Got to airport ramp at 8. Water is high 3 feet higher than last year. Great water clarity best i have ever seen. Went left against the current. Fished my usual hot spots. Minnows under float. Zero. Half mile up zero. Mile up zero. Decided to go all the way to rapids. Some guys said they caught thirty last week there. Two boats were there. They were catching a few. Curly tail grubs. I went past them to shallow rapids. Past the rapids to deep holes. Figured since it was cold they mite be in deeper holes. Zero. Went back to where boats were. Tied off to brush caught two. They are huge this year 15 inches. I think i missed the bite. One boat was said to have caught 40. Need to get there early. I dont believe they are thick yet. Not one fish in six or seven of my usual good spots. The river changed dramatically this year. Sand is really thick. Spots that were shallow are deep. And some deep holes are filled with sand to one foot deep now. Big boats are making it all the way up. There are only two spots that are shallow. One is about a foot deep for twenty yards so it is manageable trim the motor. No current at all. Only by rapids 3 miles up. Lots of trees in water for good fishing spots when it does get good. None blocking path so its gonna be easy getting up to rapids this year. The rapids are super shallow one foot for three hundred yards i think. No fish in rapids yet. Ended at two caught three keepers one 8 incher. After the five or six warm days coming up it should be on FIRE! Get you some.

Good report, thanks.

Great report!

Thanks for the detailed info! That river changes with every flooding event and can also change from week to week as the water level drops even by a few inches.
We need rain badly, the run won't be very good this year unless there is some decent flow coming in and soon!

Thanks for the report. I agree, in maybe a week they should be all over the river. Try minnows on the bottom; thread worm weight on the line, then tie a swivel on, then maybe 8 inches of line and then your hook. toss them near current and let them settle. the unweighted hook end lets the minnow flop around in the flow. I've never had any luck using floats down there. When they are up river, they tend to hug the bottom, IME. This technique will also allow you to pick up some gaspergoo and cats while your there.

Wish i would have tried bottom. I was in a kayak and got tired of snags. So i was lazy and stayed with the float. Still got hung up a lot. Fishing tight to structure. Thanks for the tip. Will do it when i take my boat next wednseday. Anybody want to go meet me there. Im in st. Hedwig

I HEADING DOWN THERE ON THURSDAY WITH MY CANOE. WILL REPORT BACK. AND I MAY TAKE YOU UP ON THE OFFER NEXT WEDNESDAY.

I COME OUT OF HELOTES

Just a tip. Minnows at litehouse are expensive. Get them at exit 83 or in three rivers

Went to 59 bridge yesterday with 2 buddies. Started trolling and went up river about a mile past the old bridge and had no hits. So we fished a couple of spots with minnows with no luck. We then ran about a mile down river past 59 and started trolling down river again with no luck so we tried minnows in a couple of spots without any luck either. At about 11 we seen some TP&W guys who were in a boat with shocking equipment. Talked to them and they informed us that they had only found 1 white bass. Talked to a couple of other fishermen who had caught nothing either.

That's pretty bad when you can only shock 1 fish up. That proves they are somewhere else for sure!

Fear not, gentlemen. If you believe it, they will be there. At least I hope so, since I will be going Tuesday morning. I BELIEVE, I BELIEVE! Besides, the water temps should be just right by then.

Those young whipper snappers were probably shocking in the wrong place anyway! I'll soon find out!

I agree with both of you jimbo and wrkonit, I believe they will show up in numbers its a matter of time, and their probably in boat shock its been 4 1/2 yrs since big boats have been on the river so they are confused right now, anyways i'll be at the airport ramp bright and early monday morning i'll also give some feed back on how my trip went.

put in at airport ramp yesterday. went about 1 mile past the second rapids (if your an "ol timer" of the river, just past buddy jones's place on the river). the ramp has plenty of water to launch boat. the top side of the 1st set of rapids is shallow and had to pull canoe past it. and after 2nd shallows about 500 yards further had to pull canoe most of the time. tried just about every lure in my box and caught 6 females. but each were on the LARGE size, smallest 14 1/2 inch and largest 15 3/4 inch. caught 3 on white road runners and the other 3 trolling with a silver rattle trap. will post pics once I can get off my phone. didn't catch keep any of the fish, but sure had a good time on the river. the river has changed, but it always stays the same.