Dennis Anderson: High water but good fishin' on the Mississippi

POOL 4, MISSISSIPPI RIVER - Brian Petrich drove nearly four hours from his construction job site in Iowa to fish here Thursday. Now it was midafternoon and he was preparing, finally, to back his boat into the Mississippi's high water.

"I told my wife not to wait up," said Petrich, of Chippewa Falls, Wis. "I'll be late."

Petrich was embarking not only on a fishing trip, but on a blind date, of sorts. He met his fishing partner, Dale Hansen of Baldwin, Wis., over the Internet, on idofishing.com -- a site that, among other things, matches anglers looking to meet new people and learn new techniques.

"I come to the Mississippi in spring and fall and often fish by myself," Petrich said. "I posted on the site that I would be fishing today and had an open seat ..."

"And I wanted to fish the river today, too," Hansen said.

As Hansen spoke, the two anglers were launching Petrich's boat at Everts Resort in Hager City, Wis., just across the river from Red Wing, Minn.

Everts is a bait and tackle shop direct from central casting. Fish and fishing are talked there, also coffee is poured and money exchanged for the stuff needed to catch fish -- all while, out front, the big river flows ever by.

"But this past winter was so cold for so long," said Dean Marshall, owner of Everts Resort. "Usually, we get a thaw in January and a little warm fishing weather. Not this year. Fishing was great this winter, but the weather just wasn't angler-friendly."

As Marshall spoke, his dog lay outside his shop, basking in the day's 70-degree sunshine. Inside, an Everts regular, Roy Whipple of Hager City, munched on a snack while keeping one eye on the river through the shop's open door.

But not everything has gone swimmingly this spring at Everts. The unseasonably warm weather, the warp-speed snow melt and the high water that followed have made fishing challenging, and it has kept some anglers off the river.

"I think some people who typically would fish here this time of year have been intimidated by the high water," Marshall said.

A spring hot spot for walleye anglers, the broad Mississippi just below the dam near Red Wing and Hager City is at this time of year a place not only to catch fish, but trophy fish -- walleyes in excess of 10 pounds, in some instances.

As a result, fishing here is wildly popular in March and April. In the last day or two alone, anglers from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Iowa, Nebraska and northern Minnesota have launched boats at Everts, in addition to mainstay anglers from the Twin Cities.

"Still, we haven't done 10 percent of the business we normally do in spring because of the high water," Marshall said.

The river crested here about a week ago. But high water still precludes access to the handful of cabins Marshall rents to anglers. And parking space at his resort remains at a premium due to the flooding.

That said, conditions are improving hourly, and the fishing is good. One angler returned to the Everts dock Thursday with a 10-pound walleye, and most other anglers are finding fish, too.

Marshall recommends a 3/8-ounce jig fished with a minnow.

Some of the river's bigger walleyes, Marshall said, are in the flooded backwaters, drawn there by the high water and the food it has washed into the river. A lighter jig is needed to fool these specimens, something in the 1/8-ounce range, fished either with a minnow or a plastic bait.

"Fishin' the wood is what we call it," he said, adding:

"Keep in mind that the water just below the dam where everyone congregates represents only about 3 percent of the fishable water here. You don't have to fish bumper to bumper."

You also don't have to fish alone.

Just ask Brian Petrich and Dale Hansen.