Mississippi Fishing Report

[HD]

Feb. 15, 2011. Mississippi River, The open water bite down on pool four is fairly slow, but anyday the fish will start smacking. Some guys are getting a few, but the bite is not there yet. Also many of the fish are deep in one small area, and I dislike fishing this deep because if they are small the fish have a hard time living upon the release (I imagine this is do to the water pressure on their organs). One odd note from my most recent boat float...I ran into a good friend on the river and he was in a deep eddy jigging and catching channel cats! I dropped line by him as he could careless if I fished by him, and got a nice catfish right away. I was using a double rig with a plastic tail and minnow, but they would not hit the minnow only the plastic. There was a pile of these cats stacked in this spot and though the walleye and sauger were biting slow the cats were on fire. Hard to know why one specie is on the go and the other on the stop? Keeps things fun I suppose, interesting at the least. Also Dan, my friend was getting his on a jigging spoon no bait.
I see the water changing color soon from a clear winter to a more stained water color, as a result of three days in a row of above 32 degree temperatures and the subsequent snow melt. More of a stained river water will move the fish shallow, and then fishing deep will not be necessary.
Take care and keep catchin'
Turk Gierke

(Copied from "Croixsippi Fishing Guide Service")