The effectiveness of haphazard drifts and trolling passes to cover water dissipates in favor of tactics that specifically hug distinct current edges. Now you should be vertically jigging a few inches either side of a current seam -- whichever side seems to produce best -- as your boat drifts downcurrent, or as you use your electric trolling motor to slow your drift downcurrent. Try trolling slowly upstream along such current avenues, using a three-way rig to wiggle and wobble a minnow-imitator crankbait, or dance a floating jighead tipped with a minnow, past the noses of the 'eyes. Hover along key spots and stretches displaying fish activity. Once you find biters, don't be in any hurry to leave until you strain the area. Anchor if necessary or if advantageous to covering a small, distinct spot, especially if you suspect fish are periodically moving through the area.

By this time, the word's usually out that fish are biting, so the crowd begins to gather below the dam. If so, try different tactics than most: bladebaits, jigging spoons, or other oddities that make your lures stand out amidst the ensuing jigfest. Anchor and soak live minnows on a three-way rig, saturating an eddy. Pitch your lightweight jig and minnow combo in front of a wing dam and let it wash up tight to the front face to trigger active biters. And if the water's sufficiently high for fish to move into the boil above the wing dam, cast a crankbait ahead of the rocks and retrieve, bang, bounce it across the crest. Ditto for current sweeping along riprap. In all cases, get your baits in there tighter, but always close to the current flow. That's where active walleyes will be waiting, in perfect position to dash into the fray to snatch a passing meal.

And when the dam crowd's too numerous to fight, shift your efforts downstream, a 1/4-, a 1/2-, a mile or so if need be. Get away from the fishermen and chances are you'll find the fish, who are also of like mind regarding avoidance. Slipping downstream away from the party is one of your best strategies during these conditions. Fewer fishermen, more fish for you.

RAGING FLOW

Ah, the bane of all river anglers -- water levels high enough to jump the bank, pushing both water and walleyes back into the woods. Anglers fishing traditional main-channel areas experience little but frustration, both because such areas are difficult to fish in such conditions and because, by and large, the bulk of the walleyes aren't there.

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