Sturgeon in the Backwaters?

Over the years fishing the backwaters of the Mississippi River I find the fish go in cycles. Some years I catch a ton of bass, other years more northern, crappies come and go, but the sunnies and blue gills never fail. Now I know time of year plays into that, and obviously location, and what I am using for bait. one method I’ve always had success on is probably the most basic in the fishing world, the classic hook and nightcrawler combo. You really can't go wrong with that combo in the Backwaters in my opinion, you catch a little bit of everything, even a surprise walleye or two. Now if you're a true backwater fisherman you know your going be fishing anywhere from 1-10 ft (10 being deep) of water pending on the backwater pool your on. I rarely find the big drop offs in the backwaters like you would on the main channel. Well one day I saw what I thought was a sturgeon surfacing in the middle of a back water pool near Winona Minnesota. It was no more than 7 feet with very little current in that stretch of river. So I got curious and decided to move away from the weeds and sit out in the middle of the pool. So I switched to a slip weight in place of my slip bobber, and let it sit on the bottom. I was reading 6ft where I was sitting and no kidding with in 20 minutes I hooked into something big. From having some experience fishing sturgeon on the rainy river, I knew exactly what I hooked into. A sturgeon bite can be easily mistaken, but when you feel dead weight at the end of your rod you know it game on. If you don't know what a sturgeon bit looks like, it honestly looks like an aggressive pan fish nibble, a very slight twitch on the end of your rod. I couldn’t believe I hooked into this prehistoric Dino, a fish I personally have never heard about being caught in a backwater pool, should maybe ask more? hmm. It could be more common than I think it is, but catching a sturgeon in the backwaters just wasn’t what I was expecting. Now, I have heard the sturgeon population the river has been thriving, and hear about them being caught more and more each year on the main channel, so maybe it’s a sign of things to come. I’m starting to think maybe I don’t have to drive 7 hours to catch them in numbers like I do on the rainy river. Well thats my sturgeon story, what’s your?

Early teal, What’s Your Tactic?

Early teal season in Minnesota is like that one gift you open a couple days before Christmas. It gives you a little taste of what’s to come. I know the early Teal season is met with controversy amongst duck hunters. But hey! its duck hunting, it certainly beats the hell out of a lot of other activities. Plus it gives me an opportunity to get my dog on some birds, see where he needs some minor improvements, and then work them out before the season really kicks off.

Teal are a numbers bird it seems, you very seldom get a single, they seem to come in pairs, or groups. That means concealment is important, the more eyes the more likely you will get sighted. The biggest perk to early teal season, and even actually duck opener the birds are not educated so you really can get away with anything. My best hunts are usually the ones I keep it simple, it’s easy to over think it. Maybe two dozen duck decoys a mix of teal and mallards, plus my geese, and a couple lucky duck wingers. I tend to set my wingers close to the boat, the teal seem to eat them up, and I feel it really helps for when they don’t fully commit, it brings them in close enough to put an ethical shot on them. In short, concealment is always important to a good duck hunt, keep it simple, and don’t over think teal.

Written by Ben Tilson

Meet Trenedy

Trenedy is no stranger to the Backwaters for the Mississippi River. His passion and knowledge of the Mississippi River is unparalleled, a true Mississippi Backwater addict. He currently promotes his backwater journies on social media including Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram. You can find him under the user handle BeTrenedy. He has a true passion for fishing, and lives each day like it was his last. His love for life, loyalty to friends, and pure happiness is nothing short of contagious. Mississippi Backwaters is proud to support Trenedy in all his adventures.

a day to remember

It was early April and the Ice was beginning to melt on the river. The walleyes were bitting, so it was time to pull out the rode and reel for the first time of the season.

we awoke early to get a jump on the day and also to beat the mass amount of boat that load up at the lock and dams this time of year in Minnesota/Wisconsin. The wind was blowing and the rain was coming, but that didn't stop us from getting on some Mississippi River Walters.

we launched the boat and as my buddy goes to park the truck I witness a guy struggling to start his boat and was drifting away, thankfully he had a trolling motor, but it made me reflect the importance of having back up motor assistance on the river, if he didn’t have the trolling motor there is no doubt we would’ve been pulling them back to the launch dock.

Anyways we pick up my buddy from the launch dock and head toward the Red Wing lock and dam, and man I was sure glade we got there early, no later then 7 am and boats are stacking up. we set our line and begin to fish.

It was a cold windy morning, no warmer then 25 degrees, but it was suppose to warm up throughout the day, it was something to look forward too, because we didn’t catch a thing the first hour. Then as I began to learn braided line not properly secured to my reel spool on a cold wet mornings, my buddy hooks into a Mississippi River walleye using a hair jig. I was thinking who the hell uses a hair jig? I’ve been fishing my hole life and those are the jigs that have sitting in my box collecting dust, he proved me wrong, and once he broke the ice, it was game on.

Now that I got my line figured out and got set back up, I went with the classic jig and minnow. I didn’t catch anything for a bout 30 minutes. We had only had only caught 4 in the past 3 hours. It was time to move, and move we did. We dicided to move down river away from the damn, and that’s when it began. I decided to pitch into shallow and every cast either caught a small mouth or a strip bass. I literally couldn’t keep the fish off my line. I even caught my person best small mouth, it was 19 inches, I don’t fish small mouths much so for it was a Giant.

The only problem, those weren't fish we were out to get, I wanted a Walter. The day continued as so, find a spot catch a couple, find a spot catch a mass amount of strip bass, just seemed we weren’t gunned hit the big numbers of walleye and sauger that my buddy and many other were bragging about. Until we found the spot. It was literally 50 yard from were I was catching all the small mouth and stripe bass, mentioned earlier. It was insane we caught our limit in sauger in a matter of minutes, and I personally released 20 more. It was insane, it reminded me of opening day on Lake of the Woods. As our time was coming to end on the day I really got a deep appreciation on how good of a fishery the Mississippi River is. We are blessed to have it, but the moral of the story, even though I caught a ton of fish, I never caught an actual walleye. just give me another accuse to fish another day.