The winter doldrums finally got the best of me and I put aside my list of projects and hit the river a couple times in the last week. We found the mid day walleye and sauger bite to be better than expected, and found some bonus action from a pair of very large spoonbills like this one.
The above average winter flow coupled with the low water level called for some jigging deeper stretches between wing dams, off the main push of the river. Both days started for us in early afternoon, leading us to go vertical in 15-25′ of water. Dead sticking Super Dos in chart/glitter, followed by Catalpa Orange and Bright Craw on 5/16 oz H2O jigs from www.bfishntackle.com put the lions share of fish in the boat. Sassy shad jigs tipped with a minnow also took a few fish. Pictured are a few eaters in the 15-17" range.
The key to finding active fish for us was to jig the channel break from 15 down to 20 plus feet, moving the boat across the current and letting our jigs drop down the break. Most of our fish where on the break or at the bottom, holding tight to the channel edge, but well out of the main current. Our largest walleye was only 19", but we went with the numbers game and boated around 20 fish each day.
Our "bonus" spoonbills both came when we ventured a little to far off the channel edge and dropped our jigs into 28-32′ depths, where these fish where literally stacked up! It was difficult not to snag one of these dinosaurs when our jigs where pulled through this area! What a fight these fish put on when pulled from the depths with 8 lb. test. Both where released to rejoin their stack at the bottom of the channel.
If you venture out, be very alert for ice, as many of the sloughs are opening up and massive ice flows come and go frequently. Get out and enjoy this sultry winter weather on the beautiful Ole’ Miss!
Forget those sauger, I would be out after those Prehistoric Spoonbills? Do they fight?
Oh yah, they fight. They feed on microscopic plant matter, so do not bite. Only way to catch them is to snag them. Imagine dragging a 30# steelhead or muskie in to the boat sideways in current! Gives you an idea what the battle is like. A little too much stress on our jigging rods, but next time out I may bring my pole lining rod and try to catch a few of those creatures.
There are quite a few guys who snag for them regularly in cold water. I guess some people eat them, but that’s not for me!
Here in MN, Paddlefish cannot be posessed, and must be returned to the river immediately! They are a nice fish to see, but in (I-ME-MY)opinion is you should leave them alone. Snagging fish just to see them is wrong. Don’t get me wrong John, you will catch these by default, but I would hate to see a rush of folks hit the plungepools trying to target them.
Again: This is MY opinion! I know many of you may think otherwise, and that is fine.
Tuck
Tuck,that has been my line of thinking for years. Never have I targeted these fish, but have on occasion snagged one while jigging. Ill/Ia regs. allow one paddlefish per angler I believe, but I have no desire to keep them. I too am concerned about too many people pounding the deep holes for these fish, but our tailwater area is off limits to fishing until March 16, so a great number of these fish are safe from harrasment. I struggled with the decision to post these pics, but decided it was important to share what is out there with the rest of IDA. I’m with you, let each angler decide the ethics of this type of fishing for himself.
I just looked up the regulations for wisconsin and it states “Angling Methods and Lures: It is illegal- to fish by snagging, foul-hooking, or attempting to hook fish other than in the mouth. – to keep foul-hooked, snagged or any fish not hooked in the mouth”
I would guess that minnesota regs are about the same.
I know that it happens, I just thought I’d lend my input to the topic so that people are informed about targeting fish by snagging.
Keep your stick on the ice. Iceman
Absolutly amazing. These are fish I’ve only seen in cartoon-like sketches in the regs. Very neat to see the real picture. At first I saw the pic and was like whoa! Marlin? Glad you posted the pics. I don’t fish the river much at all except fall, so these prehistorics are new to me. Where do they hangout through out the years?
I am certainly not advocating snagging fish. We fish sturgeon in the Rainy and snag them all the time fishing for them. It happens, that is why there is a law and they have to go back. I am not telling anyone to intentionally snag fish
I’m not an advocate of snagging BUT I do believe that some states have an open snagging season for certain species, one of which is the paddlefish. I would venture a guess that every state that allows possession of a paddlefish has a snagging season for that species since it is impossible to catch them through normal hook and line angling. States along the Missouri River have an active snagging season for this species.
50+ lb fish are common and they fight like demons! Dustin snagged a 40+ lb paddlefish, accidentally, while fishing Lake Pepin a few years ago. He was reeling in a crankbait and the lure came across the back of the fish near the boat. The fish ripped off 220+ feet of line in a dead-away run before it stopped and turned to go off in another direction.
Wisconsin also has them on the endangered and threatened species list.
To me this fish is far too incredible and rare a fish to even consider snagging them or eating them. For those that have never seen one… they’re absolutely awesome.
They have these up at the state fair, in the big pond, right?
Usually they do have a couple.
not to start a debate or anything but I was actually fishing for large catfish on the Chippewa River years back and using cut bait (very large chunk) and caught one. it did have the hook in it’s mouth. That’s the only one I’ve seen since. This one was also missing it’s paddle and had teeth marks on it. I have a photo somewhere and will see if I can find it. I don’t think it was going to live as it was bleeding but it went back in. Maybe it was just swimming along with it’s mout open and got my bait but it was a heck of a fight in the current.
Steve
ND has a snagging season on them I believe on the Missouri. I think the limit is one fish or something. I have a buddy that goes out there for it, that is my only source. I have never even seen one, but they sure look cool
We have a very brief snagging season here on the Missouri River. You have to have tag, like for hunting deer. There have been years in which the season only last one day. I used to go with my father as child and did witness a 70+ pounder get boated. They are an amazing fish. They will come to the surface and roll, like a big ol’ whale. A very cool, very special fish in my opinion…
Nice report John!
Scott and group: A few years back in the college buddy drinking days. A group of buddies used to get together and fish the Missouri River around Bismark, ND. We were trolling cranks for eyes, when my buddy “Paddle Fish Pete” hooked into a brute of a fish. He battled this fish for a eternitiy on walleye spinning gear and 8 lb test.
It took 2 guys to pull this thing into the boat. After all was said and done, the weight of the prehistoric beast was estimated @ 70lbs. This one was hooked right in the corner of the mouth. It appeared to us that it actually bit the crank. We did not possess a Paddle Fish tag requried to keep one of these, so this awesome fish was released to swim another day. We ceased fishing on this HOT day and drank cocktails @ the “Bloodhole” the rest of the day in celebration of this catch and release 
PICS to follow.
Another pic
Note the Firetiger colored Frenzy bait that Pete just bought hours prior, in the corner of the Paddle Fish’s mouth
Last one for now!
Again notice the crank in the corner of the mouth.
That is just way cool.
My Dad tells stories of Granpa snagging 80 – 100lb paddle fish way back when, in Missouri. In them days they were a trophy that hit the table.
Cool fish to see
Very cool Rob pics Rob, what that last year
I wish it was last year.
Man we use to hammer big eyes up there in the late 90’s and 2000. That fish was from April-May 2000, I believe. We would be up there a few weeks before MN opener. It would be on the edge of the spawn up there. Some pre-some post, depending on year. Trolling rapalas on the sand dunes in 2-8 feet of water. Middle of the 90 degree sunny day and you would be pulling 26-29″ eyes out of 2-3 feet of water.
We used to do some jigging also. That fish was a truley awesome specimen 
.
Thats river fishing for you! You never know what is on the other end. We used to catch everything out of that river:
Pike, Eyes, Trout, Salmon, Sturgeon, Sauger, Paddlefish, Carp, and a ton of bottle bass
Last winter as well as a previous day or two in previous years I was able to accompany the dnr on their snagging missions to tag paddlefish to learn more about them – If I get a chance tonight I’ll type the article I wrote for last springs newsletter from our nature center. VERY interesting fish. Chuckles
John several years back there was a guy that would fish for spoonbills at Bellevue Ia and would rather eat them than Walleyes. You use to see several boats out snagging for spoonbills. Thanks for the update, hope to meet you on the river at Clinton someday.
Sorry guys – forgot the stuff at work – will type it in on Friday – but to give you a few teasers – spoonies are said to have reached sizes up to 160 pounds in the past – and for a number of years it was the most important commercial fish in the Mississippi… I rebuilt the Iowa DNR’s snagging rods last year and they are solid fiberglass with roller guides like a lot of the heavier saltwater equipement. Imagine jigging with an 8 ounce dropshot rig with nothing but treble hooks on the line!!! And not little trebles either… Chuckles
Wow, I really opened a can of worms on the ethics of fishing for these ancient creatures! I am not sure what their status is as far as population in this area, but I would hope that the DNR is doing an adequate job of protecting them. I will not intentionally snag for fish, but I will not stop fishing areas that are holding my target fish due to the presence of paddlefish.
As for the eating, I can’t believe there are not plenty of other fish in the river that are at least as good to eat, and not in danger as a species. I believe the closed season at the dam should really help protect these wonderful fish.
Fishbait, are you from the Bellvue area? I’ve not fished there in a couple years, but plan to hit pool 13 more this year. I got hooked on walleyes after fishing a couple of tournaments out of Keil’s bait shop years ago! Hope to see ya on the water as well. I’m in a Starcraft Superfisherman with 150 Merc and Nissan kicker! Stop and say hello!
I remember the first time I hooked on of these monsters on the miss river. I took me for a ride and then some. When I got its head up and saw that paddle come out of the dirty water panic rushed over me and dropped my rod over the boat, started the motor and flew over to where we were camping and my dad asked what was wrong. I told him I just saw a monster in the water.
When I told him what happened, I can remember him crying with laughter. 
I think I was 10 of 11 yrs old. Scared the crap out of me.
Found it again so I don’t have to retype it guys… here is the article…
Up a River with a Paddlefish
There are days in my life when I feel like I have made a real difference in the world. Such a feeling is really an un-advertised benefit of working with conservation projects. On a recent day we were going to try to capture and tag some very unusual fish. Many people have no idea that these fish even exist. This species of fish has been here since before the dinosaurs and are still alive and swimming as I write. They are called paddlefish and they are found in the Mississippi, Missouri, Cedar and other large rivers that feed the Mississippi River with their waters. They have been caught in recent times on the Cedar River as far inland as Cedar Rapids.
With a long paddle-shaped snout or rostrum, huge toothless mouth, smooth tough skin and prehistoric appearance the paddlefish is one of the most unusual fishes found in the rivers of the state. These fish with their large mouth filter plankton and insects from the water so they are known as filter feeders. Paddlefish were the most important commercially gathered fish to the Mississippi River valley at the turn of the previous century – producing nearly 2.5 millions pounds yearly at the peak of its rein around 1900. Today the species is in need of further research to ensure their future is secure as we can make it.
Linn County Conservation Ranger Jason Baumann and I recently met Denny Weiss from the Department of Natural Resources fisheries station at Bellevue, Iowa to spend the day out in the boat. We soon were doing our best to lift and drop an 8-ounce weight tied onto a heavy fishing line. Above the weight were treble hooks to snag the paddlefish that brushed against the line as many as 90 feet below the boat. We located fish using an electronic depth finder and then set to work to try to impale a fish and reel them to the surface.
Jason hooked into the first fish to show us that beginners luck would be an important rule for the day. The paddlefish was brought up and into the boat and then received a similar treatment to the others caught on this trip. They were weighed and measured, then checked for a small wire tag in their rostrum, if no tag was already present then one was added and a small part of one fin was clipped to indicate they had already been captured and tagged. The fish was then quickly revived and released to go back about their business.
When a tagged fish is captured in the future the numbered tag will allow identification of the individual fish. Information such as the amount that the fish has grown since being tagged and how far it has moved before being recaptured will be valuable to scientists studying these animals. A group of 23 states working together on this and other projects concerning the Mississippi are overseen by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
We captured 25 paddlefish on the day we were out – a successful day of tagging. We hope our contributions help ensure this fish will continue to swim the waters of the world in another couple hundred million years – hopefully alongside the humans living nearby. If we don’t take care of the world and the creatures around us, we may find ourselves up a river with no paddlefish.
As you can see there is a lot to these fish… they are very interesting and are a prehistoric fish – pretty cool.
Chuckles
Thanks for the report and Pic’s John
Boy you did open a can of worms. I just moved back to Camanche and trying to learn the river for walleyes. I fished Bellvue and new lefty for several years. I have Alumacraft 175 with Yamah 115 4 stroke. I hope to out Sat.
1/28 at Clinton