Rock River

[deadeternity]

Fished tonight 7pm-12am, no walleyes, several short bites, 2 snagged sheepshead, it sucked. But I will give it a whirl again soon, crappies by day, walleyes by night....

[fuzzyfishin]

Was out Sunday morning and again on Tuesday afternoon. Both days spent jigging. Not much to speak of for the well ,but was great to be out the least.

On Sunday found my boat below the 59 bridge, picture perfect day. The fish weren't to cooperative for me. I was able to boat three shorts. As the morning progressed the bite got better. Jigs used were tipped with minnows and tied with deer hair. seemed the murky water was to thick to go solo with minnows. Tried all colors and tails but minnow seemed the choice. I guess I need to put some trailers on or have more dew before I head out.
I did make my way up river for a short time, up to the mouth and not much more happing there. I was able to hook up wth a couple that peeked at me, showed me themselves enough to make me druel,then dissapear. Saw on the phone it was pushing noon. With the Viking game it was time to go.

Tuesday I had to try old faithful, the island at Blackhawk. Well, it wasn't. I started above the 26hwy bridge. Picked up a rockriver salmon within 5mins. Then played with a #6 blue kitty for a few. Had a 20in saugar tease me on top. The end off my drift I had some battery problems. Not to be cut short. I jumped it. Headed down river to the island. I proceeded to find nothing for over an hour. Decided to end the agony with one short eye. Weather was great for this time of the year. Can't wait to get out again.

[Joe Murphy]

wtf? I fish that dam more than anyone on earth and cant hook into fish like that, when i do they come off...nice work

[deadeternity]

REPORT: The fishing was very slow for our 9 hours of fishing but, we threw back 4 fish in the 14" size range. But then my girlfriend pops one of the thickest and biggest walleyes I have seen in years and, it measured 27 inches long and weighed probably about 8 1/2 pounds. The fish was built just solid and thick, and she caught that on the good old bread and butter Mr. Twister grub. We got out between 5:30pm-2:00am and fished from shore along the Rock River. We used Mr. Twisters, Fuzzy Grubs/minnows, swimbaits, and jerkshads. Around 90% of our bites were on the twistertails and jerkshad plastics. I only had 2 hits on the livebait and came to the conclusion that livebait is probably no longer needed while fishing walleyes from shore. I get my hands wet and cold, the fish peck at the bait, and I catch more fish and get harder strikes using jig/softplastic combos like the twisters, ringworms, swimbaits, and jerkshads.

OH YEAH..... The 27" is still swimming unharmed to live and see another day. Walleyes 15"-21" see the frying pan, and the 22"+ are set free by us. The first 2 pics are of the fish my fiance caught tonight, and the other pics are of Rock River giants of the past I have landed....

[deadeternity]

Today: Rain likely. High 47F. Winds NE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.

Tonight: Periods of rain. Low 43F. Winds ENE at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Rainfall around a half an inch.

Tomorrow: Rain likely. High 48F. Winds ENE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall near a half an inch.

Tomorrow night: Overcast with rain showers at times. Low 37F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.

Saturday: A few morning showers. Highs in the upper 40s and lows in the mid 30s.

Sunday: Occasional showers possible. Highs in the low 50s and lows in the low 40s.

Monday: Few showers. Highs in the low 50s and lows in the upper 30s.


Now I hope this weather report is accurate because a 1/4 and 1/2 inch of rain can make a small river or creek rise alot. Not only does the river get the rain itself falling into it but, it also recieves runoff that helps it rise. It sounds like when all is said and done, we will have over a inch or more of rain total. And rain is what we need to get things moving along, also cooler temps but I think the water temps are dropping slowly as we speak or staying pretty steady. Lets hope this rainfall gets the ball rolling here.....

UPDATE 10/22/09: We are getting more rain then we expected, up to an inch possibly just last night and early this morning alone. By the time this week is over with we will have more then enough rain to make this medium sized river rise a bit. Fall Walleye fishing 2009 will be in the cards for us afterall.....

[blitzfish]

I've caught lots of them, but even they were tight lipped. Hustisford area is a bit different than most of the river downstream. There aren't too many whitebass there like there used to be, but there are a crap ton of carp and bullhead like there are downstream... maybe I'll have to try bigger because the rest of the year I always use small (2in mister twister and 1/16 oz jig head). Maybe the next time I'm down from school I'll give it another chance. lol

[deadeternity]

I am with you on that man! The salmon and trout supply action when the walleyes and saugers in the rivers go missing. But the beauty about the Rock is there is a fantastic native crappie population for the guys who want to figure these fish out. I have had many days when all else failed and I tied on a slipbobber rig, or splitshot rig with a minnow, or casted small jigs and even streamer flies like you use for the whitebass and walleyes, and the crappies hammered them. And believe me when I say, there is some HUGE crappies in this river. The average crappie is in the 12 inch range but, you get ones 14 inches and up mixed in alot of the time. The biggest crappie I ever seen in person was one that I caught on the river using a Fuzzy Grub and minnow fishing walleyes, it was a little over 16 inches in length. So if anyone hits the river dont forget the ultralight rod and crappie tackle.

I will say this again, the rain right now is our bestfriend if we want walleyes to come up river in high numbers. During the Fall current and big bait is the key. Good Luck everyone......

[blitzfish]

Tried the Rock right around once this weekend. Absolutely nothing, not even a bite. When i fish for walleyes here, if I don't get a fish within an hour i call it quits. Thats what happened, not even a carp, a bullhead, crappie, or northern in sight. I slaughtered them this summer here, but now it's just terrible, all the leaves floating down stream don't help much . Anyways, i just tried a jig and mister twister like usual, maybe a jig and minnow combo next time. Even saw a couple regulars that I know and they said that they hadn't had much the past few weeks... time to stick to trout and salmon until later in the fall! oh well

TL
Blitz

[Eric Haataja]

Thanks for the report seeds and Joe!

[22reman]

you guys are right on about them hammering the bait. the big walleye i lost at the wall hit that large fathead real hard. im going back sometime this week to see if i have better luck.