Ted Peck Fishing

This year Labor Day weekend falls on the cusp between Fogust & Slumptember. The River doesn’t care if folks don’t find fish where they usually find them this time of year.

The River has been flowing long before our species came up with the concept of time, long before native Americans used the moon and stars in an attempt to find patterns that would help the hunters & gatherers feed the camp.

My time on the planet started about 30 trips around the sun after man thought he could bend the River to his will by constructing 33 massive lock & dam systems. A half century before this time that fount of wisdom : Congress, mandated the USACE maintain a channel for navigation.

With my time on the River winding down to just a few trips around the sun–maybe only days–the USACE is well along in achieving their mandate as far north as pool 9.

have you noticed the river mainstem seems to be moving just a little bit faster as we transition between Fogust & Slumptember? Gravity will force water to do that in a big straight ditch!

Most who have had some experience fishing on the fast flowing ditch mainstem of the River during the clownfest called Labor Day are wondering why bluegills aren’t hanging on mainstem structures like wingdams like they are SUPPOSED to do come Labor Day.

The short answer is that the River is running a couple feet deeper than thy are used to over this holiday. River level is driven by rainfall or snowmelt entering the system from across one-third of America. With Pool 9 morphing quickly into a big ditch this is the new ‘normal’…and ‘gills are gonna go with the flow.

The situation is akin to walleyes relating to wingdams. When the river is running faster and higher, eyes relating to wings will move closer to shore. when current here is too great, they’ll stage on the downstream side of the wing.

Closing dams run parallel to the flow. Wingdams run perpendicular. The active walleye bite happens on closing dams before marble eyes become active on wingdams when the River is rising or falling somewhere between easy fishin’ on the rocks because there is even less current on the backside of a closing dam than there is close to shore below a wingdam–generally speaking. They’ve been pretty active here over the past few days as the River continues to fall below ‘action stage’ after that big rain induced bump that happened mid-month.

The same pattern holds true with bluegills relating to mainstem rocks near that time we call Labor Day. The gills are staging on mainstem rocks, preparing to move just a little to wingdam rocks which will happen when the River is ready to fall another foot.

If you follow this blog you know about my special Saturday & holiday weekend guide rate. My good neighbor’s daughter just got home last night from college, with a #1 priority of goin’ fishin’.

Robert says he will help me take down an elm tree that’s uncomfortably close to the house once the ground freezes. I took him out Friday morning to look for ‘gills on the rocks close to the rocks where those who don’t fish the River every day expect to find ’em during clownfest.

We only fished ’em for about an hour. He took home 15 jumbos–my self imposed limit on gills coming home in my boat. I’ll wage young Violet will get her string stretched several times at this spot when the sun shows up in about 3 hours on Saturday morning.

Lord willin’ I’ll be back on the River Tuesday after all the Darwin award finalists are done ramp camping, returning to that world driven by clocks and calendars.

Be safe out there this weekend!

Gullywasher rains pushed through the upper Mississippi River Valley over the past 48 hours, bringing river levels up over TWO FEET. It is still rising on pool 9, but should crest by Aug. 20 and begin to fall, getting back below action stage by maybe Saturday.

Although the Army Road boat ramp was still open at noon, I expect it to close Wednesday morning for a day or too.

Fishing is tough when the River is in a state of major flux like that–with two notable exceptions.

channel cats will move tight against the shore above snags here there is a moderate current with a sandy bottom, still relating to the same snags/driftpiles they’ve been cruising for over a month.

Crappie have similar movement, typically dropping a foot or so deeper in the snags they have been relating to. Water clarity is the biggest problem. Slabs are never far from heavy cover. With “chocolate milk” you need to hang the lure just over their scaly faces.

Dirty water is about the only time I would even consider using minnows for crappies. usually I attack them with both a vertical & horizontal presentation. One will usually outfish the other by a wide margin. Figure out what’s working and go with it.

Jigging spoons are my fave vertical presentation. Top of this list is the slender flutter spoon by B-Fish-N tackle. Snags are a certainty if you’re fishin’ where the fish are–especially if you use something with a treble hook. I clip off two of the treble’s hooks.

One hook is all you need, cuz you’re in a stiking presentation. Crappies in wood are already staged, ready to make a rattlesnake-quick dash of a couple inches when ‘food’ comes by.

If the slab decides to eat it will be back in heavy wood before you can set the hook. Fish need to be moved instantly if you consistently wanna put them in the boat.

My fave stick is a PSG 102 crappie rod from HT Enterprises. The PSG 102 is 10′ long. HT offers 11 & 12 footers too. The 10′ justs fits better along the gunnel of my Lund.

For line I prefer hi-vis Sufix braid in 30-40 lb. test. Thirty pound braid is stiff. In hi-vis it’s a better strike indicator than the most sensitive graphite.

A 10′ pole allows you to fish directly over the hook. With fish suspended down -36′ over at least 10 fow, there is never more than 4-5′ feet of line between the hook and the rod tip.

This isn’t about a sporty tussle, kids. It’s all about putting meat in the boat.

Of course, when you try to lift a 14″ crappie out of the water her “paper” lip is gonna tear. I taped a fine mesh short-handled trout net to the end of an old telescoping cane pole.

A snap o’ the wrist shoots the net out to full extension under the fish like a spatula with a mesh bag under it. next stop: livewell.

Pool 9 has been flowing at ‘action stage’ for over a month. Heavy rain which flooded Rochester and Milwaukee over the weekend had no impact here.

The River is projected to fall to normal summer pool levels over the next few days. Water clarity is good. Temp 77-80 degrees. Weeds are already somewhat of a factor already.

Bass-LMB,SMB & WB have been the most predictable species…which is just what you would expect in mid-August. The walleye bite continues to be a dawn & dusk thing with active feeders cruising in 7-13 fow.

There are a gazillion 3′ long shad in the system now with all gamefish species chowing down on the bounty.

Bluegills are usually stacked on wingdams and other rocky structure by mid-August. Picking up a few good fish here–just one or two per spot.

If the River continues to fall as projected. The rock bite for gills should be pretty easy by about Aug. 18.

Shad should also be schooling in huge numbers by then too, with bait clouds typically suspending 5-9 feet down back in the running sloughs.

Find the shad and a chrome Rat-l-Trap will tear ’em up. I always have one loaded…but a wacky rigged #yamamoto senko or a blue fleck Ned TRD have been catching a lot of fish all summer long

The new Albin boat launch will close again soon due to rising water. Adding about 12 loads of gravel to the access road at 3 places near where the road enters the parking lot would enable critical mid-pool access to the West side of the River.

Recently, this access was closed for about 10 days. looks like this is gonna happen again by Monday. In both instances down time would be cut in HALF with judicious placement of just a few roads of gravel.

Several jurisdictions maintain this access. USACE is the bureaucracy with the final say. They told me an environmental impact study would have to be done before they could authorize some gravel placement on an existing road in the flood plain.

This is a huge raft of CRAP! Trees fall in the River every day more than equal to impact of a dozen loads of gravel inland. Does this require ‘study’?

Those who access pool 9 from the west side of the River can launch 2 places on highway 82 until this fall…then these access points will be CLOSED UNTIL 2027.

Any emergency response from the west side of the River on the upstream FOURTEEN RIVER MILES above Village Creek boat launch on the south end of Lansing will be the ONLY workable rescue option once Blackhawk Bridge closes and the River goes to ‘action stage’ at Lock & Dam 8.

In an average year there is about 6 weeks where the River has gone past ‘action stage’ to minor flood & beyond. Not talking these times. Talking about the THREE WEEKS so far this year when a boat could be launched on the West side north of Lansing where 12 loads of gravel could have kept the ramp open.

Of course I have a personal stake in this issue. i’m on the River at least five days a week during the open water period. Probably 60 % of the time I like to launch at New Albin cuz its close to home. But there are hundreds of boaters who access the River from the West side every year.

What will be the impact when all these folks are forced to launch at Village Creek? PLEASE contact USACE and tell them to initiate that bogus ‘impact study’ so we can get some gravel before the bridge closes !

Water temp was 77.2 yesterday on the upper pool. Water clarity was decent once you got away from tribs dumping chocolate milk from recent rains into the system.

Some days weeds are a factor. some days not. Fog is an issue many mornings lately. This issue will increase next week when Fogust arrives.

Black buzzbaits have been a KILLER on LMB & pike over submergent weeds on muggy days. There effectiveness is driven by static tension on the surface (bubble trail)…more than 2′ and a buzzer is the HAMMER.

When weeds are a factor, panfish are an option. Gills relating to wood 5-7 fow. Crappies slightly deeper. they are also relating to American water lotus (lily pads).eelgrass mats are perch magnets. Fish within 6″ of the bottom with a tiny pinch of crawler, a red hook & a couple orange beads.

Those who go out on the River telling the Almighty what their gonna do are setting themselves up for disappointment. Success comes when the ego is buried and you listen to the River’s quiet whispers.

Pool 9 is flowing about 2′ above action stage making River access a little challenging. River level has stabilized, with forecast calling for it to remain at this level for perhaps the next 10 days.
water clarity is good >excellent–4’+ in some running sloughs. Water temp is 80

Active walleye bite is 5-7 a.m. with active fish holding in 7-13 fow. MR6 in ghost craw & Bomber 6A in Caitlin pattern both effective. Weeds can be a factor when pulling upstream @ 2.2. Impact can be minimized by trolling downstream @ 1.6. Don’t forget to pulse the rod!

LMB very active on #yamamoto senkos where water clarity is 2’+Stopped @ 25 fish this morning in just 2 hrs. Over half were 14″+

White bass are busting shad up by the dam and back on steeply breaking sand shoals in the running sloughs. Hot bait is #5 Flicker shad/chrome.

Perch are tight against eel grass over sand bottom in 3-8 fow. Orange & chartreuse jigheads w/tiny pinch of crawler pretty deadly.

Pike have been clobbering black buzzbaits & black/blue Jackhammer chatterbaits with 4″ paddletail trailers.

SMB are tight to the rocks on the River mainstem. 1/10 oz #Zman Size 1 Shroom jigheads w/ blue/black or perfect perch TRDs have been very effective.

I have 4 available dates open the last 2 weeks of July, 8 open days in August. Not gonna work any more than that. There are a finite number of days to fish in this lifetime. Only about 130 open water days the rest of this year–none of which is guaranteed

Water levels are just a little above normal summer pool–pretty close to perfect. Water temp is 70 degrees. nearly ideal.

Walleyes have moved into summer pattern, with an active bite from 5-7 a.m. and 8 pm til dark. Willowcats are killer (if you can find them) fishing counter seams at steeply breaking rocks. The #5 Flicker Shad in silver shad is still top dog when pulling. Most willing fish are holding in 7-13 fow. Drifting sand flats just off the main channel with 1/2 crawler and 1/8 oz jig effective at these depths.

SMB are very active on rocks. East side in morning, west side in afternoon. Go to is 1/10 oz #Zman stand up jighead with Black/blue or perfect perch TRD. .

LMB are stupid on #Zman jackhammer chatterbaits in black/blue with paddletail trailer fished in weed pockets. Frog fishin’ productive on emergent weeds in running sloughs. Black buzzbaits should be good once we start seeing more muggy weather.
It’s all about the bubble trail! 3+’ and its buzzbait time.

Wacky rigged green pmpkin pepper purple flake #Yamamoto
senkos always good for both LMB & SMB on rocks with quiet water.

Pike have been kinda weird. Last time out, boated 7 in 9 fow working a TRD just off the bottom (looking for SMB). Haven’t ben hooking up in the usual places with the usual baits lately.

Bluegills are post-spawn active now. All panfish are biting right where you would expect to find them.

The whole secret to hooking up is going after the species the River want to give you. I’ve been on the River 119 times this year. It ALWAYS takes me at least an hour to decipher the message she sends

The only reason i write this blog is to share the joy of fishing with others. This is also the main reason I’m still guiding after 50 years.

In the course of this journey there have been a few anglers I’ve seen grow from boys into men, with a true vicarious thrill seeing their passion for angling and skill set improve with time.

One of these Young Turks is 35 year old David Dvorak, jr. His Dad and i have been solid Buds for over 40 years building on a brotherly bond which can only be forged in combat. Dave senior & me didn’t carry guns. We humped hoses into burning buildings as career firefighters.

Dave’s kids, DJ & Tommy became like my own kids. About a dozen years ago DJ and i had a long conversation about his future : stay in Janesville, Wi. and work in the family landscape biz or follow his dreams of becoming a teacher of both math and the outdoors experience in the Colorado Rockies. This past school year DJ organized 48 river rafting and mountain climbing trips, taking dozens of middle school kids on overnight adventures.

He doesn’t come home much, so when Brother Dave said DJ wanted to go fishin’ the Miss with me again the need to make this fishin’ mission happen was set in stone.

I don’t like guiding on weekends, especially on my birthday. But the chance to see DJ’s angling skills set the stage for a birthday to remember.

Out in the rockies DJ learned to use a flyrod and chase trout. He wanted to apply this skill in battle with a swarthy northern pike.

usually hooking up with a toother pushing double digits only takes a couple hours at most. But if you don’t think God has a sense of humor–try telling him what you’re gonna do!

Over the next six hours we caught a bunch of bass, several with substantial dimensions, sauger and walleye. I caught the only northern. If this fish was wood it would have been the perfect handle for a ball peen hammer.

It was getting right down to ‘one more cast” time. I told DJ to drop his fly off the end of a gnarly limb in the midst of a mess of water willow–a spot about the size of a five-gallon bucket–then focused on using the MinnKota to make the task a little easier.FISH ON!!

DJ’s 8 weight Reddington rod loaded up with a heavy critter with a bad attitude. Pike fight hard. Bowfin (a.k.a. dogfish0 fight harder. For my nickel dogfish are the best pull in the River.

Fifteen minutes later Brother Dave slid the net under a throwback to Jurassic times almost 30″ long. Catching a dogfish on a flyrod is a rare and difficult feat. I shot video of the whole battle. After a quick measurement and foto the fish was released.

Once home I checked the record book. It looks like DJ Dvorak has a new World Record bowfin using fly gear and a 1X tippet!

DJ said it was his 1st ever dogfish and the biggest fish he had ever caught using a flyrod. Telling a client where to cast and seeing them catch a PB on several different levels is the best birthday gift an old guide could ever imagine.

No apologies in sharing this story with y’all. If you want to know about River conditions right now; pretty close to perfect.

tight lines!

May brings some of the easiest fishin’ of the year on the upper Mississippi River–especially for those who listen to the River and cash in on the bounty she reveals.

Throughout the year it is common to tussle with several other species beyond your primary target. In May 7 or 8 different species may swim up and stretch your string.

LMB are finished with their spawn. SMB strapped on the post-spawn feedbag almost 3 weeks ago. Crappies are done spawning and bluegills are just about ready to go.

Several different things trigger the annual rite of fish procreation. Water temperature is a major driver. Moon phase and river level changes also part of the matrix. On Mother’s Day water temp on the River mainstem was 70 degrees. A cold front pushed thru the following weekend dropping temps to about 62. The fish didn’t care. On May 19 rain started. forecast calls for about 2″ before it quits on the 21st.

This may impact water clarity a little bit, but the USACE says it won’t move River levels. The fish don’t care. They’re still gonna bite.

The shad color Berkley #5 flicker shad pulled @ 1.6-2.2 mph in the 7-11 foot contour has been a multi-species killer the past couple weeks–matching the dominant forage base now EXACTLY. By far my most productive bait has been the #Zman NED rig with a black/blue TRD soaked in “da juice”, aka liquid
willowcat.

fun fishin’ yesterday this lure caught walleye, sauger, SMB, LMB, WB,pike, a flathead and a big dogfish with anger management issues.

It also caught a pile of drum, several of gargantuan proportions. Drum are great “bird dogs” for revealing the presence of more desired species like walleyes and SMB. They are hard fighters, aggressively attacking artificial lures. Fish shorter than 14″ also TASTE GREAT.

With these characteristics why aren’t drum classified as gamefish? Maybe its cuz they lack discretion when a hook passes by. this is also true with LMB, which are classified as gamefish. Many folks release LMB for this reason. I release LMB because they taste terrible–not even close to the cheek meat of female muskies.

Muskies will never be overharvested on the Upper Miss simply because there is no catchable population of this Esox species. The other major Esox–northern pike–are all over the place.

Apologies for digressing from the headline of this blog. Drum, a.k.a ‘goats’ are a finned lump of coal in the fishing Christmas stocking. Countless giant walleyes morph into goats just before they are led to the net.

Mathematically this trend will continue to progress. Studies by Wis & Mn. DNRs reveal drum can live up to about 72 years old, producing viable eggs throughout most of their lifetime. Walleyes max out at about 15 years, with egg production dropping off dramatically after about age eight.

Every time I’m jig fising and a goat finds the hook before a walleye or SMB i wonder if they got there first because they lack discretion and there are so darn many of them swimming in the same niche as target species.

Then higher thought processes are fully consumed with piscatory combat. The tug is the drug. goats punch far above their weight.

May & October are my favorite months living in the Driftless.Harvesting nature’s bounty is pretty much easy any place you venture.

River levels now are great and should be at the near perfect level; 2 ft. below action stage–by next weekend. Water temps have warmed to the solid mid-60s.

Submergent vegetation in backwaters and running sloughs is becoming emergent. Time to break out topwater bait for bass, Pike and WALLEYES.

With high ambient temps in the low 80s and no rain in the forecast for the coming week crappies and bass should be seriously spawning by may 18–pretty much right on schedule based on the past 10 yrs.

There is an incredible forage base of 3″ shad in the system right now. Last week a #5 chrome Flicker shad was the hot biat, pulling a current seam in 7-9 fow @ 1.5-2.0 mph. My client boated 22 walleye/sauger in just a couple hours. he kept four fish, I kept a couple 13″ sauger for lunch. One of these fish had THREE shad the EXACT size and color of the #5 flicker shad in its belly.

On subsequent trips this lure has produced walleye consistently up to 22″, some handing suspended 6′ down over 11-13 fow.

The only thing which is discouraging is a cost of $8.25 per lure at Walmart–for a stinkin’ flicker shad!

The outrageous prices for vehicles, watercraft and fishing gear is not sustainable. When we reach a point in the not too distant future where the average guy can’t afford to go fishin’ life as we’ve known it in the USA is over.

In the meantime, I hope to be out there catchin’ just about every day, getting back to fishin’ when serious summer arrives in a couple of weeks.

I was surprised to see so many zeros posted in last Saturday’s AIM walleye tourney on pools 10-11. Most of these guys are outstanding anglers on the always challenging Mississippi.

The walleyes were hot and heavy into spawning last weekend, as was predicted on the blog over the past several weeks. Not taking a victory lap by calling the ball on this. The Immortal River with all its nuances and complexities always drives the narrative.

The full moon period we’re just coming out of was a strong one. The day after the AIM tourney didn’t get on the water until late afternoon. Wind was a definite factor in boat control, limiting presentation to mostly pulling 3-ways.

I figured chasing the ‘fat girls’ was a low percentage pursuit. Their focus was not on feeding. The best option seemed to be probing for post-spawn saugers and capricious male walleyes.

Saugers tend to spawn just a little earlier than the ‘eyes, so they also move into post-spawn feeding patterns a few days earlier.

A catchable number of these fish like to locate in sand-bottom running sloughs with moderate current in about 8-13 fow. Fish tend to slide back downstream a little higher in the water column, making a 3-way with flies or the basic #9 Rap a good lure choice.

Drifting the same areas snap jigging plastic or hair is another option. But wind on this outing made pulling pretty much the only viable option.

The moon also played a major role in time spent on the water. One nice thing about living five minutes from the boat ramp is being able to go when conditions are most favorable. I didn’t launch the boat until 5:30 pm. by the time the Lund went back on the trailer the wind was laying down and it was almost dark. Two decent sauger and one 15″ eye were in the box–a perfect meal. The Rap & flies produced another 6 fish–shorts and too-small sauger.

Most of the guys on the AIM circuit are much better walleye hooks than me. The only reason my string got stretched 36 hours after more zeros were posted than bombed Pearl Harbor was time of day and targeting fish which likely wouldn’t cash a check.

Besides influence of the full moon, very cold morning temperatures have also had an impact on fish activity. Being cold blooded creatures a couple of degrees change in water temp can make a whale of a difference.

Although we’re out of the full moon period starting today, I suspect the late afternoon bite will still be a little more aggressive for this reason. Unfortunately, we’re still in a pattern when the wind blows a little harder in the afternoon.

A south wind is the bumpiest. This was the case on Monday afternoon. Conditions were borderline dangerous on the man channel. I got off the River.

Water temps on the River mainstem were still struggling to stay above 50 on Wednesday. I thought targeting perch and the always willing pike might be the best option.

Hayshore Lake at the north end of the pool is usually a good place to target in April. I launched at Millstone landing. Water that is almost always at least five feet deep this time of year was only two feet. After putting around for an hour with the Yammie tilted up I loaded the boat and moved down to the Army road launch at New Albin.

Bass and pike were right where you would expect to find ’em. The classic #5 Mepps Aglia double blade spinner with flash-a-boo tail and florescent blades has been the most effective bait for me in this pursuit so far this Spring in water >53 degrees–which means <4 fow with a dark bottom.

Believe I’ll go catch some pike this morning ahead of the rain. Yeah, i know–the fish are already we. But i don’t have to be since this will be ‘fun fishin’ instead of guiding.

I have several openings after Easter if you wanna go. One client’s buddy had a heart attack, so he had to cancel. A heart attack can put a sharp pin in the party hog of life.

Living what’s left of mine on my terms seems like a wonderful life plan. If this means working just a little so be it. But this year will truly be my last.

I love teaching folks to fish. It is my mission and my passion. But I’ve had more than enough of the overbearing federal government. I refuse to let clueless bureaucrats call the tune and demand that I dance to it anymore.

Inviting all of the alphabet agencies to my place for Easter dinner. I’ve got a giant bird for you!