Lake Pepin/Wabasha Reports

Anyone have any reports as of late for Lake Pepin smallies? What can anyone tell me about Wabasha? I’ve heard it is a nice spot for smallmouth action. Anything I have to worry about as far as not losing a lower unit on my boat.I’ve heard there is a BFL event coming, must be a decent area

Wabasha has a little bit of everything to fish depending on what you are looking for — Wood, Weeds, Pads, Slop, Windgams, Rip Rap, Deep, shallow, etc…Very good pool IMO, and that’s not including you still have Pepin.

I’ll be up there all next week…..See you guys up there!!

John Stears probably can give you an in-depth report.

Pool 4 from Pepin down to Alma is supposed to have 100 wingdams. I know there are a bunch of them. Many are sanded/silted over but many still have lots of rock on them. I fish that stretch of river a couple times a year. You should have no problem finding smallies, walleyes, largies, northerns and white bass on these wingdams. I especially like the first 3 or 4 dams below Pepin (across from the mouth of the Chipawa) and the dams on the south end of downtown Wabasha (near the south marina). You can also try your luck at casting and pulling cranks in “the chute” across from Wabasha. I’ve popped many a walleye and smallie out of there. This time of the year tossing or trolling deep diving cranks on these dams and rock piles is deadly.

Things have slowed down. About a week ago we saw a major algae bloom and the current dropped to nothing. Much of the action has move to the banks and in the slop. I’ve been checking some spots on Pepin and to-date they haven’t lit up. This weeks cool weather may help get things back on track. What killing is the top-water bite is just about non-existent.

John

Lake Pepin has been producing some average LM’s lately. Fishing NE shore weed patches. Topwaters early, shallow running cranks later. I haven’t gotten on a decent smallie bite yet. But it has been pretty warm. The pike have been going crazy at the bottom of the lake.

Man did the cold snap help! Spent about 4 hours on Pepin yesterday and did very well. My 1st fish of the day was a 21″ walleye on a spook…yes a topwater bait. Man did he/she crush it. There was a small mayfly hatch so that might explain why. All my bass came on Northland Mimic Minnows against the rocks or swimjigs in the weeds.