Early Spring Walleye Destinations

We’re turning the page. Old Man Winter is slowly losing his grip, and our thoughts turn to spring and open water walleye fishing. Beginning in March through April, it’s definitely time to cash in on the early walleye bite. For this article, however, we’re going to talk about three different early fishing opportunities: the Mississippi River system, Iowa’s inland rivers and Iowa’s northern lakes.

First off, let’s look at the Mississippi River with its series of lock and dam systems beginning with Pool 9 at the northern border of Iowa all the way south through pool 19. To learn more about the early spring walleye fishing, I called Jim Hunt, who is Master Outfitter for Cabela’s in Prairie Du Chie. He’s both extremely knowledgeable and respectful of what the Mississippi River can be like.

This entire system is an awesome walleye fishery, but it is also intimidating with the springtime fluctuating water levels, swift currents, wing dams and lock and dam systems. If you’re not familiar with the Mississippi River system, it’s a good idea to get a good fishing atlas that provides maps and fishing information. Sportsman’s Connection Iowa Fishing Map is one of those options. Plus, these maps are excellent at showing where boat ramps are. One reminder about the boat ramps. If the temperatures are hovering around freezing, you could end up with icy ramps from people pulling out their fishing rigs  and dripping water as they pull up the ramp. If the ramps freeze, it can be a crazy trip down or up the ramp. Some people bring a bucket of sand with them just in case.

“Before fishing one of the pools, anglers should do their homework. Maps and locator chips are good, but the river never stays the same. The last two years of really high water brought a lot of changes to the existing structure. So, what appears on a map printed a few years ago, may be changed somewhat because of the spring flooding that has occurred.”

A good bite often occurs mid-March through late April with clusters of boats fishing directly below one of the many dams. Early on, the water levels are usually lower, and the runoff has not caused the river to rise as much as it will later on a rainy spring.

However, anglers don’t fish the fast water where the water is boiling out. They will be off to the side working more slack water. Even though these walleyes and sauger are river walleyes used to current, they don’t want to spend their time fighting the current. Instead, according to Hunt, “They will find that area on the bottom off of the fast current. Maybe off to  the side, where there’s an eddy or maybe a breakline out of the current area.”

Where the pool allows, fishing downstream a mile or so can help the angler with boat control and also boats will be more spread out.

Two of Hunt’s favorite presentations are using a jig and minnow or a Jigging Rap. The goal is to keep the bait as vertical as possible, so the heavier the current, the larger the bait. “I will use anywhere from a 1/4-ounce to a 5/8-ounce jig based on the strength of the current and try to make contact with the bottom. .”

Another presentation for the jig and minnow includes casting and retrieving the jig back to the boat. A good place to begin is right where the fast water meets the slower water. Walleyes will often lie in wait for crippled baitfish coming downstream.

For Fishing the Midwest’s Bob Jensen, Iowa’s inland rivers are a great place to capitalize on early spring walleyes. Once again, anglers are often at the mercy of Mother Nature in the spring if there is a major runoff. That has been true the past couple of years with the intense current cutting and changing the river channels in some places. Some of the prominent walleye opportunities include Cedar, Shell Rock, Turkey River Wapsipinicon, Upper Iowa in the eastern part of the state and the West/East Fork of Des Moines River, Little Sioux  and Big Sioux in the western part of the state. Two of Jensen’s favorite rivers are the Shell Rock and Cedar. Instead of using a boat like Hunt uses on the Mississippi River, Jensen now accesses from foot and targets lowhead dams, fishing from the dams downstream up to a mile.

With all of these miles of fishable rivers, where do you start. For many anglers, it’s doing homework before they go. To find public accesses, lowhead dams, etc.,  on these rivers, check out the Sportsman’s Connection Iowa Fishing Map. This guide offers lake and river maps with key places to fish.

Jensen says, “In the early spring, I like to use a jig tipped with a 2.75-inch Rage Swimmer. Instead of hopping the jig on the bottom like I would fishing in a lake, I will swim the jig. These dam areas are full of snags, and keeping the jig on the bottom will most likely mean getting caught in a snag. A lot of jigs are lost this way.”

As for colors, Jensen likes to use one color for the jig head and another color for the tail. “My two favorites are an orange jig head with a chartreuse body and pink jig head with a white body. River fish are facing upstream to eat, so I will fancast the target area.” There can be a lot of current below these lowhead dams, so Jensen will also target areas where there is an eddy or a seam. A seam is created by a boulder or a downed log, and the fish will

often use the seam. The big key here is patience. Work the area over; don’t just make a few casts and move on.

In addition to jigs, Jensen will also use minnow shaped baits like the KVD 200 Jerkbait, a shallow runner that rolls, wiggles and flashes. “I like to use bright KVD Jerkbaits in bright colors. It’s up to you to decide, but I start with a steady, slow retrieve.”

Early go-to lakes include Clear Lake, Storm Lake, Five Island and Silver Lake (Lake Park). Once the ice is out and you have a few days of sunshine, these lakes will be ready to go. This is the time for fishing off of public/private docks, wader fishing or boat fishing shallow waters. Remember that Big Spirit Lake, East Okoboji and West Okoboji are closed for walleye fishing until the first Saturday of May. For 2020, that will be Saturday, May 2.

Jensen says, “All it takes is a few warm days, and you can begin looking for walleyes in areas where there is an incoming current with a sand or rubble bottom. It’s not unusual to catch these fish in 2-3 feet of water. If you’re wader fishing and standing in three foot of water and the water isn’t crystal clear, there is the chance that the walleyes might be swimming right with you.

The dusk bite is always good, and it seems that cloudy days are better than sunny days.” Jensen continues, “If the wind is maybe 5-10 mph, I like to fish the wind-blown side because it stirs up the water and reduces light presentation. I’ll just use my I Pilot spotlock to keep the boat in place. If that doesn’t work, then it’s too windy to fish.” Since anglers can use two lines in Iowa, Jensen will always put out one slip bobber rig tipped with a fathead minnow or maybe a shiner. Then he will cast a 1/16 to 1/8 ounce jig and tip it with a 2.75-inch plastic like a Rage Swimmer to start with. If nothing happens, Jensen will then tip the jig with a minnow. “I also like to use six-pound mono, but if you want to use braided line, I suggest tying on a fluorocarbon leader.”

Of the northern lakes, Storm Lake is the first lake to open. At Storm Lake, not only are there a lot of wader fishermen, but there are also a lot of shore fishermen casting out lighted bobbers and a minnow. People also cast from public docks and when they have permission, from private docks.

Five Island, which is located on the north side of Emmetsburg, is also a great early spring fishery. Jensen says, “It can be really good in town, around the trestle area, around boat ramps and the city park area. Again, it is the lure of the rocks and rubble that bring the pre-spawn males into the shallows.” There are also public docks that people can access and fish from.

Then there is Silver Lake by Lake Park. The city park area and all along the south side of the lake are good places to fish for these fish. A bunch of tree limbs have been cut around the city park and are in the water, which makes it a little tricky to cast and not get hung up. The west end is another area to check for spring walleyes.

On Clear Lake, the Grade is always an excellent early season walleye location, along with the east side between the downtown sea wall and the outlet, the island and Dodges Point. As the docks and hoists get put in, fishing this structure can be excellent.

To learn more about each of these lakes, check out the Sportsman’s Connection Iowa Fishing Guide Map. Now, all we need is for Old Man Winter to loosen his grip and give us some nice early spring sunny mild days! A few days of that and it will ‘eye time!