I’ve played the can line game up there many times. It’s definitely not a weekend spot for me. I like to nab a few for the box and move on if people are around. If someone sees a net there on a weekend it can quickly look like a parade in a matter of minutes.
2.7 down and 1.7 up
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mojogunter wrote:</div>
I was in that area the last few days. I didn’t do very well but a friend had it figured out. Cranks and planer boards to get the bait away from the boat worked best, and yes not much room there.How fast was he pulling them ?
Slow today. I’m seeing a trend of folks running big planer board spreads in the crowded head of lake area. Not going to tell someone what to do but really messes up other guys ability to maneuver.
I darn near crapped Saturday!
There were a lot of pleasure craft out, a few tows and twice as many fishermen in the can line channel.
I came though heading to the lake with the Carver (at no wake speed) and it was tight between two boats trolling up stream and myself going down stream between them. As I was right next to the boat on the starboard, I saw the planner board. I wasn’t in line to hit it, but it was a startling reminder to be on the look out for them. The guys using the boards didn’t even know how close I was to them, likely because they had a fish on the inside board.
FYI when I fished the can line for eyes, I don’t ever remember fishing “in” the channel, we were always closer to shore. Not that I have a problem with it, just thought it was odd.
One problem is the water level is so low that even in the channel in some spots it is 7′ so I think that is why there are more guys in the channel. There were several fishing right down the center too. That made it very challenging for anyone trying to make it through.
FYI when I fished the can line for eyes, I don’t ever remember fishing “in” the channel, we were always closer to shore. Not that I have a problem with it, just thought it was odd.
One problem is the water level is so low that even in the channel in some spots it is 7′ so I think that is why there are more guys in the channel. There were several fishing right down the center too. That made it very challenging for anyone trying to make it through.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Brian Klawitter wrote:</div>
FYI when I fished the can line for eyes, I don’t ever remember fishing “in” the channel, we were always closer to shore. Not that I have a problem with it, just thought it was odd.
The more traffic and noise there, the more fish push out into the channel in my experience. This creates a traffic jam in low flow periods of fishing boats, barges, and cruisers. The same effect happens at the foot of Pepin and in Pool 5 as well. Always have your head on a swivel and assume everyone else does not see you or understand navigation rules of the water.
Bite must be good . Everyone’s quiet . Went and messed around for 2-3 hours today . 70 boats at the dam . All I picked up was one nice walleye on jig and a minnow a long way from the dam .
Does the bite not exist in the lake ? I know they migrate up there but damn . Seems early . 49 water temp
Hit pool 4 for a couple hours from the bank this morning, the bite was pretty good for me. Caught prolly 20 walleyes, a lot of small ones with a few whitebass and sheephead mixed in and kept my limit of 4 perfect 16-18 inch eyes. 1/8 oz black jig and a fathead caught all the fish.
Fished Monday by the dam. 2 boats and 4 guys. Seemed like saugers/walleyes were in just a couple, very small spots. If you weren’t on one of those spots, you weren’t catching much. We only had 2 in the box at noon. A boat with their limit left and we moved in. 8 keepers the next 2 hours and a bunch of small ones. Finished with 9 saugers and a walleye. We had an excellent fish fry
Fished Monday by the dam. 2 boats and 4 guys. Seemed like saugers/walleyes were in just a couple, very small spots. If you weren’t on one of those spots, you weren’t catching much. We only had 2 in the box at noon. A boat with their limit left and we moved in. 8 keepers the next 2 hours and a bunch of small ones. Finished with 9 saugers and a walleye. We had an excellent fish fry
Anything with any size ? I played around up there last weekend in the rain and mist but quickly lost interest .
Good esters, 15” – 18”, which is what we wanted for a fish fry. Caught twice as many small ones.
Guessing the dam crowd gonna be a little lighter coming up this weekend 
Guessing the dam crowd gonna be a little lighter coming up this weekend
In all honesty it really hasn’t been that bad, even the other weekend when it was 65 degrees, both days I would consider it light traffic.
200 boats out there today felt like , anyone do any good ? I couldn’t find any size . 2 over 15 is all . Pulling 3 ways .5 mph up river . White seemed to be best color for me . Caught about 2 dozen . Someone tell me what I did wrong lol .
Did good using jigs and plastics in 24-27 feet. Working the bait slow seemed to help. There was a lot of shad coughed up in the livewell. Color didn’t seem to matter, we just had to slow down the presentation.
Ive been having the best luck on F9s or 11 in natural black/silver colors. Takes awhile to sort thru small ones to get a limit of keepers. I also TARGET 0.8-1.0 upstream.
Pretty good bite considering the boating pressure and bluebird skies! We got bit on everything we tossed at them. Like said, need to sort through a lot of shots, but nice to get down there Saturday.
Shout out to Everts Resort access. They really had the launch and park system pinned down. They got a lot of boats through there in a hurry. Nice healthy scoops on the minnows too! 
-J.
Did anyone take advantage of the nice weather today and head to red wing? How was the bite? I’m heading over tomorrow to give it a go, close to 40 degrees I could care less about hardwater fishing when the temps start warming up like this.
I was there today – fished a blade bait vertical and picked up a fish . Pulled 3 ways and didn’t catch a fish till after dark . All walleye – no sauger . I’m sure someone will post shortly saying they hammered them haha
Did anyone take advantage of the nice weather today and head to red wing? How was the bite? I’m heading over tomorrow to give it a go, close to 40 degrees I could care less about hardwater fishing when the temps start warming up like this.
How did you end up ?
We were down on P4 yesterday. Fishing was ok, although we did not go up to the dam for the fish in the scour hole, there were plenty of folks up there. We ended up with 5 and all but one were over 20″ so we were happy with that.
There was some jagaloon in an alumacraft with 2 power poles that must have intentionally snagged 40+ flat heads out of the same hole. I hated that.
We were down on P4 yesterday. Fishing was ok, although we did not go up to the dam for the fish in the scour hole, there were plenty of folks up there. We ended up with 5 and all but one were over 20″ so we were happy with that.
There was some jagaloon in an alumacraft with 2 power poles that must have intentionally snagged 40+ flat heads out of the same hole. I hated that.
He likely needed something to do after “having a 50 fish day” which consisted of 48 saugers 7-13″ long released from the scour hole as eagle food.
We were down on P4 yesterday. Fishing was ok, although we did not go up to the dam for the fish in the scour hole, there were plenty of folks up there. We ended up with 5 and all but one were over 20″ so we were happy with that.
There was some jagaloon in an alumacraft with 2 power poles that must have intentionally snagged 40+ flat heads out of the same hole. I hated that.
Using plastics or blades ? I also saw 2 flatheads snagged. I had to leave after the second one I couldn’t take it anymore . Lots of clowns crowded around the scour hole when I was there too . Eagles were eating good
The bite was slow for us as well. We didn’t go up to the dam either, stayed downstream. We caught 4 and had 1 other break off. 2 keeper saugers and 1 keeper eye and 1 short eye.
We seen that guy in the alumacraft too, him and the guy in the red boat alongside him both were getting alot of cats. The 3 keepers came on vertical jigging plastics and the short was pitching a blade. Fished from 9 till 3, it was a beautiful day on the water, regardless of how the fish bit.
I was on pool 4 last Wednesday. I only caught 1 18 inch walleye on plastic in 3 hours of fishing. Couldn’t spot much on the locator. Water temp was 35-36 degrees. Colder below the Y where the river runs in. The eagles watching me didn’t think much of my fishing ability.
I also saw the pair of boats snagging cats. I was not impressed.
The cat snagging is a prime example of why regulations are really quite useless without further enforcement.
If people can’t be ticketed/stopped from snagging large catfish in plain sight on a busy river, I find it hard to believe possession limits are often enforced either. There are just too many idiots to overcome.
The cat snagging is a prime example of why regulations are really quite useless without further enforcement.
If people can’t be ticketed/stopped from snagging large catfish in plain sight on a busy river, I find it hard to believe possession limits are often enforced either. There are just too many idiots to overcome.
One thing we worked on was to get the season closed (in MN) on Flatheads during the winter so these cats at least need to be released. It’s much easier to enforce a cat illegally in possession than it is to prove “snagging”.
If anyone drives past Wisconsin channel next couple days let me know if the ramp is plowed please . Sunday looks decent .
Anyone giving it a dangle this weekend? Sunday I might dabble .
Does snagging and releasing fish in the winter really harm them much? It’s tasteless, sure.
The lady wants to fish p4 tomorrow. Thinking about heading down for the day. I assume the mn landing is open down river from everts. I’d rather skip that place if possible
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