Half day
$375 for 1 or 2 anglers
4.5 hours, April to November
First-timers, families with kids, and anyone who wants to be home for lunch.
Fishing trips on the Mississippi backwaters
Half days, full days and ice fishing out of Stoddard, Wisconsin, for one to three anglers. I'm Ben Sather. I bring the boat, the rods and the spots, and on Sundays I post the good days on the show.
Half days from $375 for two anglers. Rods, tackle, bait and life jackets are on the boat. You bring a fishing licence and a jacket.
Three ways to fish with me
Full day
$575 for 1 or 2 anglers
8 hours, April to November
Fishing more than one pattern: wing dams at first light, backwaters after lunch.
Ice fishing
$165 per angler
5 hours, early january to late february, only when the ice is safe
Groups, kids and anyone who thinks ice fishing is cold. The shanty is heated.
Book a trip
Pick an open date and see your total. I text you back within a day, and you pay nothing until I confirm.
Seven spots I fish on Pool 8
The water I know best, drawn from my own notes. Tap a number on the chart to see what bites there, when, how deep, and how I fish it.
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Spot 1: The Wing Dams
- Fish
- Walleye and sauger
- When
- Late March to May, then October until ice
- Depth
- 8 to 18 ft
Rock dikes built more than a century ago to push current into the main channel. Walleye sit on the upstream face and in the scour hole behind each one.
How I fish it: I hold us in the current with the trolling motor and you drag a quarter-ounce jig and minnow down the rocks. Feel for the tick, then the weight.
On the show: Episode 48, First frost: walleye on the wing dams
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Spot 2: Heron Slough
- Fish
- Largemouth and smallmouth bass
- When
- June to September
- Depth
- 3 to 7 ft
A side channel with steady current and fallen trees along both banks. Herons fish it every morning, which tells you plenty.
How I fish it: Cast a squarebill crankbait tight to the wood and let the current swing it past.
On the show: Episode 45, Two first-timers, one slough: bass in Heron Slough
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Spot 3: Stump Flats
- Fish
- Crappie, bluegill and largemouth
- When
- May and June, again in late September
- Depth
- 3 to 5 ft
When the locks and dams raised the river in the 1930s they flooded a bottomland forest. The stumps are still there, just under the surface. Fish love them; propellers do not.
How I fish it: We idle in slowly on the trolling motor. Small jig under a slip bobber for crappie, a weedless plastic for bass.
On the show: Episode 40, Fly rod bluegill on the spawning beds
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Spot 4: Rice Bed Bay
- Fish
- Largemouth bass and northern pike
- When
- July and August
- Depth
- 1 to 4 ft
Wild rice and lily pads over a soft bottom. The best topwater water I know, early and late in the day.
How I fish it: A hollow-body frog over the pads for bass, a white spinnerbait along the outside edge for pike.
On the show: Episode 44, Topwater largemouth in Rice Bed Bay
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Spot 5: Cutoff Hole
- Fish
- Channel catfish, walleye in cold water
- When
- Summer nights, and November
- Depth
- 18 to 26 ft
Where a cut from the backwaters pours into the main channel it has dug a deep hole. The current brings the food and the hole holds the fish.
How I fish it: Cut bait on the bottom for catfish after dark. In cold water, a blade bait worked slowly along the bottom.
Not on the show yet. It is on the list for next summer.
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Spot 6: Lunch Bar
- Fish
- White bass, then lunch
- When
- Late August to October
- Depth
- 2 to 10 ft off the tip
A sandbar where the current breaks. Shad get pushed up against it and white bass tear into them. On full-day trips we pull up here for shore lunch.
How I fish it: Watch for diving birds. Throw a small silver spoon into the boil and hang on.
On the show: Episode 47, Follow the ospreys: white bass at Lunch Bar
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Spot 7: Winter Lake
- Fish
- Bluegill, crappie and perch through the ice
- When
- January and February
- Depth
- 6 to 9 ft
A closed backwater lake with no current, so it is usually the first place with safe ice and the last to lose it.
How I fish it: Heated shanty over the deep basin, tiny tungsten jigs tipped with waxworms, and a flasher to watch them come up.
On the show: Episode 37, Crappie through the ice on Winter Lake
New this Sunday: First frost, walleye on the wing dams
Thirty-one degrees at the landing, steam coming off the water, and the walleye finally moved up onto the rocks. How I read a wing dam, and why I fish the upstream face first.
This week on the river
The river is at 6.4 feet on the La Crosse gauge and falling about a tenth a day. The water is 57 degrees at the landing and clearing up, and the walleye have moved onto the wing dams.
From my field journal, updated Sunday, October 4.
Read the field journalBiting now
- Walleye and sauger on the Wing Dams (spot 1). Good, and better every week.
- White bass off Lunch Bar (spot 6). Good when the birds are working.
- Crappie in Stump Flats (spot 3). Fair, best on calm mornings.
Who you will be fishing with
I grew up in Stoddard, a few hundred yards from the landing, and I have fished this stretch of river in every season since I could hold a rod. I run one boat. When you book a trip, you fish with me.
I hold a U.S. Coast Guard captain's licence and a Wisconsin fishing guide licence, the two the law asks for on paid trips. There is a life jacket on board for every size of person, kids included.
More about me and the boatFall walleye are on the wing dams now
Weekend dates go first. Pick a day, see your total, and I will text you back within a day to confirm.