Maumee River Report- April 1st -2019- High Water Today

Sunrise/First Cast-  7:18 am

Sunset / Last Cast- 8:00 pm

Weight: -  1 oz- 1  1/2 oz

Colors: The darker colors have been working the last few days. Orange head/ Black Tail, Glow head / Purple tail, old reliable Green head / Xmas lights  tail, and Black head / dark orange sparkle  tail.

Crossing to Bluegrass island is not permitted. The river has crested and will level out and probably begin to slowly drop in the next 24 hrs or so.

*Click on Images to Enlarge*

Yesterday was a tough day on the river. Saturday night the rain from Saturday morning in Ft Wayne hit us and the river came up 2 feet over night, and it continued to rise throughout the day. PLUS it dropped to 29 degrees and froze all sorts of stuff ,PLUS we got an inch of snow -so let me say it again, it was a tough day of fishing Sunday. We did see some limits from the high water areas(Orleans Park and White Street ) but it was mostly ones and twos.

Today with this high water the two best places to fish will be Orleans and White street–also along the Towpath and Ford Street access will be likely places to hit as well.  Tactics have to be adjusted to catch fish in this high water- of course heavier weights are required to get that lure down to the fish , but also placement is key. Picture this : a person trying to run full speed into a strong headwind, the resistance tires the person, but if he gets next to a wall the resistance is lowered. Same thing with these walleye  swimming in mid river against the stronger than normal current. When the water gets this fast and heavy the fish will gravitate towards the bank and lay up close to shore in little breaks and eddys to get out out of that strong resistance and catch a break. So all that translates in to this- fish close into shore.  Look for those little breaks in the current where a log or rock or pillar may be slowing the water down just a bit. Short cast up stream ( usually no more that 20-25 feet and try to get the lure to drift into that current break. When it hits that current break, get ready , there may be a good number of walleye layed up in there ready to hit. Last year under these same conditions we saw a large number of fish caught with in 10 feet of shore . No need to try and cast across the river  when a good number of the fish will probably be right in front of you.

 

Have fun be safe and good luck fishing .