Over the weekend, Ann and I headed over the Pool 4 of the Mississippi River where we were targeting some early summer walleyes. Pool 4 is one of the best places to catch walleye and sauger in early spring, but don't look past this place in early summer and into the summer. All these fish have to go somewhere. Yes, Lake Peppin is very large, but there are key structure points that you need to look at to help you catch fish during this period.
Saturday, Ann and I got out to the lake around 10, yes it was a bit later than we wanted, but we stayed in a and relaxed a bit. We first headed to the MN side of the river and fished a few different shorelines. These fish are usually stacked up in 8-12 foot of water and sometimes even shallower this time of year on the rocky, deep break lines. Down below you will see what I am talking about. We started casting and drifting to no prevail. I knew there were fish down there, but couldn't get them to bite. Used my side-imaging and found the clusters of fish stacked right on the rocks. Changed spots 3-4 times and only catching 1 sauger.
I decided to go back the next day and troll. Ann and I are not big fans of trolling just because we like feeling the bite rather than just the reeling in part. If this is the way that the fish want it, I needed to figure it out.
Decided to go right back the next day and really figure out what these fish wanted. Started looking on my side imaging and live imaging and located them right away in the morning. Most of the fish were stacked in 8-10 ft of water, on rocks and steep shorelines/break-lines, but there was some right off the break in about 14 ft of water as well. Decided to go after those shallower fish due to a few things.
- Easier Trolling
- Less line out
- Don't have to have deep divers if not using lead core
- Don't have to use leadcore
- Can use most size 4 through 7 crank baits in this depth range
2. Was easier to stay in that 8-10 ft range rather than that 14-16 due to the contours I was fishing
Started off trolling rapala jointed shad raps in fire tiger and red craw. Changed between 6 to 8 colors and always came back to running these 2 colors. Running these about 50-60 ft behind the boat. I was using this on 10 point power pro with a flouro leader. Leader length to me really depends on the lake. Will cover this some other time, but it just all depends.
Not being a big fan of trolling, this early summer bite in this "shallow" water can be pretty fun. Covering water and finding the pods of fish is the only way to do so. The current allowed for me to troll in both directs at different speeds and hitting them at different angles very easily. I had the best luck trolling down stream around 3.2-3.5 mph. Yes fast. Doing this, triggers those aggressive fish while not waiting around for those others to bite. There are plenty of fish in this system, its just the matter of time when you go by another walleye or sauger.
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