FISHING IS HEATING UP ON THE MISSISSIPPI
Big saugers like the one Mike Yurk is holding are too big to keep but they are fun to catch.
Mike Yurk
The fish slammed my bait. It hit hard enough I probably didn’t need to set the hook but I did anyway out of instinct. My spinning rod was doubled over as the fish took off.
“I’m going to need the net,” I yelled to my fishing buddy Dennis. I turned the fish and started getting it coming toward the boat. By this time Dennis had the net, extending it into the water. The fish made a couple of desperate short runs, pulling away from the net each time I tried to lead it into the net. Finally I was able to get the fish into the net and Dennis pulled up on it.
The fish was twisting and turning in the mesh as the net cleared the water. I reached in, grabbed the fish, and held it up. It was a fat, feisty sauger. I put it against the tape and it measured twenty inches. Sauger do not get much bigger then that. I twisted the hook out of the fish and Dennis took a quick photo before I slid it back into the water. Big sauger need to live on; they are breeding stock for the next generation.
Dennis Virden from Burnsville, Minnesota, and I were fishing the Mississippi River on a late October day. We were fishing Lock and Dam Number Four just north of Red Wing, Minnesota. It was a bright, sunny day which would have seemed warmer if it wasn’t for the wind. It was cool with the wind coming down the river. But it could be worse. Dennis and I have seen it snow this time of the year and we were pleasantly surprised to see it just cool for the day.
We launched from Everts Resort which sits on the Wisconsin side of the river halfway between the city of Red Wing and the dam. In addition to proving launching facilities, Evert’s Resort have both live and artificial baits for the river as well as all the advice and fishing reports you need to keep you updated on where the fish are and what they are hitting.
FINDING FISH
I had been fishing the river for the last week or so and found most of my fish in surprisingly shallow water. The rule of thumb when fishing the river is when water levels are normal or low fish deep and when they are high fish shallow. I normally consider the twenty foot mark the boarder line between deep and shallow. So far, this season, it seems the rule of thumb hasn’t been applicable. I guess no one explained it to the fish.
We pulled into about twenty feet of water but the current, which has been unusually strong for this time of year, pulled us downriver even with my twenty eight pound anchor. It took us a couple of times to anchor before it finally held and looking at the depth finder I saw we were in fifteen feet of water.
Within ten minutes we had our first fish, a keeper size sauger. On the Mississippi River you are allowed to keep six fish which can be a mixture of sauger and walleye. There is no size limit on sauger but a fifteen inch minimum size limit on walleye.
Mike's three way rig catches for two fish at the same time.
THE THREE WAY RIG
There are a number of baits which work well on the Mississippi River. My favorite is a three way rig. I use a three way swivel, attaching a jig on a foot long leader and then a plain hook with three chartreuse beads on a foot and a half long leader. The weight of the jig varies with the strength of the current but usually a three quarter ounce jig will get the bait to the bottom.As for the jig color there is only one color which consistently works on the river and that is chartreuse. Any jig either completely chartreuse or at least having some chartreuse will always work.
early afternoon I felt a subtle bump on my line. Setting the hook I could feel a fish pulling away. When I got the fish in I was pleasantly surprised to see a small sauger on one bait and a small white bass on the other hook from my three way rig.
OTHER BAITS
Two other baits which work well on the river are Northland Fireball jigs with stinger hooks is a favorite of many fishermen as are blade spoons such as the Heddon Sonar and others. Again chartreuse is always a good producer and if chartreuse isn’t working I go to gold. One of those two colors will usually catch fish. My fishing partner Dennis was using a firetiger three quarters ounce Fireball jig with a stinger hook
You might have to adjust the weight of the bait depending on the current. The key to catching walleyes and sauger in any water is getting the bait to the bottom and keeping it there.
Around mid afternoon Dennis yelled he needed the net. I looked over to see his spinning rod bent in half. I scrambled for the net as he got the fish closer to the boat. In a moment or two I saw the fish coming though the water and it had the golden brown color of a walleye.
I got the net under the fish, dragging it in the boat. The fish was a fat sixteen inch walleye. It went into the livewell. We were getting close to both of our families having a fish fry in the immediate future.
Five minutes later Dennis yelled for the net again. This time he had a sauger splashing next the boat. It too was a fat sixteen inch fish. Dennis’ two fish were the largest of our keeper fish. By the end of the afternoon as we turned the boat back downriver towards Everts Resort we had our combined limit of twelve fish in the livewell. All of the fish except Dennis’ walleye were saugers and most of the saugers were from thirteen to fourteen inches.
LOTS OF GOOD FISHING LEFT
There is still another month or more left of good fishing on the Mississippi River. I normally fish until about Thanksgiving or the first week in December depending on the weather. I usually decide it is time to call it a season when ice starts building up on the landings. There have been times by the end of November when I returned to the landing with ice from the spray coating the front of the boat and by the end it is not unusual to need to break ice out of the rod guides on spinning rods. I can’t tell you how many blizzards and ice storms I have fished through this time of year.
There are some fishermen who will fish the river throughout the winter and report catching big walleyes on some of those warmer winter days. Towards the end of November I start carrying some ice melt with me just in case the ice makes the landings slick.
By November there isn’t much open water fishing left. Ice is already skimming many of our lakes and there are years when people are ice fishing by Thanksgiving on northern county lakes. The Mississippi River has some of the best late season fishing for saugers and walleye to be found anywhere in the state.
Right now the colder weather is starting to settle in. This afternoon as I was writing this article I saw light snow flakes falling briefly. Winter is on its way but before winter really gets here there is still lots of hot fishing on the Mississippi River.
Dennis Virden shows off a keeper walleye and sauger taken on the Mississippi River.
Editors Note: Mike Yurk’s column is sponsored by Warner’s Dock in New Richmond, Wisconsin. Warner’s Dock is the premier marine dealer in northwestern Wisconsin. They have a complete supply of new and used boats, motors, and trailers as well as other marine supplies plus a complete maintenance staff for all your boating needs. They can be contacted through their website at www.warnersdock.com or by telephone at 1-888-222-3625.