Anyone Out On Pepin Lately?

I threw the boat in for 2 hours to just run around, check a few perch spots out and get away from work.

I had no intentions of fishing saugers or eyes but decided to long line a couple cranks in the channel at the tips of 2 wingdams. I made 3 passes and caught 3 legals and 1 short. Running short on time I headed for a bottleneck area behind a popular island searching for perch but only nabbed 2 stray ones and a couple elusive drum.

Water temp was 60-61 everywhere I was with relatively good clarity. I was beneath Pepin and saw nothing but bass boats. Hearing it was busy above the lake I’m glad I didn’t waste the couple hours I had trailering further for that.

wow i did not think the water temps would drop 10 degrees in a week but i will take it.

With the flow up some now, is the Wisconsin channel reasonable for traffic?

fishinfun wrote:

With the flow up some now, is the Wisconsin channel reasonable for traffic?

Levels currently at 2.4 . I had her beached at 3.0 this summer . 18 foot deep v . Maybe someone else has a bigger set than me but I ain’t running the whole stretch till it’s above 5 again .

Wisconsin Back Channel had over 20 rigs Saturday and Sunday. Level in Red Wing last night was reported at 2.35.

Trim up and follow the deeper water on your graph on the WI side. (Mr. Sippi side) I normally take my engine out of gear until I see the deeper water on the opposite side of the closing dam. I’m not sure if the two markers are there yet or not. Or go to the free ramp in Bay Point.

I was surprised at how few boats there were at the head of the lake Saturday afternoon. Course the bit of a wind made it cold for this non acclimated skipper.

eyeguy507 wrote:

wow i did not think the water temps would drop 10 degrees in a week but i will take it.

I’m less than 2 miles from the river the way the crow flies and had frost on my windshield this morning when I didn’t get my truck in a building. The night temps are taking their toll.

It was 43 when I left the Harbor Docks this morning. By the time I drove to River Falls, my “CAUTION, ICE POSSIBLE” warning came on at 33 degrees!

Brian Klawitter wrote:

Wisconsin Back Channel had over 20 rigs Saturday and Sunday. Level in Red Wing last night was reported at 2.35.

Trim up and follow the deeper water on your graph on the WI side. (Mr. Sippi side) I normally take my engine out of gear until I see the deeper water on the opposite side of the closing dam. I’m not sure if the two markers are there yet or not. Or go to the free ramp in Bay Point.

I was surprised at how few boats there were at the head of the lake Saturday afternoon. Course the bit of a wind made it cold for this non acclimated skipper.

What I was implying is the back channel ramp crossing the closing damn is good, I was there last night – the stretch from the bridge down to goose lake and out of Katrinas cut , no good for me. I had her beached back there just past goose lake.

Saw the Ella J out throwing a line last night. Any nibbling ?

isu22andy wrote:

Saw the Ella J out throwing a line last night. Any nibbling ?

No, I didn’t have a line out. Since the FW broke her elbow, I’ve had to change all the linen in the boat. I can’t do it all at once when there’s breakfast, lunch and a Hamm’s during the football game.

Ok I lied, it didn’t watch the game, just had Hamm’s.

It was another awesome weekend to be on the river watching the walleye guys!

Anyone been out lately? Have a trip next week that might need an audible called, and we’re thinking of spending a few days down there.

I was out last week on first day of the tourney so take with a grain of salt. Bite was ok for us not great with the amount of fish under us. Scratched out 8 nice keepers out of 15 fish total. 10-15 feet for us and the nicer ones were on the shallow end of that. The tourney guys were up real shallow chasing the big girls.

Kept changing baits constantly to get bit. Couldn’t nail down a specific color. Get a few on one then it would go dead, switch and get bit right away, repeat.

I went out yesterday pulling spinners with crawlers. Went through all my bait so jigged up a few on gulp minnows which was surprising as I haven’t had much luck with those on Pepin. Water was 70ish. 80% of my fish came in one 100 yard area up by deer island otherwise just covering water. Stayed in 10-13 feet and it wasn’t terribly frantic out there but it wasn’t slow either. Next few weeks will be great out there, especially after a few more hot days.

I was out Saturday and did pretty well. Not on fire, but pretty steady in 10′ pulling cranks (mostly flicker shads). It looked like a lot of boats were out on the flats. Bite was better early, and got a little of everything. Walleye, sauger, sheepshead, perch, crappie, smallmouth bass, and channel cats.

Thanks for the heads up guys, heading down to Lake City tomorrow for the rest of the week. I’ll make sure to get some reports up on how we do!

I see they say the river will be cresting on Sunday.

I will be down there Friday-Sunday, so if you see my barber pole looking landing net standing up say hello.

TMF89 wrote:

Thanks for the heads up guys, heading down to Lake City tomorrow for the rest of the week. I’ll make sure to get some reports up on how we do!

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Anyone been pulling cranks over by the pickle factory? Planning on heading down tomorrow with my boys and giving that a whirl.

Got 50 fish and a 3 man limit today trolling cranks in 10-15′. Worked the point at Frontenac and Bogus Bay on the WI side. Gold was the color of the day, for sure, the newish Shad Rap color with a gold body and chartreuse stripes probably caught 30+ fish.

We’ll keep an eye out for ya, Mojo! Gray/silver Lund Impact with a kicker here.

Saw the infamous barber pole net today mojo down by maiden rock . You had boards out and the wind was howling otherwise I would have hollered at ya . Slow for us , plenty of junk to fowl up cranks . Picked a few here and there on spinner rigs 14 foot but not a great bite for us . Had the wife with so didn’t fish prime time . If the weathers right I’ll sneak back out tomorrow .

The bite Friday, and yesterday were much better than today. Crazy winds kicked up about 10:30 and fished until noon and headed in. Just one keeper today that we threw back. Yesterday they were mostly caught on #7 flicker shads (firetiger). Friday caught them on a money badger. Too bad we didn’t get a chance to chat.

You guys are nuts to be out there today…..had to be 5 footers out there?

I shoulda went to Roschen with a 6 pack and a lawn chair and see who got the mad skillz loading! Had to of been half a dozen boats slam into those rocks today.

We were out until at 2, slow for us too, just hid along shore on the north side of Lake City by Kelly’s. We decided it was worth the $10 to launch at the marina, and were thiiiiis close to swinging by the public launch on our way out of town to watch the show for a bit, should’ve done it!

TMF89 wrote:

We were out until at 2, slow for us too, just hid along shore on the north side of Lake City by Kelly’s. We decided it was worth the $10 to launch at the marina, and were thiiiiis close to swinging by the public launch on our way out of town to watch the show for a bit, should’ve done it!

My buddy was there. The wind shifted and he said it was a nightmare loading.just dropping of the trailer guy on the dock was exceptionaly difficult.

Roschen is a great landing with the right wind. I was on a friend’s tritoon (quite intoxicated as a passenger) and a buddy and his wife insisted on being dropped off there versus in the marina and walking 1/8 of a mile to their vehicle. Needless to say the guy driving was a novice with a brand new Bartletta…second outing and set it right on that little dock with the waves. We literally had to get everyone in the back and 2 of us then lift and push to get it off the dock. Legitimate consistent 3’ers + when 2 hours earlier it was close to glass

Roschen and even Hoksila will test your skills for sure. I do it by myself 95% of the time and there are times it is just not possible by yourself. sure you might get out fine but then you have to think all day about how the hell are you going to make it back in. Sure would be nice for the city to add a section to those short docks to help people out. Not sure why this has not been done? For a couple thousand bucks, you could easily add a 20 foot section and float it off the existing dock. Another thing that just chaps my rear is the mob of boats within a hundred yard area of the landing. Why? There are a million other places to fish or lounge around but no, lets just clog up this area next to the launch? One time earlier this year some guy just tied his boat up to the dock and went up to have a fkn picnic and left his 3 kids splashing around the docks while others are trying to get in. This is not a beach or a marina but common sense must not be that common to some? Another busy weekend there was some kind of sale going on down the road so half the lot was full of cars taking up room where you park the trailers. this one clown was sitting in his car in the trailer turn around and it took all my might not to lose it after he said…..”do you need me to move”? Ummm ya you are parked in the fkn trailer turn around so maybe move your sedan the eff out of the boat launch????
Sorry rant over! Im done going out on weekends, not good for my mental health

Start fishing in October through about May and your public boat ramp experience goes up by about 3 x . Even on busy days . My best days on the river though are rain or light snow in spring or fall . I’m not outing my favorite ramp on the internet but very easy for a solo launcher to beach it and load and unload if you don’t mind a few scratches in the paint of the hull and sand in your boat .

I’ll be in Oahe for a few days , probably do better on Pepin but we have been doing the guys trip out here a few years . Good luck fellas .

isu22andy wrote:

Start fishing in October through about May and your public boat ramp experience goes up by about 3 x . Even on busy days . My best days on the river though are rain or light snow in spring or fall . I’m not outing my favorite ramp on the internet but very easy for a solo launcher to beach it and load and unload if you don’t mind a few scratches in the paint of the hull and sand in your boat .

I’ll be in Oahe for a few days , probably do better on Pepin but we have been doing the guys trip out here a few years . Good luck fellas .

Oh I have it mostly figured out. Its actually just after labor day through March. Fishing on Pepin is just ok until about late May then gets pretty good through June. After that I won’t be back until September. This year with the high dirty water, I’ll be deep in the river cuts exploring or hibernating until October

I still have PTSD from one particularly ‘intense’ launch at Roschen a few years back during a hurricane. By myself.

Eyeguy is spot on. Sure would be nice to invest in some infrastructure to help out a bit.

A couple of us met with the mayor a few weeks back to improve the docks. We definitely are trying!!

jimmysiewert wrote:

A couple of us met with the mayor a few weeks back to improve the docks. We definitely are trying!!

us fisherman appreciate you Jimmy. great park and facility but that dock in the wind will break even the best of us. i don’t do politics but if us regulars can help, let me know what is needed…..thanks