It is fitting and proper that my ashes will be scattered on the Immortal Mississippi when the Great Rainmaker calls me home. After a lifetime on this water i have learned that her inner secrets will remain hidden until I see the Creator face to face.  Until then I can only go to the River like any other living creature, relating to ambient conditions while trying to fit into the grand scheme of things.

Essentially, I’m just one more toothy predator–lacking scales and fishing from an aluminum platform which tries to kiss the River without being too intrusive. I learned the concept of ‘pre-fishing’ is a waste of time many years ago. Better to come to the River, plug in and let conditions take you where experience says the fish will be. If the first hunch comes up empty, you reconfigure and proceed.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve found considerable success in backwater areas where there is at least 2′ of visibility. Spots like this are tougher to find when the River is in flood stage–like it will be again in about 3 days–because areas which loaded from downstream pushing clearer water to the upper end now have water actively flowing through the trees, bringing color and current which have an adverse impact on fish behavior. All this means is that you need to look a little harder to find the fish in an ecosystem which grows exponentially with every inch of River rise.

Over the past few days I’ve seen smallmouth come out of weeds and wood and caught walleyes up to 27″ in less than 3 f.o.w. on chatterbaits. This flies in the face of conventional wisdom.  But conventional wisdom does not apply on the Immortal River.  The Miss makes the rules, which are absolute and understood only by the Miss.

Sometimes the fish just don’t want to bite–or even strike at passing ‘trigger’ baits, simply because the River says they don’t have to. I understand this but have trouble conveying it to some folks who simply haven’t reached this point of intimacy with the Immortal River. I believe trying to bring others to this point of understanding is the most important work I can do as a fishing guide. As this happen, fish get caught. But fish are just a bonus. It is growth as a fisherman which clients will have for the rest of their days.

Back to ashes. Our time here is known only to the Creator. This fact becomes increasingly lucid with each passing day spent out there on some of God’s very best work. Thursday afternoon my old friend Jesse and new friend James were flying down the River in Jesse’s water rocket Ranger boat. James lives in Alabama, where he is editor of Bassmaster magazine. Until Wednesday he had not been on the Immortal River north of Memphis. We were winding through a side channel known locally as ‘dead man’s cut’. When we were almost at a major side-channel called Minnesota slough we saw a boat at an unusual place for a boat under these conditions and slowed down. In the boat were two sullen fisherman and a local law enforcement officer. Floating face down in the weeds just a couple feet from the boat was a body.

The LEO said more help was assembling at Visager’s landing, several twists, turns and islands from the tragedy. We went back to the boat ramp and led a boat carrying a body bag to the scene.

The Mississippi is as unforgiving as it is Grand. All mistakes must be paid for immediately. Sometimes in full. I found out later that the body used to hold the life of a 29-year-old man who went in 18 miles upstream, 10 days before. The River brought him through the dam at Genoa where gates were wide open because the River is at ‘action stage’ past the first major running slough on the west side of the River above Twin Island, two the second running slough which snakes past Goose lake and into Minnesota slough, where it came to rest less than 100 yards from the confluence.

Why did the body take this path? The course is known only to the River. Someday my ashes may wind up in this exact same spot. Or not. The River is truly a force of nature which is forever changing. Encountering a body is always troubling. I have seen many in a career as a professional firefighter and several more on the River and elsewhere. The corpse is just a corpse. The soul has departed. A human soul is not like the River’s soul–though both are living creatures.

Life is the journey we humans take which is a perpetual study in trying to figure things out. tight lines.

 

 

 

 

just when the River was approaching near normalcy, it is on the way up again–into the action stage, and tickling the minor flood designation.  Water in the trees is the new normal. Water in the trees is no big deal. When it starts flowing through the trees fishing can get ‘tough’. Yesterday and later today I’m sharing the boat with my ol’ pal Jesse Simpkins from St. Croix rods and new pal, James Hall, editor of Bassmaster magazine. hot baits yesterday were oxbow pattern Rat-L-Trap and Custom Carter’s Shaker chatterbait from Choo Choo lures. Most walleye fishermen have yet to discover the chatterbait as a high water weapon on the Miss.  It is my go-to bait when the ‘eyes are in the weeds–which is exactly where they are once water warms to about 70 degrees, because this is where they can find food and not fight current. Chatterbaits are pretty much weedless, with vibration triggering reflex strikes on walleyes which grow to substantial dimensions without eating anything which even comes close to looking like a chatterbait!

Fished with LeRoy, Joel and Jacob Saturday morning. The guys caught a very nice mixed bag of SMB, walleyes, northerns, LMB and WB–about 35 fish in a half-day trip. The River is beginning to fall nicely.  Action should get better and better for at least the next week or so…but 35 fish in 4 hrs. ain’t bad! This trip was 3 generations of very nice folks. Grandpa LeRoy and his son Jacob are accomplished bowhunters who have both harvested bucks substantially larger than the 174 which hangs over my fireplace. When looking for fish for these guys on Friday i only caught a few small bass and one channel cat over several hours. The wind was blowing pretty stiff out of the NW, so I’m thinking the slow bite was barometer related. 24 hours later, they had doubles on at least twice and a triple once in the same spots with the same presentation. As the saying goes, the Lord works in mysterious ways. LeRoy has been working for the Lord for over 40 years as a full-time pastor, so I was quite–and pleasantly surprised when I dropped them back at their vehicle and Pastor LeRoy pulled a case of Canadian Whiskey out of the trunk and gave it to me.  Earlier while fishing LeRoy commented on good whiskey, echoing advice his father had given him” good whiskey should tell you you’ve had a drink, but you shouldn’t drink enough to get stupid”. When he gave me the hooch he suggested I put just one ice cube in a glass, then pour in the entire bottle! Of course, this whiskey story is like a lot of fishing stories—the bottles were only 80ml each–the kind you get on an airplane. Just got home from honoring my mother-in-law on this Mother’s Day. The cube is about half-melted, the sun is getting low in the western sky and I’m gonna savor some good whiskey, stopping far short of getting stupid. Here’s looking at you LeRoy!

Went out fun fishing with Whipsaw jack this morning.Caught a variety of species, most on oxbow pattern Rat-L-Trap. Just got a new Okuma Komodo SS baitcast reel. Very, very smooth. Water temp is now a solid 60. Visibility is excellent, although River remains high. Supposed to fall all next week, which should result in even better fishing! NOAA tells me they may add “recreational action stage” to their flow chart. This would be about 625.2′ when the New Albin ramp closes due to high water.

Today I had Jack & Joe out in the boat–the other half of the 4 man crew(Shawn & Rory Two-Gar who fished yesterday) Neither Jack nor Joe had ever caught a toothy gar either. So we started where we ended up yesterday. On the 4th cast Joe tied into a mongo sheep about 15 lbs which provided quite a tussle. The guys then caught a sauger and a white bass, then Joe hooked into a gar about the same size as Rory Two Gar did the day before. A couple minutes after this gar was whupped, a monster gar-woofled Jack’s owbow pattern Rat-L-Trap, and the fight was on. Fish was far too big to net. jack finally got it along side the boat, Joe held me by the belt and I bear hug/wrestled it aboard: all 50.5″ of it. They hooked probably a dozen more, boating half of them and destroying two ‘Traps in the process. We only had about an hour left in the trip.  the guys wanted to go to the spot where Rory and Shawn did so well the day before. They were hooked up about every five minutes on nice walleyes, short walleyes, pike, white bass, SMB…and one more gar. Then Joe let go a cast which he said was ‘caught in the wind’. Lure ended up about 10 feet up in a tree. From this point forward Joe will be forever known as “Fishes For Eagles”. There is more to fishing than catching fish. It’s also about building relationships. We got back to the boat ramp with guts sore from laughing and hands sore from catching a pile of fish. Every day on the Immortal River is its own reward. For the past few days the bounty and rewards have been greater than great. The hammock is calling my name.  Belly is full of fried chicken, morels and fresh wild asparagus. think I’ll go listen to a cardinal and oriole lullaby.

Fished today with Rory & Shawn.  Dick Neefe took out their buddies jack & Joe. Jack had a card game for this crew. Every time you catch a fish, you draw a card–then make the best poker hand out of your cards. Rory & Shawn had 8 walleyes, 11, SMB, 5 WB, two sheep, 2 LMB, 2 pike and 3 gar..so plenty of cards to build a hand. Both guys caught their first gar ever. The day was about over when Rory hooked his first gar–a scrappy 36 incher. About four casts later he set into a BIG fish. Turned out to be a 45″ gar hooked in the tail. The battle was joined. Normally I’m pretty good with the net, but missed twice cuz I didn’t factor in a foot long beak. Meanwhile, Shawn hooks into a 31″ pike. Told Rory to hang on. He would have to wait for the net. Got the pike in and out of the net then started chasing the big gar with the MinnKota. The fish, Rory and me were all wearing out.  had to net the fish in the middle usually a major fox paws. But folding the critter was the only way to get it in the net. He plans on getting the gar mounted.  pretty cool lookin’ critter. and after a 20 minute fight, certainly good for a lifetime of stories!

About 10 days ago I found 89 grey morels by one little elm stump. When the sun came out after a week of rain and cold the big yellow guys were there. had to force myself to go lookin’ last night rather than going back to the well. As of yesterday, the yellow guys at this longitude/latitude are near the top of bluffs with a western exposure. Found most of ’em in a lovely copse of just deceased elms. The GPS coordinates of this location are:                       Today I have to take down a cherry tree off the back deck which has provided wonderful shade for years.  gonna leave a tall stump to tie some corn to next winter to drive Whipsaw Jack, our border collie, to distraction with squirrel activity. Might get out again tonite on fungi patrol. Think I’ll carry my new Sig Sauer .22 mosquito when mushroom hunting. The .44 mag just tears ’em up too much

Tom had already battled a couple of scrappy smallmouth bass on an Oxbow pattern Rat-l-Trap when a BIG fish bent his rod double. Thought it was a big pike. had to chase the fish downstream, then upstream with the MinnKota, netted just before it reached flooded timber–a 23″ brown trout!

Tom & Buck also caught a couple of quality walleye, numerous SMB and WB…every one of them on that Trap! This is the 2nd brownie in my Lund this year. The first, a 17″er hit my signature series Teddy Cat.  I know personally of four other brownies caught on the pool this Spring. More than I can ever remember.

Glad you found me on my fishing webpage! just got on Facebook and have already shot down 2 government drones flying over the compound using #4 buck lead shot. I have no problem with using toxic shot rather than steel, but need to pattern the gun as two wayward pellets hit my new Jolly Roger flag…much easier to find than a new confederate battle flag nowadays.

anyway, i’m gonna try to post fishing reports and similar insight here rather than on lake-link from now on. As a lake-link pro staff they promised a nice Frabill I-float suit for work i did in 2016. haven’t seen it yet, or received response from lake-link on several occasions because my queries were not directly related to them making more money

putting the whine down now. here’s the skinny on the Miss: River levels at Genoa are creeping slowly into the ‘action’ stage, which means all the dam gates are open. Water is up in the trees but not significantly impacting backwaters which load from downstream. As a result, ‘clear’ water is pretty easy to find. Visibility > 2′ is one key to fish location.  Also, fish don’t like to fight the current. So, we’re looking for clear water with little current. Also, warm water is important. The cold front we had last week dropped water temps a full 10 degrees, down to 47. It has been on the rise as we’re about to start the 4th beautiful May day in a row. Fishing has been incrementally better in this time frame. Temp is now at 56 in flowing water off of the main channel where I’m gonna start fishing in a couple of hours.

The final major–and it really is MAJOR–key in getting your string stretched just about anytime is FOOD. Find water >56 degrees with >2′ visibility and minimal current to fight and the buffet of minnows and benthic macroinvertebrates which fish wanna eat right now is there and the fish are biting.

One of my favorite bird- dogs is the lowly gar. Ol’ ugly is an eating machine. If you see fish activity on the surface of quiet waters now, it is likely gar–tough to hook intentionally, but they often oblige by wrapping their beaks in the line.

Yesterday Tom and Mike missed several strikes, then figured out they were gar when Tom actually caught a couple. But they ALSO tangled with a couple of SMB and white bass. Moved to a different but similar spot. Gar bird dogged more WB,SMB, LMB, 3 quality walleyes and a couple of short ones.

Why would walleyes be hanging around over a mud flat in 4 f.o.w.???Just got done telling you!

Today, I’m gonna go back to the ‘well’ first, then frog around looking for some crappies.

Although I plan on revealing a lot more info here on my very own webpage, many pertinent details and the voodoo behind consistently catching fish on the enigma wrapped in mystery which is the Immortal Mississippi will only be available in my boat in exchange for a working man’s wage.

If you don’t think guiding is hard work, think again. I’ve gotta go grab some cheddar before continuing with this whine. The river beckons. Time to don the loincloth, strap on the sharp knife, and head out. Thanks for visiting tedpeckfishing.com.

See you right here real soon, gotta go…gotta guide

 

 

 

 

 

Thousands of mallards are milling over the Mississippi River bottoms now, a sure indicator spring is at hand–a good 30 days earlier than we’ve seen in the past 10 years. Dad always used to say “ducks fly by the weather, geese by the calendar”. This is an absolute truth!  God’s creatures have intuition far beyond the most astute meaty urologist. They know seasonal change is at hand. this morning we got a dusting of snow. The River is on the rise, and should reach minor flood stage by Feb. 27.  This wouldn’t be the case if the northcountry wasn’t shaking off winter.  This will mean its time to spend a little time trout fishing. last year the Miss stayed outrageously high throughout the summer and into the fall. This condition persisted into winter–a major reason we will soon see minor flood stage on pool 9.  Weather in the upper Midwest in the next month or so will profoundly impact fishing at least until mid summer. Will April showers arrive in March?  Guess we’ll have to wait and see. The ducks believe this is the case. They will continue to push north as weather permits.