Missouri River Fishing Report-October 22nd, 2018

Written by Mike Peluso

October 22, 2018

Yesterday was definitely one of those days I talk about all the time. It’s not always about what you catch or how many you catch. It’s all about meeting people and making memories together. I had a couple clients from western ND join me in the boat. The trip was designed around educational reasons. Actually, a lot of my trips are like this. People contact me all the time to help them with their electronics, techniques, boats, etc etc. it’s a lot like golf. I’m not the best fisherman in the world, but I’ve had over 40 years experience and in that time I’ve had more trial and error and mistakes than most people could ever imagine. Kinda like a swing coach in golf I guess. Is Butch the best golfer in the world? Absolutely not, but he knows the little details of golf to help make PGA golfers games better. Yesterday, and many of my trips are like this, and I absolutely love passing along information. Kind of like these reports. Anyway, we put the boat in the water here in Bismarck at about 7:30. I told these guys we will be making a milk run of sorts and they were going to get a chance to see a lot of the Missouri River. They were excited because neithe of them had ever been on the Big Muddy. Lots of questions were being asked as we slipped behind sandbars and current breaks. One thing I really noticed yesterday is we had an explosion of baitfish or whatever you want to call it. I’ll be curious to hear what our Game and Fish has to say as far as the hatch of things this spring with the super high water. Literally, and I have plenty of pictures to back this up, but the depthfinder was constantly full of bait. Upon further investigation with very little wind yesterday, the surface in almost every spot we stopped would come to life and you would see millions of small baitfish surfacing and jumping out of the water all over the place! Super excited about this for our future!! Lots going on out on the Mighty Mo right now with smallmouth bass, Northern Pike and walleyes all participants in biting our jigs. Lots and lots of pike around right now. So be prepared to get sawed off a few times. We did keep 8 pike yesterday and if you know how to clean them, especially out of this cold river water they are excellent eating fish. We were also able to grind out our walleyes. Had to work fairly hard for them, and I think that is because of the over abundance of food up in the river at the moment. Hard to compete against the amount of food your going to see. Anyway, Lindy jigs and minnows were the ticket once again, and one giant walleye weighing over 10 pounds decided to take my bait. I’m not going to lie to you, I thought it was another Northern Pike right away, but the telltale head thump began and my heart started pumping! Once we saw the fish the boat got a little nervous. I made sure my netman understood not to worry about it. The fish was netted and the memories began. Both of my clients had never seen a Walleye this large before. I told them I wish I wasn’t the one to catch it, and I would have much preferred one of them catching it instead of me, but they were very quick to tell me they didn’t care and that they were so excited just to witness the whole thing and learn so many things. After a couple quick pictures the fish was released back to the river to go and eat more of that bait that’s down there and maybe in a couple years make a bid at a state record. I do believe the current record is in jeapordy next spring! Most fish are still in the deeper water right next or almost in the current yet. 10 to 15 foot with Lindy Jigs was certainly the best! Still taking bookings until October 31st with a few select dates available in November. Text me at+17014718649 to book a trip! #mikepelusooutdoors next time I keep a Northern Pike I will video how I clean them. Super easy and boneless!

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