Let's start this out by saying we miss you Dean.   Dean and his friends John and Jason have joined me the last few years on this week however after Dean passed unexpectedly this winter Jason and John had Johns Son Aaron join us in the boat.   Great young man and as you keep coming up you will get the hang of dub rigging Aaron.   
 

It was a cold and windy couple days gentlemen but we all toughened it out with the slow bite with the receding water temperatures from the week before.  I say it all the time if you can mark as many walleye and sauger we did you can fish the area and at sometime you will get some of them to commit.      We caught some really nice walleye and sauger each day not only for the gentlemen to have for dinner but also to take home to Hamburg Iowa to share with loved ones.   Jason you have done a wonderful job of organizing the trips for your buddies and I'm happy to hear your helping Lori out as much as you can.  And as always John you are a wonderful guy to spend the days with in the boat.  Until next year enjoy and keep on catching my friends. 
 

Next I had Steve and his good buddy Dave.  Steve is a veteran Dubuque rigger now but Da e had never fished this technique before.  After about and hour or so of fishing this way and a few misses Dave caught on and it was game on.  In my opinion on this trip I think Dave ended up kicking Steve and My butts.  It makes a guide feel good when he sees his training come together so quickly.   Bonus the walleye and sauger were in the chew.  Fun time guys and I look forward to another trip on the river for us. 
 

Friday April the 1st I had the Three Ryans in my boat.  It took a whole 3 minutes and Denzer started started us off with a very nice sauger.  As the morning went along Denzer and Swanny had a good competition going between them on who was getting the biggest of the day.

 Now with that being said I seen a few attempts at sabotage going on between one guy ( no names mentioned) hooking the other guys line when he had a big fish on only to lose the fish.  Even after these attempts Ryan Denzer ended the day with the Largest between the two only beating Swanny by a half inch or so. Fun to watch guys and I look forward to the next outing Denzer on April 15 th.

We have been targeting  current seem areas with the water level up finally to spring levels.  Water depths we have gotten them to bite have ranged from 9-17 ft.  Dub rigging has worked best lately but Miller rigs are producing also.   With the water temperatures dropping like they have you may need to slow down and use live bait at times.  Blades are another technique tha5 have produced fish.   Just a reminder with these water levels you can always pull original floaters to put fish into the boat.   You need to pick your poison.  
 

Water level as of today is 6.8 that is almost a foot lower than the peak we had last week.  That shows you how much and how often you need to adjust to the conditions.  Water temperature was right around 40 last week to now right around 35 this week for my boat.  As we move along into April we will get more and more walleye and sauger to move up 8th the river system.  One thing I can tell you is believe in your electronics if you know how to read them.  
 

Good luck out the guys and gals !!!!

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