Crazy on how Spring came on so fast! Water temp on pool 9, River mainstem is now a SOLID 45-46 degrees, with water in shallow backwater areas up to 48! These temps–in conjunction with the full moon–means its SHOWTIME for spawning walleyes this weekend–a full 3 wks. earlier than the average!

When seasons change, walleyes ‘stairstep’ staging at progressively shallower depths in the Spring and deeper depths as things cool in the fall.

For the past couple days i’ve been fishing with ol’ pal Jesse Simpkins of St. Croix rod–an exceptional “stick”. he outfished me yesterday (probably cuz he used the 2021 greatest rods on earth). Caught 5 species of gamefish yesterday–walleyes, sauger,pike,largemouth and several QUALITY smallmouth–mostly on swim baits. ALL fish in <4′ !!

Essentially this means walleyes are at the “top of the stairs” RIGHT now. concentrate on < 10′ if you want to catch quality fish. Today we’re gonna start by targeting perch. But if the perch jerkin’ isn’t TOO EASY will probably catch a couple of ‘eyes then go chase “brown bass”.

Time for me to lock & load. Leisure days are over. Back to work. Next open date for guiding is 4/12 and 4/16. 2nd half of April still has several openings–but I’m not eager to fill them. Special Saturday rate now in effect; $1000/4 hrs.
Any other day it’s a $750 savings on the base guide rate!

In remembrance of dear departed friend and competitor Dick Neefe “see ya out there on the water!