MISSISSIPPI RIVER WALLEYE/SAUGER TIPS

With the air temperature in low 90’s and water temps in low 80’s the crappie fishing seems to have slowed a bit.  It is times like these that conversations among anglers tend to drift to other kinds of fishing.

As outdoor writers Brad Wiegmann and Mike Dixon cast to submerged wood on Mark Twain Lake near Hannibal, MO, guide Lynn Tharp and I discuss his winter fishing activities fishing for walleye and sauger on the nearby Mississippi River.  Although we were there to fish for early fall crappies, I am one to never waste an opportunity to learn patterns for fishing other species.

Lynn guides on the Mississippi River below Lock and Dam 22 from November through February, weather permitting.  The Lock and Dam is near Saverton, MO at mile marker 301.2.  He explains that if the weather cools earlier in the fall he sometimes fishes in October.  “It is kind of a bonus,” explains Tharp.

Although he guides for other species from bass boat or pontoon, Lynn uses a Jon boat for his river activities.  His other tackle is also pretty basic.

Bucktail jigs are popular with most walleye and sauger anglers and Lynn is no exception.  He makes his own bucktails in ½ or ¾ once sizes.  He generally uses just the natural color but occasionally he slips in some a white curly tail grubs.  He will add some chartreuse or tinsel.

Lynn fishes his bucktails with a 2 or 3 inch chub on the hook.  It seems that the fish this time of year want big baits.  Most of the shad have maxed out and the chubs imitate the preferred bait.  Lynn believes the walleyes are not feeding much.  They seem to be feeding about one time per week.

Lynn works the tailwater area below the dam because the fish find everything they want or need in those waters.  The water is highly oxygenated, with a good current.  It has deep holes and a good forage supply.  A cold water species, the walleye move up river to as close the dam as they can get in preparation for the spawn.  When water temperatures rise to 40-degrees, the fish spawn and leave for a journey down river until next fall.

Unlike other game fish that guard the nests and young, walleye and sauger just release their fertilized eggs to the whims of the river.  The eggs catch in the rocks and gravel bottom until they hatch.

As the water temperature below the dam increases in to the 50-plus range all the other game fish in the river move and take over.