River Time.

[Fever]

Time to hit the river before the Walleye season closes... I spent this past weekend fishing Mn River and had some success. I brought home 5 fish and let this one go. It measured 27 7/8ths. Nice and fat too. In the current she put up a nice fight with drag runs and big head shakes. It was a bit of a chore to get her head turned up as she kept flaring gills just under the ice. Finally after a (LONG) minute or so she was in. The other fish I caught that day were 22, 19, a 17 inch sauger, a 17 eye, and then a 15 incher. Good way to start my Valentines day.... I left the house at 5 am and was home before 11am. Just thought I'd post a reminder that one can still have success on the river as O2 levels never drop and there is very little pressure and a lot of peacefull water out there. Good luck all here is the pic of the 28. Nice fish. She even gave a little tail splash as she went back down the hole. That is a reward in and of itself.

[jwmiller33]

nice fish fever! cool story!

[rosspj59]

Nice walleye. I don't have a clue where to fish down there. Might have to spend a little time in the boat on the Minnesota next summer to find some fish producing areas. Thanks for the confidence booster.

[Grainbelter]

I don't think I have the gonads to ice fish a river. Way to go!!!

[Sonicrunch]

awesome.. do you eat any fish out of the river?

[RiverFish]

Great picture.

I fish the WI river all year long, but more so during the hard water season.

[Fever]

I did make up the fish and it did cook up real nice. Great tasting walleye meal (Broiled it) with butter, lemon pepper seasoning, lemon juice, with corn, mashed potatoes, etc... As far as concerns about river fish being toxic. I think you have to concider how often you eat them. For me i'll probably keep about 3 limits total a year out of that spot. A decent % of the fish are over 20 inches so you don't actually keep too many. It was nice though to be able to bring a limit home. I do agree that eating too many fish too often out of the river could be bad especially if your pregnant, a tottaler, or otherwise ill. As far as having the gonads.... There was at least 14 inches of ice where I was. I do understand that point as well... You do have to be careful out there. And as a matter of fact the more people that are sceptic and otherwise not comfortable the better. That means there will be fish there for me to catch for that much longer! Good luck on the lakes all. 12 days and counting till the end of Walleye season.

[RiverFish]

The beauty of the WI river, the walleye season never closes.

[Zoob]

Yar, I don't have the steel nads to fish a river, either. I remember playing on the edges of the Mississippi when I was 9-10, and busting through. Haven't much cared for icy rivers since, they give me the heebie-jeebies. :-)

[Fever]

12 plus inches... Like I said. Besides the Mn is a bit different than the old miss. But again. The more people that feel like that the better. I personally don't have a prob with the river. I realize it can be inconsistant but if your carefull you can open the door to some untouched resources and some true trophies that haven't been pressured at all. 11 days till end of walleye season....

[TylerS]

I ice fished the Red River quite often last year. Never really got into the walleyes, but managed to catch a few chunkers for the frying pan (and lost some that were much larger).

Last time out with a friend was a gorgeous day in the 30s. There was a good amount of ice and we weren't worried about it. The sun went down and the bite was slow, but we were ready to go as long as it took to catch some fish.

Then I started hearing a noise. It sounded like gurgling or something, but far off. Gradually the sound grew. The gurgle turned into a churn and finally I poked my head out of the ice house. All the ice holes and cracks near our house were spewing water. We looked at eachother as the color drained from our faces and high-tailed it off the ice. The next morning we drove out to see a nice "river" on top of the ice where we had been fishing.

It's nice fishing when the weather is cold, but watch out when the temps warm up! It can det dicey in a hurry!

[Ed Carlson]

River ice is my personal favorite, and from now on tell ice out....gets better bye the day/night.

Thanks for sharing...nice fish....good to see your practicing Selective Harvest..well done!

TIP: Try a Salmo Zipper...in a GMO, SBO, or LRR patterns.

[Fever]

Ed, do those Zippers have an internal Rattle? I have in the past used a glowing chubby darter in the shallower parts of the sand bars I've found. I have also used the Lindy Darter because it does have a nice sound system so to speak. Tip the rear trebble with the head of a fat head, glow it up, drop it down to the bottom, and get ready...

[Ed Carlson]

Oh...Ya...I call the Salmo Zippers... "Hog Callers"...they have produced 4 walleye over #14 for me, one over #15. Big fish THUMP them Hard.

Very active jigging tell they come in...RIP-RIP-RIP...than slow up and run UP again and hide playing cat and mouse when they slide on in to view...they chase them darn near up into the hole if they are fired up.

Tip with a minnow head on the bottom treble, or just smear it up good with a mushed minnow for a bloody wounded scent.

They are very current friendly lures, they fall slower than other rattle baits, and actually stand on their nose like a foraging baitfish at a light rest. This allows the rear treble to stay up and in there face for the bottom fussy huggers who do not want to play ball. In that case, tip the rear treble hook with a pinched off minnow, or a whole minnow.

In general, make them hunt and chase it, they like to hunt most of the time.

If you get a piggy called in, and she mysteriously appears fussy....keep a #3 or a #4 Salmo Chubby Darter handy in a like color pattern rigged and ready on a second rod...pull up the Zipper quickly...and slip that Chubby down quickly..you got her attention now. By slipping her a little less threatening bait she may just like that a bit better if she is moody...."Bait and Switch" is what I call it...it works.

[Fever]

Thanks Ed. I'll have to add a few Zippers to the arsenal. I have been using heavy buck shots tiped with the fat-head head on the river because of current. I have noticed that the lindy darter does call in fish and I often do downsize to a small jigging spoon tipped with some meat or even a ratso to close the deal on Crappies or Sunfish.