Current, as every good angler knows, plays a strong hand in how walleyes set up on cover and structure to rest and feed. In a large river system, such as the Mississippi River, anglers deal with an array of variables, from weather conditions to angling pressure, each time they hit the water. Current, however, is one of the few constants.
With current always being at the top of a checklist for river worries, it’s almost ironic to consider the best way to locate and catch river walleyes is often to actually look for more slack water, whether it be a backwater slough or simply a current seam on the downstream side of a large point. Even the backside of a wing dam can offer reprieve to a current-weary walleye. Knowing these basic river principles and the best way to take advantage of them is the foundation of what makes a good river angler.
Walleye pro Joe Whitten of Toledo, Ohio, knows the importance of finding those slack-water refuges, particularly in a rising-water situation, when current becomes even more severe.
“I try to look for various types of cover that will create current seams,” Whitten said, “such as points that protrude way out that change the current flow. Last year, when we were at Red Wing (Minn.), the current was rising, so it was particularly important to look for any area with slower water.”
Many anglers know the advantages of working mud lines for fish of various species, including walleyes. Predatory fish will often stage and hide in darker water on one side of a mud line and nab baitfish as they pass by in the clearer water. Whitten noted that slack water meeting heavy current creates a similar ambush opportunity for walleyes, in addition to an available resting area. These current seams were just the thing to look for during Whitten’s practice period prior to the 2006 Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour event at Red Wing.
“I was working my trolling setup from the slack water into the current,” Whitten said. “The walleyes were using that edge almost as cover. When the water was really rising, fish were relating to the backsides of the largest points, and those current lines were a really easy thing to see. During practice, I had some days when I pulled 40 to 60 quality fish.”
In essence, the areas Whitten was targeting were the same as an eddy created below a bridge piling or large boulder – they were just on a scale large enough that walleyes were able to relate to key features within them, and covering water via trolling crankbaits became a practical and effective presentation.
Because these are large areas, walleyes aren’t everywhere within them, so Whitten doesn’t immediately motor into an area, grab a few rods and flip the spools on his line counters. His slack-pool approach is much the same as a lake-trolling checklist. He begins by looking for fish themselves, if he can see them, and humps, breaklines and subtle temperature changes on his electronics before wetting a lure. Hard bottom areas, such as pea gravel, clam and mussel beds are also worth investigation. Many times, these areas are given away simply by observing the shoreline composition. If it looks like pea gravel is extending out onto a flat, it probably is.
Once Whitten marks fish, or at the very least, promising structure, he knows how to position his crankbaits. In most of the areas he found at Red Wing in 2006, that was 6 inches to a foot off bottom, which is often the case for fish holding in current.
Trolling extraordinaire and river specialist Scott Allar of Welch, Minn., who finished second at the 2006 FLW Walleye Tour Red Wing event, knows the point/trolling pattern well, and he knows electronics can be a tremendous aid when fishing this pattern.
“That’s a good late-fall and early spring pattern,” Allar said. “When they’re relating to slack areas behind points, you can often see them on your electronics and fish for them like that. But there are many good-looking points on the Mississippi that don’t hold fish for one reason or another; you just have to fish through them until you find the right one.”
Most of the best walleye areas in any fishery are near deep breaks where fish can move from the safety of deeper water into shallower water, grab a bite and quickly retreat. With rising water in a river setting, as was the case at Red Wing, many of the pools Whitten was trolling were much larger than normal, and therefore, higher water levels made the breaklines deeper and positioned the walleyes accordingly. Breaklines that were normally 7 to 8 feet deep, for example, were 12 and 14 feet deep in the rising water, so fish were more willing to come in a little closer to the bank to grab a bite. Whitten said his trolling setup, which employed four rods, two 10-footers on the outside and two 5-footers on the inside, placed the end eyes of the 10-footers almost touching the bank at times.
Backwater and sloughs
Points and other current obstructions that create current seams on the main river aren’t the only slack-water areas to troll on rivers, however. Although many great rivers across the country have been channelized and straightened over the years, which has drained a lot of their precious backwater systems, Mississippi River anglers are still blessed with miles and miles of backwater cuts, ponds, swamps and sloughs, and many of these areas hold walleyes at times, especially in the spring, as they tend to warm faster than the main river system.
Buffalo Slough in Pool 4 of the Mississippi, where the Buffalo River empties in, is a good example. River fish almost universally prefer at least some current, so it’s important to look for flows, albeit reduced ones, in backwater systems. Springtime is the most consistent time of year to find these conditions.
“Depending on water conditions and flow, the slough areas are usually better when the water is up with more current,” Allar said. “When the flow is down, fish will move into deeper areas in the sloughs. Those areas are deeper in the first place because the current has washed them out. But when the river is high and the flow is up, fish move out of those because the current is just too strong for them.”
Allar knows many Mississippi River sloughs like the back of his hand, but the places that hold fish are usually the same feature-wise, giving the pro ammunition he needs when approaching a new backwater area.
“Normally, if I’m going to an unfamiliar backwater, I look for holes and deeper sections,” Allar said. “If the flow is low, such as in midsummer, I look for places that have the most current. But when it’s high, like in the spring, I try and fish more up on flats with reduced current. It’s difficult to use your electronics to actually find fish relating to current because they’re hugging bottom in a situation like that, and they’re tough to see.”
Promising backwater areas may not be large, but it doesn’t take much room to hold a few hungry walleyes. Many times, the bottom composition in these areas varies widely, as it’s constantly being reshaped in high-water conditions.
“You might be trolling in 6 feet of water at the beginning of your path, then get into 12 feet and have to adjust, and then suddenly jump back up to 6 feet,” Allar said. “And these holes are usually pretty small. If you get to troll 1,000 feet, a lot of the time that’s a pretty good troll in a backwater.”
Big rivers can fall as quickly as they rise, particularly with dam regulation, and nowhere is the change more quickly evident than in a backwater. When Whitten begins noticing falling water, he knows walleyes in the area are noticing the change as well and will quickly adjust accordingly.
“If the water suddenly drops, fish will generally pull out in a hurry and relocate to the first flat, point or breakline on the outside edge of the slough,” he said. “The same thing can be seen on the main river in front of wing dams if the water rises. Fish will quickly relocate to the backside of the wing dam, away from the flow.”
Crankbaits are king
There’s something in a walleye’s tiny little brain that tells it to eat a crankbait once the water temperature approaches 50 degrees, which is usually around the end of April or the first part of May in most of Walleye Land. With most spawning activity slowing down, fish are hungry and dispersing at that time.
“I’ve found in the Mississippi River that they really start going nuts when the water hits about 45 degrees,” Whitten said. “That’s when I pull out my crankbaits. I usually bring my regular trolling gear, as well as handline gear for when the water really gets dirty and full of debris.”
“Much below 50 degrees and it’s usually a jig and plastic pattern,” Allar said. “But when it approaches 50 degrees, fish begin to disperse, and at that point, you just have to cover water. Trolling a crankbait is the fastest way to do that.”
The pros’ picks for springtime river cranks aren’t surprising. Both have a soft spot for Rapala Shad Raps. Whitten especially likes pulling Glass Shad Raps in addition to the traditional balsa models.
“All the Glass Shad Raps, No. 5s and 7s, as well as anything with a rattle, were producing for me last year at Red Wing,” Whitten said. “The Matzuo Prism Shad was really good during practice as well. Once the tournament actually began, I was using a Jointed Shad Rap in red crawdad.”
Allar is also a fan of Shad Raps, as well as the Berkley Frenzy Flicker Shad. He pointed out that when trolled on 18-pound-test lead core with a 30-foot FireLine leader, he knows the depth numbers for these two crankbaits by heart, and most of them are dead-on accurate right out of the box.
Whitten usually doesn’t use lead core when trolling slack-river pools, as he hasn’t found it necessary due to the often shallow depths and short distances involved. Instead, he spools his line counters with 10-pound Berkley Trilene backing and tips it with 14-pound smoke FireLine.
“The most important thing to remember in all of that is to be sure all of my reels are spooled exactly the same,” Whitten said. “It’s a lot easier to tell my partners how much line to let out to be sure all the lures are ticking the bottom, rather than just assuming they’re ticking the bottom. That becomes especially important when I’m approaching a hump or a breakline. I can just give an exact number of feet to put on the line counters based on my prefishing experience.”
Other trolling methods, including spinner rigs and live bait, planer boards and bottom bouncing, have their place at times in river systems, particularly in the flats of large lake areas in the summertime, such as Lake Pepin. But for trolling backwaters and current seams, lead core or straight FireLine on a crankbait is tough to beat. Rivers are often loaded with debris that makes other presentations impractical. When debris fouls a crankbait, it’s usually instantly detectable. In addition, the short distances and confined spaces of backwater and current-seam trolling make straight FireLine and lead core the fastest, handiest trolling option available.
Walleye anglers love springtime rivers for the diversity they offer. They’re rarely confined to one presentation or another. Setting up trolling rigs to cover current seams and backwaters just may be the most important tactic to learn on your river-fishing checklist this season.
