I found this spot by accident, as I seem to find most of my great fishing spots. I had planned to fish for catfish on this stretch of the river, and had the stink bait and worms ready. I anchored above some fallen trees and let the bait soak. It didn’t take long for a fat, 20-inch channel cat to fall for the goo, and as I was reeling it in, it started storming. The wind whipped up and the rain blew horizontally. Other boats made a beeline for the launch. I, being me, figured I’d switch things up and troll around for a muskie.

I was trolling in shallow water—4 to 10 feet—using deep-diving cranks on short lines in the propwash. I had my 8 hp kicker locked in for propulsion and steered with the bowmount Terrova, watching the map and sidescan for good-looking stuff.

Just as the storm was at its peak, the batteries in the handheld control went kaput, and I plowed right into a rockpile surrounded by weeds. Both motors bottomed out, and the rods got tangled up while the wind was whipping at least 40 mph. The good news was the rocks were surrounded by some great-looking cabbage weeds as well as coontail. Definitely a big fish spot!

So, after the untangling and the unweeding, I backed off the area, drank some coffee, and set up a casting plan. I put a topwater on one rod and an old, giant spinnerbait on another. I worked the weed edges all around with the spinnerbait, and then over the tops with the topwater. After about a dozen casts with the topper, the water erupted, and a muskie was on! With nobody around, I battled the fish, scooped it up with the net, took some photos, and released it. A week later, I was back at this spot, and caught another giant; only this time, it was a pike on my spinnerbait—my biggest from Wisconsin waters.

From June through October, this section of the river doesn’t produce many walleyes, so there is not a lot of angling pressure. Don’t tell anyone, but there are still plenty of bass, pike, and panfish to be found, and they can be caught in and around the weed edges.

Live bait is not necessary, as these fish react to a variety of jig and plastic presentations. My favorite is a BFishN Tackle Draggin’ Jig with an AuthentX Pulse-R slid on. The Draggin’ Jig comes in four weights—1/16-, 1/8-, 1/4-, and 3/8-ounce—and seven colors. Pulse-Rs are available in 3.25-inch and 2.45-inch lengths and 28 different colors. That’s a lot of options for different species in both clear and dirty water!

Cuts and little bay areas of the river hold slack water, weeds and fish. Pitch a 1/8- or 1/4-ounce Draggin’ Jig/Pulse-R right into the thickest weeds and reel it in fast enough to keep it from snagging. You’ll know right away if a bass or pike is in there, especially on a warm, sunny day where they hide in the shade that the weeds provide. Bass tend to like darker, more natural colors of plastic, like dark knight, oystershell and peanut butter/jelly, while pike like bright shades: pink/white, chartreuse and pink lemonade.

A large spinnerbait like that old reliable one that I use has been tuned up with a large, orange willow leaf blade I found, and a trailer hook with an AuthentX perch-colored, 5-inch K-Grub slid on. It’s a big bass, pike and muskie punisher! I also have a 3/8-ounce original Chatterbait on another rod with an AuthentX Ribb-Finn. This can be cast around weed edges and fallen trees. If those trees have some weeds around them, then it’s a fish holding area—bigtime.

Crappies, bluegills and perch will be in those same weeds when there aren’t predators around. I’ll go back over the same weedy area with a 1/16- or 1/8-ounce Draggin’ Jig with a 2.45-inch Pulse-R. White is a good color; so is goby/chartreuse. You won’t catch a ton of panfish this way, but they tend to be larger and more aggressive if they want to hang out in predatorville!

What’s nice about the Draggin’ Jig is that the hook is the same size on all the different weights, and it teams up nicely with a Pulse-R. So, it’s just a matter of finding the right weight and color to get the job done.

River fishing is not over once the walleyes move out into the lake. There is still plenty of action for panfish and gamefish if you stick to out-of-the-way weedy, slack-water areas and fine-tune your presentation!

For more fishing insight from the pros who know, check out the next issue of MidWest Outdoors, available by subscribing on our website.