Changes upon changes.  It's exactly what we needed to get the schools of walleye and sauger to come up the river system.  When the flow comes up and practically hits the fish in the nose from lake pepin and this is like a switch in their brains to start heading up into the river for spawning in early spring.

Now, does this mean they will all go up the Mississippi River to spawn?   Answer is no.  Fish will spawn in several areas from gravel bars, mud flats, grass areas,  and clam beds.  Do they all spawn at same time?   No. It can take a few weeks before it's over.   Most fishermen go straight to dam areas in spring time because they know these areas produce fish.   If you get out and explore you may find other unique spots where you can be all alone for hours catching these prespawn fish.  
 

Over the last couple weeks on my guided trips we have put many walleye and sauger into the boat..  we have thrown back lots of prespawn sumo saugers.  And keep plenty for my clients to take home for a good meal with their families. Most clients that I get into the boat understand putting these bigger fish back to protect the system.  However everyone needs to understand it's the anglers choice in the system they bought their own liscense.  Arguing on social media is not the answer to this subject, education is a better answer.  If you question weather to keep a fish in your mind you should probably throw it back.  In my opinion especially with sauger I do not like to eat them over 17 inches. I be,I eve they get a muddy taste to them from laying in that mud alll summer on Lake pepin.  The 13 1/2 to 17 incher of the sauger species tastes so much better, but that's my decision. 
 

Tuesday the 16 th I had Mark and his dad  with hitch hiker Jerry out for our early spring outing.  We boater many walleye and sauger today with Mark catching our biggest fish as usual.   Jerry put the most fish in the boat today once he caught onto dub rigging.  But dad was no slouch.  Glad you gents enjoyed our outing.  
 

Wednesday I had Ryan Deml and his son Ty and son in law join me in the boat.  We fished a couple different areas today burning up some fuel and putting several nice walleye and sauger into the boat. On this date pulling raps was the best technique for us.  Even with our biggest fish over 21 inch sauger that Ty brought to the boat.   What a fun day guys and we shall do it again in the future.  Ryan it was good that you proved today Denzer was wrong with your fish catching skills. 
 

Next I had Steve and Todd.   We started out dug rigging today and had very good success for the first few hours when Steve mentioned he wouldn't mind trying out switching technique to pulling three ways with raps.   We hit two areas with no success but on our third spot, bingo we started knocking them out.  We boated lots of fish in the last hour and Steve and Todd got to learn a new way of fishing on the river system.

Monday, Tim "big fish" Duehlman brought Dan out with him and we pretty much pulled dub rigs all morning boating several nice fish and plenty of eaters to take home for a meal.   It seemed on this date the bite got better as the. Or I get moved along.  Color of plastic seemed to make a difference today.   Once you find one that they are hitting load everyone with it in your boat.  We got most of our fish on this date in 18 ft of water.  Nice to meet you Dan.  
 

Tuesday, Tim brought Andy and Larry with.  What a fun time today even with all the misses we had this morning and Andy snagging us up lol we had some really nice fish dub rigging.  We also tried to pull raps on this date but the fish did not seem to want them so we went back to dub rigging and putting walleye and sauger into the boat.  As always Tim thank you for choosing my guided service for bringing your clients out with us.  
 

Thursday, Nick  brought son Jim and his grand daughter Evelyn out for a spring outing.  Nick is a smart man and booked me last October for this spring trip.  I told him back then how busy I get in the spring.   Very hard to squeeze you in if you wait until it gets warm out in spring to try and call.   Anyway Evelyn caught on pretty fast today to Dubuque rigging and this kid was off to a fast start over her dad Jim.   After switching up a bit on location dad not only started getting into the nice sauger he ended up showing Evelyn it's hard to beat her competitive dad.   What a fun time guys and I look forward to our trip in October.   

With the rollers opening up today as I write this report thing will change drastically.  Keep in mind you will have to change with the conditions.   Also be extremely careful now with debris floating down the river.   Don't make it an expensive or even life threatening trip just to be fishing in the boat.  Know the river and pay attention. 

Water clarity has been pretty good with my vessel seeing at least 18 inches.  Water temperature is rising slowly lasti had was 41 degrees.   The flow has just came over 37000 which means as stated above the rollers are opened up now.  

Be safe and good luck out there guys and gals!!!!!
 

Mississippi River, St. Croix River, Pool 3, Pool 4, Walleye Fishing, Sauger Fishing, Red Wing, Hastings