Rock River Spring Walleye River 2003

Jeff, what kind/color of boat do you have? Dang, I just bought about every color of the Fin-tech jigs but the black/orange ones. Hopefully by Sunday the hot color will switch back to the glow/green! I wish I could get out sooner but I have to earn my time with a family day on Saturday and then thank the good Lord early Sunday for my fishing time from noon to dark before I can get out. If anyone else is out Sunday afternoon (don’t know why you wouldn’t be!) I’ll be out with my brother in my giant bathtub (aka, 9′ Pond Prowler pontoon) so don’t be afraid to flag me down. It’d be nice to match up some anglers with some real faces. See you on the river!

Gregg

always willing to try new things….

Hey Jeff (BOLA)
Finally made it to your new site, it’s great. Still trying to figure everything out. I have one question, I’ll be bringing my 12′ rowboat w/ a trolling motor, would I be better off staying up by Jefferson or down where the Bark enters the Rock? I can throw it in just about anywhere I can get to water. No locator unfortunatly.
FSHRMN

don’t you guys think it’s about time to start a new post. i’m getting a headsche trying to follow everything thats going on, on here.

just a thought.

Well Jake, then take a couple aspirin and get out on the water and relax, you’ve been spending too much time staring at a computer screen and need some fresh air. Didn’t you hear, the fish are biting!

hey databoy,

took your advise. took some asprine and headed out fishing today. the headache went away, but the fish sure didn’t bite. oh well, maybe tomorrow.

Hey Jake, sorry to hear that you didn’t get any but at least you were lucky enough to get out. I’m giving it a try Sunday and will let you all know how it goes. Good luck to you tomorrow too.

Spent the day with Bola ( Jeff Patrick)
Those “Zone -R” by Fin-tech do catch fish.

Again Thanks Jeff For a great day fishing.
Good luck Sunday

Starting fishing just north of the Kmart launch in 4′ water at 11:45 and boated a 18″ walleye just before noon on char/green 1/4 oz Knuckle-Ball jig & magnum fathead. Not a bad way to start my open water season. About fifteen minutes later I got a sheephead in the mid 20″ range. Nothing else the rest of the afternoon until 4 or so, fishing within a mile north & south of the launch. Thanks for the help BOLA, your advice made me feel like an expert right off the bat! Unfortunately I’m probably done until next Friday night or Saturday morning, too bad they’re already forecasting cold and rain/snow. Thanks again Jeff, if you got anymore advice just let me know I’m all ears. Next I guess it’s time to find the hot spots.

fished the rock saturday and sunday. finally met jeff who was fishing with we fish. really nice guys who helped us out a lot. we should have stayed with them as they had some nice keepers and we only had one. finally found some nice fish on sunday as we took jeffs advice. we started fishing some shallower water looking for bigger fish. we managed a few small ones jigging. we noticed that the guys next to us were getting quite a few keepers casting jig and twister combinations into the brush and reeling it in slow. so we decided what the hell and tried it. first cast was a 18 inch sauger. we spent the rest of the day in the same spot and managed 4 more keepers. i have never tried this technique on the rock. it is kinda of a nice change from jigging all day. jeff, where were you on sunday? i tried calling but you didn’t answer and i never saw you on the water. you probably were gone with your limit by the time we got there.(noon)lol. talk to you guys later!! Lundmann23 p.s. jeff conviced me and i ordered a whole bunch of Zone-R jigs

Oh o, if BOLA isn’t active on this forum that means he must be catching fish like last year. I know he gets real quite when the bite picks up!

Since the current seems slow and the water low I’ve been migrating toward 1/4 oz. jigs instead of 3/8 oz. Lundmann23, what size jigs were you flipping in the brush? I think I better order more of those Fin-tech jigs today, I limited myself too much on color & size – guess I should have bought the assorted kit. BTW, I only saw about 4 other boats in the area by Kmart I was fishing, is everyone else sitting on top of each other in the hot holes? How’s the action downtown Fort or near the Bark River? I’m relying on a trolling motor, have an extra battery along but I wasn’t brave enough to wander more than a couple miles from the launch. I’ll be back Wednesday morning sunrise until 11.

hey Databoy, i was using mostly a 3/8 jig. i tried a 1/4 ounce and i didn’t get as many hits. i think the bigger jig stirs up the bottom more which triggers strikes. my hot color was a blue head and a glow tail. i did lose quite a few in the brush so bring a few extras if you try this. also it has not been to packed down river. i have been fishing all the spots. no where has been worse than the others. Lundmann23

Hi guys I’m back, Databoy you know me to good . Saturday was a hard 12 hours fishing. But it was better than work. Glow/green Zone-R 3/8oz with LG fatheads and the MUST stinger hook was producing this weekend and We Fish to keep me laughing. Had a great day on the water with We Fish and hope to do it again soon. Keep those hands warm kid.

Lundman23, yes I was all ready home with my limit of nice eater fish Sunday, got home about NOON. Sorry I missed you, it was great to meet you guys and hpoe to see you soon.

I caught most of my eyes in 6 to 9 foot of water and the saugers in 9 to 15. All the big females were caught always in 6 to 8 foot of water.

CPR those big females PLEASE, THANKS

Check out the attachments(Pictures) for Saturdays catch.

Check out these monsters that We Fish muscled in saturday See attactment.

How about these early rock river fish from saturday. see attactment.

Sundays outing, had my limit of good eaters by 11:00am

Went out Monday morning from 7:00am to 10:00am and only caught one 16″ walleye and CPR that one. thats fishing.

Better view. See attactment God I love fishing

Jeff, playing hooky today from work should get to the river ~10am. Got my Alumacraft ready “Orgasm” (long story). Where can I order zone-r jigs? I looked everywhere, thanks for all the advise, let you know how I did. I stumbled on a trick at the little wolf last year, gonna give it a try on the rock 2 see if it will work down here. Tight lines FSHRMN

Jeff,
Looks like you are picking up where you left off last year! Nice fish photos. I work in Jefferson and would like to put my name on the waiting (or wanting) list for a day in the boat with you. I mostly fish from shore at various spots and would like to learn some river secrets from you. Messenger me if you have a half or full day open in your boat.

FSHRMN, those jigs would be at http://www.fin-techco.com. I know BOLA’s been busy catching fish and I’m stuck at work so I thought you may get a quicker reply this way. I’m out there tomorrow morning though, launching at KMart by 7 & hope to fish until 11. I got my 2nd order in last night for more jigs, last time I got them in 2-3 days so I hope to have more by Saturday.

I thought I’d show off our first fish of the season too. Here’s my brother w/ a 18″ male caught 10 minutes into our trip.

Hi Anglers, Wow water temp poped up 6 degrees since Saturday, it now at 44 surface. fished for about three hours this morning and mid afternoon and caught one sauger 15 1/4″ and five small fish and lots of sheephead. It’s hard to find the fish when you only have a few hours on the water. But it’s get just to get out. I will give it another try Wednesday morning, then have to do some stuff around the house for a couple days . Weather not looking good in the days coming ahead.

Thanks Databoy for helping out where to buy the Zone-R.

Jeff, I’ll be out in the morning too so stop by and say hi if you have a chance. I’ll most likely be hanging out close to the Kmart launch again. Remember, I’m the guy in the little 9′ pontoon. I have my father-in-law over excited about giving it a try and he’s determined to make it Saturday regardless of how cold it gets. Hopefully we’ll still have some luck in the snow/rain. Good luck tomorrow.

Gregg

Just so all you anglers know. They put out the NO WAKE buoys out today. ~~~~~

Hi Guys, Just a reminder that the EFN website will be down from 11:59 Saturday night to Midnight on Sunday .

One other thing, I will leave it up to you guys. I really do think jake had a good point before about starting a new thread so we don’t have to go threw so many pages. So what should we call the next HOT thread????? for example; Rock River Spring Fishing Reports and Conditions. or Rock River Fishing Reports (Jefferson County Area) dose someone have a better idea?

Fished noon – 7:30pm between the barrels and 106 bridge. Caught 19 eyes, all darts most on mud minnows they didn’t seem to like the shiners, green/glow and pink/white with no twister produced best. No one else around us caught a legal that I seen. 2 guys said they had one each earlier. Thought for sure with all the little males that the bigger fish would be scattered in. May try again tommorrow. Was going to head to the mouth but didn’t hear any possitive reports from others. Tight lines

Had my bait in the water just under 3 hours this morning. Started about 7:30, had a 16″ sauger before 8:30. Missed one on bad hook set on other rod while I was rebaiting that hook. Snagged a sheepshead about 9. Boated a 13″ walleye at 9:30. Started out from Kmart and drifted w/ current to 106 bridge. All fish were caught in 4-7′ of water, seems the shallower the better for me so far in 2 outings. The sauger was caught on 3/8 oz. green/glow Zone-R jig. The miss and the walleye came on the 1/4 oz. green/char Knuckle Ball. I saw one other guy catch a sauger (yelled to a guy on shore that it was a sauger) and saw him throw it in his live well, saw his partner catch a shorty.

Do these fish congregate or is the river just a highway for migrating fish? Do you keep working over an area where you catch fish or keep moving? Sunday the wind vs. the current kept me pretty much in one spot and had to troll where I wanted to go, today there was no wind and a nice slow current so it was easy to stay vertical. It seems like vertical jigging is too easy this year with barely a current and low water.

Jeff, if you start new threads for reports… I suggest splitting them up by reports for different areas or it won’t take long for a single thread to grow this big. I have a feeling some will use this thread and some will use a new one so we’d have to read them all anyway and it’d probably only make it more difficult. Your decision though cuz You Da Man! Again thanks for all the tips, it’s nice to feel like I’ve been doing this for years and I’ve been able to teach my brother, father-in-law and best of all my kids on how to do the jig! Good luck all, see you for some cold weather fishing on Saturday, brrrr.

Gregg

finally got my Zone-R jigs today. i wanted to try them this weekend but i think the weather will keep me home.
Jeff, i think you should also put the threads into categories of area. this way guys will know which spots are producing and which aren’t.

Went out this morning for a few hours to check out some new areas. Got a nice six pound catfish and one nice 17″ sauger.

As of right now lets keep this same thread for now.

Hi Anglers, no reports to day, I will be going out Saturday and Sunday at dusk for a couple of hours each afternoon to find fish in new areas. Watch for my post monday, You all have a safe and wonderful weekend.