With River levels stable at typical summer pool , pitching cranks on the leading edge of wingdams is a great way to hook up. I’m a huge fan of the Bill Lewis Lures MR6 in ghost craw,chartreuse blaze & purple smoke patterns.

bait profile is generally more important than color. but in mid-summer I have better results with chartreuse blaze.

More important is varry the speed, including short pops and pauses–and doing a “figure L” at boatside. An amazing number of fish strike with < 5 ‘ of line out!

Weeds are already a factor on Pool 9. This can make cranking tough. Sometimes you can get away from most weeds by simply switching sides of the River. If this doesn’t work, adding a tiny split shot or barrel swivel 18″ above the lure can keep your bait working a little longer–sometimes long enough to hook up.

There are times when you need to go with a single hook presentation. That split shot is still a good idea!

Another presentation which seems too easy for those crafty walleyes is simply drifting channel edge, sand bottom flats close to channel marker buoys over 9-13 fow with a half-crawler on a 1/8 oz jig or –killer of killers– a willocat on a 1/0 Octopus circle sea hook 7-10″ behind a substantial egg sinker.

If you don’t have willocat you can get by with a lighter egg. a “slow death” hook is a little tweak when using crawlers which will put more fish in the boat.

If all you have is crawlers, trailing that jig with a bucktail streamer fly about 14-18″ behind the jig catches fish–often many more than the jig itself.

The crawler should appear “natural” . Not hooked through the head like you do when fishing spinner rigs. ..but still straight. Try threading a half crawler on the hook shank and leaving about an inch trailing behind the bend.

As some of you know, I’ve been having some minor health issues. A radial head fracture on my right arm kept me off the water for about 12 hours. Looks like I’m gonna get a stent or two in blocked coronary arteries soon.This will keep me off the River for five days.

Time has already been set aside for this. All trips between now and Aug. 6th will be honored–unless, of course, I croak. Still have quite a few openings in Sept & Oct if I’m still on the planet, but only plan on working 2-3 times a week to allow time to go fun fishin’.

tight lines, y’all