Mississippi River Pool 9 - Genoa (all postings)

Can some one tell me if the New Albin launch is open thanks

Sunday was even better than Saturday...you could catch anything, with anything. Throw something in and you caught a fish. Sturgeon still around. They love high water and several more limits went home to the smoker. Nice to see so many fish around and some big walleye today. A lot of walleye in the 17 to 22 inch range! Hair jigs, minnows and floating jigs with hair. Purple/chartreuse was the hot color again...

Just wondering what the river evel is doing over there? We are flooding here on the Cedar in Charles City.

Well, decided to jump on the band wagon and fish for a normally non-targeted species of mine.. "Northern".. First, we were out drillin the heck out of the Bluegill, then, while bringing a fatty out of the water...SMACK.. A Monster hit my line and without even pulling my line tight..she snapped me off...With the ideas rolling through my head, I decided to put a leader on my 6 lb. test and had some fun.. We boated 13 Northern with the biggest only 36" but it was fat...!!! All in all, we caught 4 Sheephead, 17 Blue-Gill, 13 Northern...2 Walleye (small) and 1 Sauger.. OOps...forgot 3 Bass (Largemouth).. Didn't spent that much time on the water, but we had some fun.. Can't wait for the water to drop another ft. then, back to Wally fishing...for those who know me,hit my inbox or call me,and we'll go from there.. Best of luck fellas. Jim P. a.k.a. "NeverSkunked" a.k.a. "Big River Dude"

Fishing was pretty good today with a mixed bag coming in...hey, its May. What I like about this month. We had white bass, bluegills, rock bass (have you ever seen so many rock bass before?), perch, northern pike, some walleye, more and more sauger and the sturgeon were hitting like mad today. Not sure how long the sturgeon will stay around but I never saw so many big sturgeon like today. It was a fun catching day for many. There were a few who didn't do as well, but it was certainly busy. We sure needed that with this spring being our worst since we moved back 15 years ago! Its been nice to see some decent weather, falling river and lots of fish...makes for a nice day.

Fished with Mark today who wanted to learn high water spots/techniques. mixed bag of LMB,SMB, pike, sauger and a sheep with attitude. No big fish today.Spent most of the time pitching spinnerbaits/jigs. Pulled cranks the last half hour and boated a couple sauger. River is dropping and warming quickly.Water which was 63 degrees yesterday is now 71. Access is improving at most boat launches. New Albin still under water. Genoa marginal. DeSoto too, but improving. Victory is "managable". Village Creek launch is okay. blackhawk has current, also okay. Bite was a little tougher today than yesterday. Will blame quickly falling river levels, rapidly rising water temps--and of course, Bush. Overall, fishing is pretty good. should be super in about 5 more days.

Second half of split trip with Bill & Kyle, targeting pike. Set the hook on a good one and handed Kyle the rod. Fish fought hard and dove into some brush. got off. At least 38". Guys caught about 15 more from hammer handle to maybe 30 inches, and a pile of bass. Bill was throwing a red/white SPINNERBAIT and had a 19" walleye smack it at boatside when he was lifting it out of the water. that's weird. Fish was in less than 4 fow in weeds and wood.Guess that says much about how hungry the fish are now!

first half of a split trip this afternoon with Bill and son Kyle. They wanted to chase bass and pike. Water has warmed substantially today. Found one spot where it was 71 degrees! Caught a nice mess of SMB and LMB on chatterbaits and spinnerbaits. Picked up several SMB and a nice 20" eye in a short time trolling cranks. No decent pike, just 20-24" hammer handles. Getting too darn old to run double trips BUT when the fish are biting like this the ONLY place to be is out on the water!!

Out today just froggin around checking high water spots. Checked a spot first where I pounded some nice eyes a year ago in high water. First cast I hooked up on a big fish! Turns out my "secret walleye spot" has been invaded by some huge sheephead. Had one sheep that was pushing the 20# mark. Off to another spot that produces bass, pike, and an occasional big walleye. No eyes today but some big largemouths and a couple decent pike. moved on upriver and found one spot that held a couple eyes, just keeper size. Found another spot that usually holds some nice walleyes, no eyes but some really nice sauger in there. The eyes and sauger will INHALE a black/brown bucktail jig right now

Blackhawk store is open for business, and would love to have you stop in, been a tough spring on the river!!

See Ya on the river

Capt.Ted or one of the locals, is BlackHawk General Store open?

2nd half of split trip with robin & kent. Put the first 20" smallie of the year in the boat today. SPAWNED OUT FEMALE. caught her on a black chatterbait. Caught a mixed bag of SMB, LMB and pike, then pulled cranks for sauger until they caught enough. Only one decent one--15". the rest were cigars. Fished one backwater with >5' visibility. Warmed from 59 this morning to 65 this afternoon. Fish all over the place. They could see us, too, so had to make long casts. some perspective; by this time last year 13 SMB >20". Good news: fishing will REALLY pick up over the next week!!

Finally, the gates went back in today and right after they went in, we started slamming walleye and sauger! What a difference it can make with a little less current...Rick got some 20 inch walleye fishing with some willowcats and the rest were getting them on some purple/chartreuse killer jigs. I got some sauger to bite on a floating jigs with hair. Only one keeper, the rest were all around the 12 inch range, still it was lots of fun. Bluegills, rock bass, perch and a couple crappie thrown in for good measure. Some very large bluegills coming in, wow, couldn't believe how consistent the size was today. Yes, its great to have the gates back in the river again.

first half of a split trip today with Robin & Kent, targeting primarily SMB. Biggest fish 19" on plastic. Caught quite a few 12-15" SMB, a pile of similar LMB and pike. No big ones today. Spent the last half hour chasing eyes. Caught one legal, one short and 7-8 sauger trolling. Access is still tough, but fish are more than willing!

Half day walleye trip this morning with Dan & Clarence. Started casting bucktail jigs, caught a couple quality eyes, a couple smallies, and of course some "really nice" sheepies. Clarence set the hook into a big smallmouth and was enjoying the fight when, with the rod fully loaded up, that smallie came out of the water about 2' and spit the jig, that jig came back at the boat like it was shot from a 9mm, luckily nobody was hit with it. Switched presentations and went trolling to finish up the morning. No walleyes, but lots of saugers, a few decent ones for the pan, and lots of short ones. The fishing is getting better every day. With the falling river and warming water the next couple weeks should be great fishing

See Ya on the river

Fished today with "Glen" who had a severe vision problem--he just couldn't see going to work today! Glen wanted to target pike and smallies. had a pretty good day on both--several pike 32+" and some nice smallies, 15-17". Key for pike was >57 degree water with >3' visibility. Smallies were holding in colder water near trib ambush points. Last hour of the trip we pulled cranks for saugers, sending him home with a limit of 12" fish for the pan. Worst part for "Glen"--a serious Lake-linker--was that he couldn't pose with his fish. didn't think the boss would approve of his sudden "vision problem". Fishing wasn't super today, but was steady; SMB, LMB, pike, walleyes, white bass. Nothing real big, but quality fish. Saw just ONE other boat on the river all day. Found some 60 degree water today. By next weekend fishing should be outstanding--right now it's just "good"...if you know where and what to look for.