Spring Valley, Illinois has always been on our bucket list so we made the trip and fished this destination sauger fishery. Although, there are Walleye in the system the majority of the fish caught are Sauger.
We reserved rooms at Pilgrim Park which is only a 5-10 minute drive to Hennepin Marina Boat landing.
Water temps reached near 43 degrees where the jig bite seemed to outperform the crankbait bite. We used 3/8oz to 1/2oz jigs such as the PK Spin A Jig (Yelllow/Orange) tipped with 2 minnows and a stinger hook while keeping the line vertically as we drifted downstream. Focusing on river bends, finding current breaks, and following certain contour lines (12-14 FOW) proved successful.
After a couple days a cold front moved in causing a drastic temperature drop which shut off the jigging bite. After the cold front switching to pulling Crankbaits was key to catching fish where we pulled 3 ways with a 6oz drop weight (18” leader) along with a 5 foot leader with a floating crankbait (rust/orange color).
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Curt Reeff
www.pklure.com
701-471-5885