purple killer jig. LIQUID WILLOWCAT on both hair and plastic. No live bait.

Inclement weather MIGHT open up boat launches at New Albin & Lansing village Creek. Even if this happens gonna keep a real close eye on ice movement out of backwaters.

Several females up to 25″ yesterday @ Guttenburg. WAter temp 3 degrees warmer here than up on 8 below Dresbach dam where smaller males and saugers have been almost aggressive.

The North 1-90 ramp here is barely accessible during the best time times due to extreme siltation. Took almost an hour to recover the boat a couple days ago cuz ice BLOCKS moved in covering essentially the entire water column.
Problem solved with ice spud & 4WD

A couple different scenarios are possible over the next 10 days IF the ice continues to recede.

1. Pool level will remain essentially unchanged, providing tailwater access with a serious shot at a fat girl once temps warm past 36
2. River will rise substantially with added snowmelt coming from upstream, opening many downstream opportunities for both ‘eyes & perch,

Apologies for blogging in 2 installments. My computer has a mind of its own, like the River, But the computer doesn’t respond to common sense or time spent wrestling with the entity like the River does.

If you decide to head out on the River be very, very careful! Don’t launch the boat unless you have a solid plan B option for loading it. The only way this can be achieved on Pool 9 for the short haul is a 90 minute drive to access ramps on the East side.

Not about to take clients on this kind of adventure.

River dynamics will change a great deal between now and the start of my guide season March 15. Forecasts call for rain, warming temperatures and wind over the next 72 hours.

This should change the River access picture a great deal on the west side of pool 9. As of this morning there are no open boat ramps on the west side of the River from Marquette Ia. to Brownsville, Mn. There are several access points on the Wisconsin side.

Demolition of the Lansing bridge last fall will make access from the West side challenging between now and sometime 2027. The Harper’s Ferry launch is open. But getting to the Lynxville dam requires navigating through an oxbow to get the River mainstem. Launch is possible, However sometime half of Antarctica is waiting to break loose upstream with a good chance of blocking you’re egress route back to the launch.

I’ve been on the River five days this month, launching below the Dresbach dam at the I90 ramp on pool 8 and Guttenberg city ramp on Pool 11.

The walleye bite has been predictable. Water temp 32-34 degrees. Water clarity decent. Walleyes holding in 19-27 fow, saugers in 27-40+. I won’t fish deeper than 30 feet to avoid barotrauma to fish coming out of cold water.

Productive techniques have been Snap-jigging B-Fsih-N tackle B3 blades in gold and orange glow, pitching/dragging 1/2-ounce orange pyrokeet Precision jigs with Purple firecracker Ribb Finn plastic and purple

The Immortal Mississippi is screaming my name. Most years I’m chasing ‘eyes by the last week in February. This year ice will keep me away until at least March 7.

There are several access points on the Wisconsin side below the dams at Genoa & Lynxville. With the Lansing bridge out Lynxville tailwaters are my closest option, launching At Harper’s Ferry.

Fishing dam tailwaters at ice out is profoundly dangerous. The dilemma boils down to risk/reward. The short window between ice out locally and substantial runoff from snowmelt is one of the two best times to potentially dance with a walleye of PB proportions.

The other big fish window is just before winter’s arrival is heralded by departure of tundra swans.

Last fall the bird white birds left two days after Thanksgiving. This was my last open water trip of 2025. I had just five bites. The smallest fish was 25″. Three days later the iceman cometh.

Wednesday seemed like a good day for a road trip. I headed for Guttenberg. Used to fish there a bunch in the last century before moving upstream to Pool 9.

Murray’s Outdoor store on the south side of town was a MUST stop. This is the only place I know of where 1 1/2 ounce jigs can be found. The phone # @ Murray’s is 563.252.3138.

My three fave ways to chase big ice out walleyes on the Miss are snap-gigging B-Fish-N Tackle B3 bladebaits. Vertical jigging Northland Tackle Buckaroo hair jigs and pulling three-ways with a stickbait like a #9 Rapala on the long dropper. The shot dropper is about 6″ long, requiring considerable weight–especially once runoff becomes a factor.

heavy sinkers are one solution for solving the weight issue. But i’ve NEVER caught a walleye on a sinker and jigheads weighing an ounce or more are hard to come by.

I like to run a 5″ purple, white or chartreuse fliptail on the jig–or a B-Fish-N Tackle plastic, usually in purple or firecracker.

After shooting the breeze with the boys at the baitshop for an hour I went to check the ramp behind the Casey’s in Guttenburg.

It was right around the time that the Casey’s opened here that an incident at this ramp made a lifelong impression. Angling legend Jimmie Oberfoell just showed up. We were gonna take my boat and start fishing down in Ackerman’s cut about 3/4 mile downstream from the dam. A couple other rigs were there, too. We were all waiting for some giant ice floes to pass before putting the boats in.

We heard the sound of a small outboard across the River. A few minutes later a silver shallow vee boat–maybe 12’ long came putting out of Ackerman’s heading back to the ramp.

We all watched in horror as the lone occupant tried to navigate between the floes. The little Johnson outboard pushing this boat didn’t have the power to dodge between floes. The boat was caught between two huge chunks. It looked and sounded like somebody crushing a Coors can under a Muck boot.

The boater disappeared for a minute , then popped up–clinging for dear life to one of the floes. For just a couple minutes. Then he just slipped away.

There is nothing any off us standing at the ramp could have done. I don’t know if his body has ever been recovered.

Looking east from the ramp this morning my mind’s eye replayed the scene. Seems like it happened yesterday. But it was 30-40 years ago, bringing to mind Grandpa’s sage observation ‘ On the River all mistakes must be paid for immediately. Sometimes in full.

Don’t be in a hurry to get out there! I plan to start the 2026 guide season on March 15.

After more than 70 trips around the sun every single day i get to chase walleyes on my beloved River in March are few…and so, so precious. But stupid isn’t going to be part of the equation.

Tundra music overhead prompted me to look up from my spring bobber and smile on Valentine’s Day. The big white birds are harbingers of rapidly approaching winter.

Two days after Thanksgiving they were flying tall, loud and southbound. The walleye bite was aggressive on B-3 blades. Old guy wisdom says three days after the tundras leave, the River ices over. Once again natural wisdom insight was spot on.

Sadly, I missed the part about tundra’s return from the Chesapeake when my mentors were passing the Korbel around the old surplus army stove.

There was 16 inches of good, clear ice in the backwater where lotsa little gills and a few keepers were making the spring bobber dance on a Chekai tungsten jig in Sam Darnold’s old colors. I’m even happier about not settling in Minnesota than I am about leaving Illinois.

Refugees from both these states will be welcome in my Lund when the guide shingle goes back up on March 15. This will be my last year working. Yeah, I said that last year. But teaching secrets of the immortal River to those who really want to listen are still a driving force in life, and this precious life force can change for the worse or end at any time with 7 plus decades on the planet already downstream.

With essentially every backwater, running slough and even the river mainstem pretty much locked up in ice on Feb. 14 I couldn’t help wondering what kind of cosmic compass goaded this vee of about 20 birds to push north. did the Creator whisper refuge and a happy loafing area are somewhere on the Pool I’ve never been?

Valentine’s Day has no natural significance other than my bride of 54 years seeming quite happy that i’m headed out the door with a bucket full of short rods.

Feb. 12 is an entirely different manner. For some reason this has been the day crappies start biting aggressively on Li’l Cecils–either purple or gold–half way down in the water column of DeSoto Bay and more cloistered spots on Pool 9.

My fishing diary confirms this subjective belief over the past 20 years, regardless of ambient temperatures. Data for 2026 is missing cuz i was coming back from South Alabama after an extended mental health escape.

We’ve had a long, brutally cold winter. The roughest in at least 10 years. But runoff from temps tickling 50 was already making the ice pop on Valentine’s Day, with open water at the tailwaters and in tribs increasing in surface area by the hour.

I plan on launching the boat on Monday or Tuesday, either alone or with a couple of kindred spirits who have managed to avoid compulsory attendence at a sanity hearing thus far.

The Mississippi is a dangerous, unforgiving place, even during quiet times. But ice in various configurations will make fishing even more treacherous and hazardous in open water and at the boat ramp for another month at least.

I’ve never been a fan of “bumper boats” at the tailwaters, avoiding this circus if there is any open water downstream. Looks like a red rubber nose and orange fright rig. Will be part of the attire besides my Striker float suit for at least a couple more weeks.

We still have plenty of winter weather ahead. But if the ambient temp is above 32 degrees the eyes on my St. Croix rods won’t freeze and these sensitive sticks will be in a state of perpetual bendage, Lord willin’

Fishing was a major topic of conversation yesterday as the fmaily foregathered for a holiday feast. My nephew Darrin is a BASS tourney guy, now good enough to be cashing some checks.

He is a technological angler. Maybe one of the last sportfishers whose passion for the sport was born from actual understanding of the way nature works.

He has all the toys needed to compete professionally, including that damnable forward facing sonar. But when Darrin showed me what an AI driven Google search can do for an angler discovering the joy and challenge of fishing ‘new’ water it forced me to ponder continuing with this blog and write one more book taking a deep dive on all popular fish species on the upper Miss and how to catch them under different conditions throughout the year.

There is some comfort in knowing any river is more challenging than deciphering a fish catching program on the average lake. This enigmatic proposition is true in SPADES on the Upper Miss, where nearly seven decades of experience which began on the shoulders of three previous generations of true River Rats has simply provided a good base from which to start fishin’.

With an AI driven Google search of a specific fishery the techno angler is about to step off the fly section of an extension ladder on to a roof over a raging house fire with zero knowledge about placement of the ladder rungs which brought him to the roof in the first place.

Darrin told me to pick a lake–any lake–and tell him the general conditions and species being sought. I selected 7000 acre Crab Orchard Lake in southern Illinois where i chased crappies dozens of times under cloudy skies with mid-40s water and ambient temps in the fall until moving way up the River about 20 years ago.

Darrin’s shiny object query told him where to start fishin’ , what baits/colors to use…and even which coves and causeways would likely be most productive….sort of like waking up on 3rd base believing you just hit a triple.

Darrin said that AI essentially takes in every word that was ever spoken or published about late November crappie fishing on a cloudy day on Crab Orchard Lake and compressed it into the nut of things on his shiny object.

Why should I write a book which includes precise information on catching trophy walleyes on the upper Mississippi River under threatening skies the day after Thanksgiving which ambient temps below freezing and water temp just five degrees warmer?

I will be out there shortly after posting this blog, prepared to deal with unspoken hazards and situations should they arise goaded by sometimes painful experience from a lifetime on this water.

This part of the equation would not be available to the techno angler about to step off that allegorical top ladder rung on to a roof over an inferno planning to vent the roof with saw, axe & pike…not talking northerns here, kids.

Almost all access points to the walleyes on Pool 9 will be covered with ice by Monday with the probable sitution we’ll be lightfooting out there with hardwater gear by Dec. 10–the 1st day we were able to get out there in 2024.

If your shiny object says its time to waltz out there with the short sticks I hope AI tells you to fill the hand which holds the screen with an ice spud…just sayin’

My guide book is officially closed for the year. Sincere Thanks to all who shared the boat with me in 2025.

Water temp on Pool 9 today is 47 degrees. It has been consistent for a week now. i’ve been on the water the past 4 consecutive days, chasing walleyes & SMB with generally good success. At least in the pursuit of happiness.

It takes me an hour every single day to get in harmony with the River, even though I’m usually out there 4-5 days a week during the open water period.

This time is short. maybe a month. maybe more, maybe less. Active fish are still in <10 fow. Today I started where i left off yesterday. The fish were still there. today they wanted cranks pulled @ 2.2 mph. at least at that spot. On other spots with similar habitat parameters they wanted cranks casted, plastics pulled or snap-jigged blades. Feels good to be on fish. Good fish.

There was a stiff SW breeze under leaden and ominous skies when the only fat girl slurped in a B-Fish-N Pulse R pulled slow over rocks on a 1/4 oz black draggin’ jig. She was photo-worthy at just over 25 inches. It was then i realized my smart phone was at home.

This generated a metaphysical discourse with a comforting outcome. No need to share a pic on social media. I have nothing to prove to anybody. There were no boats as far as the eye could see. All alone on the mighty Miss. No other humans far as the eye could see in all directions.

There was unmistakable electricity in the air of pending weather change. When you essentially live in a treestand or on the water the interaction with nature is magnified manifold. All God’s creatures feel the vibe. maybe that’s why the fish were on the chew today.

All alone under leaden, ominous skies on a truly powerful force of nature. I felt small and insignificant, but at peace, cuz I knew where I was supposed to be and what I was meant to do. Such a situation might be intimidating, even fearful.

I thought of the 23rd Psalm. I smiled. The freedom of being alone out on that Grand River is exhilarating. Every single day is a gift from the Creator. Psalm 90 says measure and treasure each one. Lotsa good stuff in Psalms and in the Good Book overall.

A chunky 18″ walleye interrupted mental calisthenics. It went in the box. Perfect feed for my wife the Admiral & me tomorrow night.

it’s a great day when you lose track of how many times you set the hook. It was getting dark when I backed the Lund into the pole barn and cleaned the fish. Time for some leftover Jambalaya, two fingers of good bourbon and kickin’ back in front of the fireplace.

Happy and at peace. The only topic requiring attention between now and tomorrow is where to start fishin’ in the morning. tight lines, y’all

Water temps on Pool 9 are hovering around 50 degrees right now, signaling the last hoo-rah for aggressive SMB and walleye movement in preparation for the cold water period.

In fall when water temp drops to 50 degrees walleyes start to bite both more aggressively and for longer time frames, often in very shallow water on top of rocky structure.

There are some days when eelgrass makes anything but a single hook presentation virtually impossible–and single hook presentation tough.

If weeds are manageable I like to position the Lund with the stern in the 5-7 foot contour with the angler in the bow casting #7-9 shad Raps or similar crankbaits and the fisher in the stern swimming A B-Fish-N Tackle Pulse R plastic on a 1/4 oz. Draggin’ jig DIPPED IN LIQUID WILLOWCAT just over the rocks against the current.

On any given day one presentation will be more effective than the other. A couple little tricks make a HUGE difference when retrieving cranks parallel to rock when water temps are 46-54: Pulsing the retrieve in short bursts and changing direction of the retrieve when there’s about 5 feet of line out when you’re about to complete the retrieve to make another cast.

No need to ‘figure 8’ like you do for muskie. but walleye behavior is similar. If they are tracking you’re bait and think the bait is trying to escape being dogged by changing direction they will chase and chomp it. Sometimes almost 50 % off all ‘eyes strike within five feet of the boat!

Active walleyes hang somewhere between 7-13 fow all summer long. When water temps drop below 48 they start to stair-step deeper in the water column. 10, 14 than finally 20+ feet when surface temp dips below 42.

As the eyes move deeper I switch to Precision jigheads in ‘pyrokeet’ color , beginning with 3/16 oz. and either ringworm or Ribb-Finn profiles. Regarding colors–if visibility is >2 ft. some variation of purple firecracker with a chartreuse or white tail.

Sometimes I’ll go with hair jigs when water is below 45 degrees in a simple vertical lift-n-drop drift within 1 ft. of the bottom at the depth contour where fish are holding that day. Sometimes i’ll add a plastic fliptail with liquid Willowcat if a stinger hook isn’t needed. I haven’t used a minnow doing a hair jig drift in years.

When water temps drop below 45 degrees I like to swim plastics in a quartering retrieve downstream within inches of the bottom–or my absolute favorite way to walleye fish ;snap jigging blade baits.

Like many other presentations, snap jigging is a study in nuances with specific tackle to present the blade, which brings us to another number: I haven’t been on the water for almost 24 hours. Adios!

About 20 years ago I did a blog with the same headline. A radical lesbian took umbrage and did her best to get me canceled.

The only rationale i could come up with this vicious attack on my 1st Amendment rights was that she must have struggled catching bass in September when all fishing parameters seemed just about perfect.

That’s the tie-in with menopausal women. My sweet wife of 54 years and i survived menopause. Men tend to be consistent during this life passage. Men may be jerks–but at least we are consistent.

Mood swings in a woman going thru menopause tend to come for no logic or rational reason.

“I love you, you rotten S.O.B” pretty much sums it up. Fishin’ has been tough on pool 9 for over a week for no logical or rational reason–except for an amazing amount of eel grass working downstream limiting presentation to essentially a single hook.

Water temp is 70 degrees–exceptionally warm for the day before October. River level is near-perfect. Water clarity is good. Weather is stable.

From a logical and rational perspective, fishin’ for bass and other species should be somewhere between good and excellent.

But lately, success rhymes with ‘ducks’ and ‘trucks’. The only rational conclusion i can come up with is is too much easy food in the water column.

Prey species have plenty of weeds, wood & rocks to hide in with species numbers at their highest point of the year. All a predator has to do is open its mouth and swallow a tasty, natural meal–without a hook in it.

A single hook like a jig, NED or wacky rigged senko in a finesse presentation just isn’t as desirable as a pod of baitfish swimming cluelessly in front fo a fish face.

Reaction bites are tough, cuz eelgrass usually finds the hooks before a fish does. The typical gamefish hook up rate between 5-10 per hour is now maybe one–especially with walleyes, which are a little smarter than stupid bass or pike.

Like menopause or a lesser glitch in rational consistency which younger females struggle with every 28 days the best advice this old guide with more than a half century with both menopausal women & September bass can offer is find something to occupy your time away from the love of your life.

Do NOT put yourself in an adversarial relationship with fish or women during these trying times. Fish just shut their mouths. Women don’t.

Think I’ll go squirrel hunting tomorrow.

Eelgrass is a MAJOR factor on pool 9 now. 20×20′ rafts of the stuff are easing down the main channel and clogging running sloughs.

Water temp on the river was 69 on Sept 23, down from 73 last weekend. The week before that it had dropped to 62, waking fish for their fall bite. With warm weather predicted over the next 5 days, many of the scaly critter will likely go back to snoozing–with the exception of bass which are even dumber than they normally are–and bluegills which are hanging in both rocks & wood.

Walleyes have been coming over the gunnel at a rate of about 1 per hour the past couple weeks. part of the reason is weeds, the other major factor water temp.

Perusing the fishing diary that i’ve kept for over 40 years, the surface water temp for Sept. 20 is a solid 10 degrees warmer than the ‘norm’ for the past 20 years 9with just a couple of outliers)

The diary also says Oct 12-20 offers some of the best fall action for SMB, eyes, pike & crappies. I hope to be out there every day during that time period. There are four days when i would consider guiding but not looking real hard for work.

Seems like every other trip a fish that refuses to be tamed decides to take the bait. Yesterday I was fun fishin’ for bluegills at a deep scour hole full of wood below a wingdam that usually gives up 3-4 tanks, fishin’ a bucket-sized opening between two tree trunks.

I was pondering why there were no bites when my 9′ St. Croix panfish rod bent DOUBLE, Then the fish got mad. I use 15 lb. braid on my panfish rods. If you’re fishin’ where the fish are, you’re gonna get hung up. With braid and a little technique you can get the hook back about 90% of the time, bend it back to function nd get back to fishin’.

The beast that ate my 1/32 oz. jig wrapped me up in wood twice, but came free with steady pressure. 15 minutes later I only had about 6′ of line out from the rod tip, 5′ away from the boat in a tangle of timber.

Ol’ ugly finally gave in to the pressure, hooked in the lip of a wide flat head, clearly visible just a couple inches below the surface, impossible to net. One Stevie Wonder headshake and the hook popped free, essentially bent straight.

She was at least 15 lbs. I don’t think she could have been much bigger. But tangling with a 15 lb. mudcat on a 9′ panfish pole in a woody jungle is about as good as fishin’ gets.

Putting a client on this kinda thrill is very gratifying. On the other hand, there are a finite number of times this will happen for me on this side of the dirt.

You can always make more money. You can never make more time

Glancing up at towering bluffs which shield the mysteries of pool 9 on the Immortal River the splendor of fall color is clearly visible behind the facade of late summer greenery.

Focusing on the business of serious fishin’ electronics should reveal a surface temperature in the low 60’s–maybe upper 50’s.
Just one week ago the river was flowing at a cool 61 degrees, maybe a couple degrees warmer on a sunny afternoon. She was flowing near action stage. Walleyes & bluegills weren’t biting aggressively on the wingdam rocks like they typically are by mid-September–and the leafy sentinels guarding the River’s passage were a serious summer green.

The carpet simply hasn’t matched the drapes so far this month–with the exception of eel grass sliding downstream making lure presentation ‘challenging’ most of the time.

On 9/11 the River level started falling toward typical summer pool levels. Three days later the water temp had rien a solid 12 degrees, goading fish to ponder instead of pounce.

Fish activity became incrementally better as we eased into mid-week with stable water temperatures and River level–even with grass forcing pretty much a single hook presentation to consistently hook up..

The white bass activity which was rampant on rocks and current seams on 9/11 with water temps in the 60’s has slowed from frenzy time to one or two between a pretty easy SMB bite with the occasional bonus walleye.

With River levels remaining stable these willing scrappers are subtly herding shad waiting for a 10 degree drop in water temperature to signal go-time.

Bluegills are now on the rocks in good numbers, crappies are staged in deep water trees about halfway down in the water column, willing to bite but not exactly eager yet.

With nature getting back in sync over the next couple weeks green bass will be dogging balls of baitfish in typically unproductive spots back in the running sloughs and joining pike to chase bluegills on the rocks.

A lifetime on the Mississippi has taught the importance of LISTENING TO THE RIVER. Curve balls like rapid & significant changes in water temperature and River level will always slow the bite for a couple days.

A change in wind direction carrying barometric pressure movement can have a similar effect. A passing towboat can have the same impact. Fishing can go from red hot to stone cold in a matter of minutes.

but the changes can go the other way, too. if you’re in harmony with the River you can actually FEEL it and take advantage of the bounty–just like dipping birds which see white bass or smallies chasing minnow to the surface.

eyeballs glued to the screen of a Forward Facing sonar might reveal bass hanging suspended off a tall muddy bank which didn’t look “fishy”, but eyes trained by grandpa to recognize a colony of crawdad holes on the bank often has fishers diving for landing nets before those folks playing NASCAR on the water bring their flashy , rude rockets down off of plane.

When the veil of green pulls back from the bluffs to reveal full autumn splendor in just a couple weeks most of humanity will leave the river to chase other dreams.

This ol’ dog can hardly wait. The time is fast approaching when the river might even see my Lund on a Saturday!