maumee river report- 7 march 2024

SUNRISE/ FIRST CAST- 6:59AM

SUNSET/ LAST CAST-6:31 PM

WEIGHT: 5/8 oz , 3/4 oz – water is still low, but the current has picked up a bit. A little extra weight may be needed to slow the drift down.

BLUEGRASS ISLAND:   Crossing is permitted

INFO FOR THE NEW WALLEYE FISHERMEN

Fishing in a crowd. – You only fish in a crowd because you want too.

The Maumee gets a bad rap for being over crowded during the spring walleye run. Yet year after year  I see 5-6 miles of empty river , full of walleye by the way, and thousands of fishermen bunched up in one 1/4 mile area. Don’t complain, seems to be what you want.

• Bendveiw and waterville are likely areas.

Stop in and we can send you to some beautiful areas chock full of walleye , by yourself .

BE AGGRESSIVE WITH THE HOOK SETS

Hooksets are free: It never hurts to presume that any odd resistance is a fish.              

I don’t know the exact number , but more than a few of my hooksets are false, meaning no fish on the end of my rod. Might  be rocks , logs , the guy down the lines waders , or whatever . Sometimes branches  will make my rod feel like there’s a struggling fish on the end , but by God I set my hook into that branch and it aint getting away. You will hear this saying a lot   “hooksets are free” .  Whiff  on a  hookset ,you can always cast back out.  With these light biting walleye if you are not aggressively setting the hook when there is that  break in the rhythm of the bouncing weight  , then you won’t hook into many walleye.  Often times after the false hookset, as you are freeing up a snag, a fish will grab the bait. 

Some anglers half ass their  hook sets, which results in lost fish due to poor hook  penetration in the mouth . I say lean into it and give it hell . Some of my best hook sets have been into logs. Sometimes the lures comes flying back at my face .

 But if you put some UMPH into it when you  do hook a fish- it’s sticks.  And oh yea – occasionally sharpen your hook – it makes a difference. 

Have fun be safe and good luck fishing