River walleyes

[The Grebe]

We've been having some weird fishing outings on the river lately? Seems like no matter what we try, time of day, bait or technique, all we seem to be able to get is one walleye at a time?

Sometimes we will get a fish right when we get there and then fish another hour or two without a bite? One evening I got 3, boom, boom, boom and then nothing.

This has happened on 3 different rivers, spots where we normally do really well on walleyes in the fall? We have tried jig and minnow, crawlers, minnows on the bottom, minnows under a float, Rapalas, cranks, usually one fish and then nothing? There has to be more then one walleye below the dams, or in large stretches of the river? Any ideas?

[Rick G]

Glad to hear it wasn't just me having a funny fall . My go-to spots where I can usaly pull out tons of walleyes have been almost void of fish this fall Other than one big one here and there ,it has been one of the worst falls I can remember for numbers. The one exception has been creek mouths that dump into the river, if you can find one with some decent flow you should be able to pick up a couple.Aalso worth noting, some of my best outings as of late have come predawn, this has been the only time I can manage to get more than one here, one there.

[JohnMickish]

It could be, that with the lack of rain we have had this summer/fall, is that whatever river you are fishing in the flow is lower than normal. My experience on P4 this year is that the fish where not in their traditional spots, they where where they shouldn't be, in the current.

Through my discussions with my river friends we believe that with the flow so low that the slack water areas that we usually fish are no longer slack water, they are dead water (no flow like a lake, and river fish like some current). It also seems that the areas that would normally blow the fish out with the big currents are holding fish, especially if there are dunes on the bottom. Try sliding out from your normal spots into the main chanel where there would normally be to much current to fish.

[DTro]

Exactly. Right now, find the current and you will most likely find the fish.

[Stick in Mud]

I've also had a strange fall...mainly because my shore spots are all terribly shallow and, more important, almost or completely devoid of current. I've done my best fishing deep-ish water (this is from shore, so it's probably not more than five or six feet deep total) with current. No need to worry as much about finding current breaks.

[Nhamm]

I have yet to catch a walleye during the day on the river from shore. South of the Coon Rapids dam was pretty darn good for a while before they opened the gates on the north side couple weeks ago, now my side I fish has that slack water which I think is now dead water which was eluded to already, and hold very little to no fish. I am thinking with some of the lowest water levels in some time to actually go try the pools above St. anthony falls to see if fish migrated south this year more than north. I havent found a spot yet above 694 thats deeper than 15ft in my boat, and that was in summer when water level was about 2' higher. I think when you find the deep pools of the whole system, you are gonna find the fish, and they will be absolutely stacked.