Pool 2 Bass

Hey guys,
I’m fairly experienced on the river, but never this far north. I’ve fished Pool 7 and 8 quite a bit down by LaCrosse, and I’m hoping to repeat my success up here a little bit now while I’m waiting for opener. I’ll hopefully make my 1st trip out on this pool this Thursday with a friend of mine, and would love to make it worth our time. I’m thinking of putting in at the St Paul Park Access (hopefully its free), and am wondering if all those islands/skinny channels to the south of the access might be a reasonable place to start looking for both SM and LM. I’ve taken a good look at the navigation maps to get a feel for it, and it seems like theres some good water, I just figured I’d need to find some backwaters out of the current this time of year for any #’s. Most of our fishing will probably be mid-afternoon (heat of the day) and its supposed to be windy too.

I’m not afraid to run a little farther downstream to Baldwin Lake, and from what I read Grey Cloud Slough and channel are good but that seems like you really gotta drive a ways to get back up in there unless I’m looking at the aerial wrong. I’d also consider heading north towards Pigs Eye area, but that looks like it’d be tougher fishing. I have no idea how deep any of these areas are obviously, so just trying to stay on a semi-safe route this first time out but a reasonable area to look for fish.

Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys!

Go into Grey Cloud, it is definitely worth your time!! There is a barge loading station down that way as well on the MN side of the channel that is good for a few as well. Never done a whole lot north of there this time of yesr

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on the MN side of the channel

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Aren’t both sides of Pool 2 MN ?

They were last time I was down there. I hope nothing’s changed!

So is there a safe route to go from the main channel to Baldwin Lake, then through Mooers Lake, and back up into Grey Cloud Channel? I guess I have no clue where exactly you’re referring to but I was assuming it was up that area. I’ll take a look at some aerial photos later to see if I can figure out the area a bit better. I just don’t want to go driving into a stumpfield or something similar and not realize it. I’m usually careful, but sometimes stuff can sneak up on ya, especially when the water’s higher.

What type of boat do you have? If you go the route your talking about there’s a small bridge you have to scoot under…

I made that trip once with a guy who has a Riverpro that apparently can run through inches of water. Oh and he’s crazy which helps on the river too. I don’t think I’d try it with my Lund. As I remember there was a lot of water in Grey Cloud Slough and a lot of cover to fish as well…weedbeds, timber, etc. But you’re right, be very careful.

Anyone know if the Grey Cloud Island access shown on the nav maps is opened? Is it public and parking situation? I might just head down there instead of putting in at St Paul Park. I’m hoping to be leaving in bout an hour so any quick input would be great.

Oh, and btw, I have a Polarkraft v-hull. She floats in pretty skinny water but I’m not keen of rocks and anything less than 1′.

So sorry about the WI side of the channel comment. Not used to talking about that pool. Good thing you picked that though

No access down at grey cloud itself or close by. And the way the water is dropping so the channel going into Moores lake from Baldwin is touch and go even idling into it. And very time consuming. As for the culvert going in and out of GC to Moores lake…very fast current and foot and half drop from top to bottom. Also only foot of water deep at one point and water is dropping. And going back up is pretty much impossible now as the faster you throttle the more the back end of the boat deepens in the water and you will loose a prop. it’s only about 7ft wide inside the culvert and lots and lots of rocks around the front and back side that are out of the water.

From the Lions Levee it’s a 12 to 13 mile trip…one way coming in from the south. Make sure you have enough gas to get down and back. I may have made that mistake once. I have a 50 merc w/ 6 gallon tank and it was the first time I used the rig and thought I had plenty of gas. Also… if you have never gone back there…idle thru from the south…it’s about 2-3 miles of idling but worth it if you do not know where you’re going. Lots of shallow water and dead heads. And once you get back there…stuff that looks deep is really shallow. Will take many many times of fishing it to know where they are at.

The water temps have gone up and down and the the fish just are not showing up there yet. Been a weird year down there.

And if you hear a funny noise back there??…it’s just the peacocks.