Just bought a boat from a friend. I fish on the MN River in New Ulm. I don't have a fishfinder. So I would like some help on where to find those elusive EYE'S. Thanks!!
I'm not very familiar with your area but I fish a river in my area and I'm sure most guys would say that it is vital to have a locator
It doesn't have to be fancy, but you can get one for about $150.
Until then I would focus on area that have rock/gravel although sandy areas can be good too. Look for current breaks and read your shoreline this can be a good indication as to the contour and bottom composition.
Generally, but not always if the shore is breaking steep to the water it'll usually continue below the water As well as if there is a sand gravel/mix on shore generally it to will continue in the water
I just got it within the last month and have not been able to use the techniques yet. But you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be pitching to shore and wingdams the next time I am on the river. Something else to target is current seams which I do not know anything about fishing, hopefully someone will give some us insight into them.
-------------------- $1 IN GOD WE TRUST $1 Richard
Quote: Something else to target is current seams which I do not know anything about fishing, hopefully someone will give some us insight into them
A current seam is the junction between faster and slower moving waters. Perhaps the easiest seams to find and identify are seams caused by shoreline features, but seams are also produced by wingdams and other underwater features.
The pics below illustrate a shoreline related current seam. The river is flowing from upper left to lower right. The first pic has only the shoreline highlighted in white, and the second has what I would consider to be the seam in red. Once you see the red line in the second pic, go back to the first one to see the water features that help you identify the seam. This seam is generated by a little finger of shoreline projecting out into the main flow.
Fish relate to current seams by using the seam to deliver prey to them. I find lots of fish resting either in the slack water (to the left of the seam in the pics), on the seam itself, or sometimes even in the faster water that is adjacent to the seam. The idea is that the fish can rest in the slack water, then dart out into the seam or the fast water to grab a prey item tumbling downstream.
How do you fish a seam? Perhaps the simplest way is to throw the hook....anchor adjacent to the seam, cast a light jig tipped with livebait or a plastic towards the seam, and then let the current sweep that bait downstream along the seam. Use a heavy enough jig to stay close to the bottom but not so heavy that it just sinks and stays there. In this instance, the currnet will keep moving your line downstream, wedging the jig in rocks in the bottom. Too light a jig will move too quickly and too high through the strike zone. It takes some experience and/or experimenting to find the right jig weight.
More mobile presentations would call for you to use your bowmount electric to hover adjacent near the seam, and adjust power to move to upper or lower portions of the seam. When you start casting, you're only effectively covering a small portion of the seam, and moving along (up and downstream) the seam will help you find where the actively feeding fish are. Wind and current can sometimes make this mobile presentation challenging, but it can be done (quite effectively, I might add!) using a combination of a high thrust trolling motor (I use a 101 lb Terrova) and Drift Control drift socks. For example, a stiff downstream wind can make hovering in place along a seam very difficult with only the bowmount. Not only does the wind want to push the boat downstream too fast, but it also wants to swing the bow from pointing upstream to pointing downstream. Deploying a Drift Control sock off the bow can help with both issues. First, it will help slow you down so that the bowmount is more effective in controlling downstream speed. Second, it will help prevent the bow from swinging downstream. While many guys think of drift socks in lake applications alone, there are plenty of times that a Drift Control sock can help make targeting walleyes in moving water much easier!
It would be tough to fish the river with out a depth finder. There are some cheap ones out there. You might even find one at a garage sale. All it needs to do is read bottom. Reading fish would be second to reading bottom. Othere than this look for current seams or try to read the water patterns on the surface. Changes in bottom depth will cause wave lines to form on the surface. Even if you see these you will still need to figure out what the depth change is.
New to IDO.....been fish'n the Mississippi all my life. Dock out of Pool 9 in DeSoto.
Given the fluctuating water levels and clarity since ice out, the Walleye bite has been nothing short of superb on Pool 9. I've had a tremendous amount of luck this summer pulling Walleye's off the current breaks created by underlying rocks in 3 to 7 fow. Best baits recently for such a chore have been the Bomber Crawdad & Bream 5A patterns. Kalin Pumpkinseed 5" lunker grubs on various weights depending conditions were the hotter ticket a month ago. Running the cranks against the current often times yields more stikes IMO. The baits dive a little deeper "chunking" the rocks more often. Those eye's love to thump injured crawdads if a LMB don't interfer first!
River Walleyes
Re: River Walleyes
As well as if there is a sand gravel/mix on shore generally it to will continue in the water 
We're glad you joined us and thanks for the great tips! 
