoned just out of net range with a couple violent head-shakes. This tanker came out to dance at about the 12th spot we probed. Trophy walleye spawning micro-structures aren’t much bigger than a bathtub or maybe a boat. River level and flow add to the matrix of these magical locations. Water temp, timing of the spawn and several other variables plug into the quest ..read more

Water temp has dropped again, down to 38 on River mainstem. Also on a slow rise–which is good. a little dirty but still fishable. what concerns me most is ‘pond scum’ …that slimy green stuff found on quiet water mostly in the summertime. it was an issue today pulling dubuque rigs just beyond the the channel in a moderate current–pretty much the only way to get down to the ‘eyes today with whitecaps on a north wind. Shortest blog ever. I’m pondering. Pondering is for ponds, NOT the River! On a solid note: fishin’ the river is like a pendulum. today it was awful. but there is only so much awful ..read more

The River is rising slowly but steadily with USACE predictions calling for a crest just below action stage over the next 10 days. Water temp yesterday warmed to 40 degrees. There is some dunnage–mostly grassy stalks–coming down the River but the nuisance isn’t even close to the weeds of September. Water also just a little dirtier than the previous day. Tried the usual pre-spawn places for given conditions and found exciting numbers of male fish cruising the 24′ contour. Caught a couple on the b-3 blade, a couple eaters & a 16″ smallmouth on a Northland buckaroo bucktail w/liquid willowcat ..read more

Walleyes were just getting started spawning when the first whisper of a major cold front blew in on March 13. It looked like we were heading for a major spawn going on this weekend. BUT water temp dropped to 39 and ma nature did a big re-boot. USACE predicts the River on Pool 9 will be at ‘action stage’ by Easter from all the snow to the North. Fantastic! Look for the marble eyes to drop their eggs around April 12–pretty much right on schedule for 4 out of the last five years. If the meaty-urologists are even close with the 10 day forecast the bite should be back on BIG TIME by April 3 or 4, w ..read more

Being on the water almost every day and writing outdoors stuff for over 50 years you sometimes get it right. A month ago my column ” Will we see march weather in April” ran in the Driftless Journal newspaper. Temps soared into the low 70s when the story published. Water temp soared. The bite was HOT. This happy times pattern continued through March 11 far as walleyes are concerned. client that day caught an egg wagon weighing over 11 lbs. Since then no quality ‘eyes have come into my boat. Plenty of shorts & a few eaters, but no fat girls. Bass and pike swam forward in good numbers to fill ..read more

yesterday client Mark put his PB walleye in my boat. 29.25″ very FAT. Fish hid a glow B-3 blade bait in 21 fow. Her belly was firm. Water temp 42.2 degrees. She was the 6th walleye over 24″ on consecutive trips over the past 9 days. Three of these fish were “keepers’–over 27”. All were released. Allcame from 29-21 fow, successively shallower in this time frame. Primary target on yesterday’s trip was pike. Clients hooked 5 in just over an hour after first going after walleyes. Fish hit a Northland Tackle magnum spinnerbait, A Z-man chatterbait w/6″ SwimmerZ paddle tail and an RT97 magnum Rat-L ..read more