anybody else excited about FALL

Getting excited here to hit up P4 after the labor day weekend. Been busy all summer with work and projects at home so fall fishing can’t come soon enough. just curious with the great looking 10 day, when the fall bite will start up. I am guessing the bite will get good in October maybe sooner. I think I will hit the head of the lake too once the kids are back in school and the guys put the boats away to sit in the woods. Anyone else getting on P4 for the fall bite? would like to share info to those getting out in the next few months. good luck out there!

Favorite time of year for many reasons. Several which you listed.

I will be spending some time out there. I’m still quite new to pool 4, so any tips or tricks would be much appreciated. Good luck out there!

I’ll be out there trying to figure it out. Looking forward to cooler water temps.

I enjoy the transition from summer to fall. Especially this year since its been so hot and dry most of the summer.

Cooler temps (both air and water) and less people. Sure is nice to finally get some rain too.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Favorite time of year for many reasons. Several which you listed.

X2

Can’t beat fall time nostalgia for me.

Busch light apple is not one of them! Sorry eyeguy… more for you

Love fishing in a sweatshirt. And the first frost that thins the skeeters.

Fun starts at 50°!

Can’t wait to get after it. This will be my first year fishing pool 4 in the fall. When does the bite usually start to get hot?

Brady Kubat wrote:

Can’t wait to get after it. This will be my first year fishing pool 4 in the fall. When does the bite usually start to get hot?

when it gets cold out. I’m guessing the water temps are still in the 70’s? i am waiting a couple more weeks but ideally temps in the 50’s is when i get excited.

It feels like I have the river all to myself tonight. Let the fall fishing begin!

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how did you do hiker? i have some time off next few weeks and can’t wait to get my pooch out too. its been so long she will probably lose it when she sees the water again. i love having the water to myself……good times!

The big sheaphead were on a tear last night! I pulled cranks for a couple hours, and got about a half dozen eyes anywhere from 16-22″. Switched to pitching cranks on wingdams for the last hour, and got a few more shorts. Every fish came on #7 shad dancers in red fire craw. Tons of bait out there right now that’s for sure. Keeping the bait moving fast, and making the fish react seemed to be the key just like last weekend.

Thanks for the report!

I think we will need some rain and flow to get fish up out of the lake into the upper river this year or it won’t be as good up in there IMO.

I was out today. Fished the head of the lake then went to point no point and a few points up stream (green I think). Made 1 pass and the wind got to be too much. I pulled JR-7’s— nada. Went back up river and got skunked in the Wisconsin channel. I left and got skunked below the bridge and called it a day. Temps at 70-71. Baitfish covered the screen just about everywhere.

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

Fun starts at 50°!

Starts at 60-62 degrees for me!! But need a little more flow to move these fish back into their normal haunts..

Some north metro eyes were found again. Just need to find the current, which is tougher but doable.

Think my hiking shoes will be more utilized than the waders this year, but we’ll see. They were wackin the raps w no hookups, nada ringworm, paddle tail found the sweet spot. Annoying how fussy they r

Deuces wrote:

Some north metro eyes were found again. Just need to find the current, which is tougher but doable.

Think my hiking shoes will be more utilized than the waders this year, but we’ll see. They were wackin the raps w no hookups, nada ringworm, paddle tail found the sweet spot. Annoying how fussy they r

Yep, I think it’s about time for me to start beating the bank again also. Pool 2 and up in Monti.

Fished Saturday, didn’t find anything worthwhile in the lake. Moved to can line and head of lake and hit ’em hard. not a river pro so pulling lead is my go to. was a nice day so a ton of pleasure boats to contend with. jointed fire tiger out-fished every other bait. Have fun out there!

Planned on fishing Thursday but I hadn’t had the boat out since June and had concerns about my TM batteries the last time I was out. My hunch was right and one was shot not taking a charge this whole time. Evidently there is a battery shortage FYI. Took me 5 hours to find 2 TM batteries so I guess I am going Friday:(
Got to LC and the wind was blowing too hard to launch on Pepin so headed up to Red wing. I still can’t believe the water is this warm but was pleasantly surprised after a nice sauger on my 3rd cast! then the rain came for 2 hours and me and the pooch hid in the marinas crappie fishing but nothing to show for it.
Got a couple smaller eyes down from the high bridge last few hours but that was it. All fish on plastics cast towards sand. It is tough to get fish to cooperate with all the shad right now. we watched a pelican fill its whole beak in one gulp multiple times.
With the 10 day forecast, it will be another 4 weeks before the bite takes off IMO. Still an amazing day and the colors on the river should be taking off real soon. get out when you can, it is beautiful out there with hardly any traffic!

Spent about five hours yesterday casting to the rip rap on Pepin. We tried a bunch of spots and never really connected. Ended up with one eater walleye, a couple dinks, a couple sheep, and a few perch.
All fish were caught on either a jig or Lindy rig with a half crawler.
My dad had either a jig and plastic, or shad rap on nearly the entire time and he got skunked.
Talked to a guy at the ramp that used minnows under a bobber and did well with the crappies in the same area we were on the Wisconsin side.
Even though fishing wasn’t the best it was nice to get out in the boat with my dad and enjoy some of this fall weather.
The water is cooling down and the bite should be picking up soon here.

Best September weather I can ever remember…

…the fishing was below average however ~

I am headed to pepin this weekend for our annual fall camping trip. When the fall is warm and low flow like it is this year, do the walleyes stall there movement upstream out of the lake?

Trying to out a game plan together to start in the lake or river first. Goal being eaters for a fish fry ea h night. Any advice would be appreciated.

I do most of my camping this time of year. Not too hot, you can actually enjoy your hikes and sitting around the campfire after without dying of heat. If I’m not out in Nevada I’m bouncing around MN, WI, ND and SD state and national parks!

holstc wrote:

I am headed to pepin this weekend for our annual fall camping trip. When the fall is warm and low flow like it is this year, do the walleyes stall there movement upstream out of the lake?

Trying to out a game plan together to start in the lake or river first. Goal being eaters for a fish fry ea h night. Any advice would be appreciated.

Eyes are in the river and lake all year long. I would argue that being a current seeking fish, there is more current in the river so some are always there. Not much current in the lake really. There isn’t some giant migration on P4 up river like the shiner run in the Rainy river. Once the water cools considerably, the eyes become more active triggering the need to feed as winter approaches. There is so much forage that I am not sure the bite will ever be lights out but you don’t know unless you try.

Fished Saturday evening through Monday. Fishing was slow each day. Bumper boats towards the head of the lake and the can line. South of that and you had the lake to yourself. Caught fish in both the lake and river on rock using crank baits. Tried slip corking the lake points that had lots of sign but that did not produce much. Caught enough fish to feed three guys each night but we worked for every one.

Looking we caught almost all our fish in less than 12’ of water when the graph was lit up with baitfish which was not hard to find. Flicker shad 7’s and shad dancer 5’s both in purple were the best baits. Trusty old jointed 5’s caught nothing.

That ends my 2021 fishing on pool 4 to concentrate on hunting.

Good luck to all as the bite will only get better from here.