Sometime around 7ish this morning we launched the boat and were heading to the tailwaters of dam 11 in Dubuque.
The day was a very difficult one for us, with me being completely skunked 
and John Neff getting that polecat aroma off the boat with a series of saugers that could have fit nicely in a cigar box! 
Later in the afternoon, John bagged a more appropriate sized sauger that just pushed 15”, but that was it for us, in nearly a 9-hour jigathon.
We worked some different areas of the pool, in addition to the tailwaters, and did see numerous fish caught, but the overall mood among the boats was very subdued. It was a tough bite. Newbie that I am to this part of the world and fishery notwithstanding, I think 3 days of air temps AOA 50 degrees might work wonders in getting the fish a little more active. Water temps registered 38 degrees at the surface. 
Some fellow IDA members had the best haul of anyone we spoke to, with 8 keepers between 2 men. 
There appears to have been 2 small, brief “flurries” of action in the tailwaters, once in the mid morning and again in the early afternoon. Most of the folks that had some fish, iced them during these active periods.
Saugers made up most of the catch, but we did witness one old codger nail 2 nice walleyes and one dink in an area removed from the immediate tailwaters that we are sworn to keep secret. 
We used a mix of Dubuque rigs, some ringworms, superdoos, and hair jigs-with meat and without. We tried vertical presentations, dragging, and pitching-to no real consequence. 
Our sole catch came on a minnow-tipped purple hair jig in the tailwaters in 16 FOW. By 3:30, we had enough fun for one day and headed in; it was time to get out of the wind and cold and go get a hamburger! 
Despite our lackluster day, I really enjoyed this pool and hope to come back again and keep at it until I get on the scoreboard! We met several fellow IDA members on the water and at the bait shop-nice to put a face on some of the names! 
Time to get off here…Red Green comes on soon… 
Joe
