Very low water and NO current

The title says it all. I took a short trip last night with Whisker Hooked and Mr Keb to upper pool 2 and the lower MN river for a short evening trip. The mosquitos were plentiful, and the mayflies were in moderate force… the fish werent.

The current on the lower MN river was nearly non existant. If you toss out an anchor, the slightest of breeze will blow your boat upstream.. or which ever way the wind is going. Upper pool 2 below the Ford Dam was no better. We motored up to the dam area below the power house(only source of current) and there was only one powerhouse spillway open allowing minimal water, I dont think the current was 1/2 mph at the *dont pass* signs by the island.

We need rain in a big way. Im not too fond of fishing Lake Mississippi, and Minnesota Lake doesnt often treat me well either.

Looks like I might switch to fishing green carp(lakes) for a while!

Put down the bong and slowly back away!

Come on guys this is a desperate cry for help and Dave is in serious need of our help!
Don’t do it Dave

Pool 8 is running slow also. I have been staying to the main channel on outside bends. There is a tad more flow on the bends. The cats just don’t lay down and die, they are out there hanging around the bait fish. I hit a lot of spots the other night to only find some small channels and one nice Flatty. Sometimes the one fish can turn a boring night into an awesome night
Hang in there Dave, things have to pick up

Bret

I have to share some of Dave’s despair. We went out Sunday and I kept telling Chris we need to fish spots with current…and we had a heck of a time finding a good seam. The best we could do was relative current. I can confirm that the boat gets pushed around by the wind, which seems odd on a river. I just hope this isn’t a repeat of last year. From what I can tell going back to 2000, we sit about half the flow we normally should have this time of year. These flows before last year were about 5000 cfs and we are at 2000 last year and this year.

The best thing I can say about the flow like this is you can throw out cutbait and not know what is going to grab it. Could be a channel, a flat, a sheephead or a turtle.

Am I already making excuses for Saturday?

Got Kleenex…

Next time you see Mr.Keb. Ask him when is he going to start posting on IDA.

I’m not really feeling these conditions either, but we’re gonna have to deal with it and adapt for now. I wonder what september/october will look like?

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I wonder what september/october will look like?

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Sturgeon Fishing! I dont care how much current there i then!

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Got Kleenex…

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Yeah, can you get Thor to autograph it for me?

I hear you on the low flow

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Got Kleenex…

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Yeah, can you get Thor to autograph it for me?

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You must have meant to put this one in the other thread…. Lets see how team pug does this weekend…. I’d be happy to autograph some kleenex for you after the contest…. Just make sure that you bring enough to last you all night.

It often slows down where I am in late summer. No reservior above me to meter the water out. Does different cover become desirable? It seems like the action now is really sporadic but there is more than one factor involved there.

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Got Kleenex…

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Yeah, can you get Thor to autograph it for me?

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Just stop by with that kleenix pug… I’ll write down all of Larry’s favorite fishing holes on it for you.

BTW.. Thor is relatively new to the CO world, he was in law enforcement before if it makes a difference to anyone. As for the earlier comment of Brian K’s on cast nets being directly illegal.. that statement is wrong for those who didnt pay attention to the follow up… just dont try to harvest bait in infested waters without a minnow license and permit which can be obtained at cost and time in class for SOME types of infested waters.

Back to the post….

I guess I suggest for people not to set expectations too high on near future outings. Low flow times are difficult, but not impossible. The most productive areas generally will still yeild a small fish or 2 on a semi regular basis. Dont alway expect tradional tactics to work best.. quite often now is the time cut bait starts to really pay off.. or at least save the night. Lightening up your rigs(weights, smaller hooks) will often improve your bite/hookup ratio. I usually run large channel cat rigs(5/0 – 6/0 hook, 1 1/2 – 2 oz weight) with a longer leader in these conditions IF the live bait isnt producing. If you live where sunfish are allowed, they cant be beat. If you a Minnesotan, creek chubs or sometimes a fresh cut sucker will be a top producer for cutbait.

One of the biggest keys to fishing this time of year is LOCATION. The fish will often pile up where there is higher current levels, I believe its for the increased oxygen levels. If you can find decent sustained current in close proximity to a deep hole.. most often they will hold fish, sometimes many fish. With minimal flow, low oxygen, and high water temps… these fish have no choice but to find an area they can feed as much as possible with spending as little energy as possible and will put down a lot of food every day. Soon the shad and other baitfish will start their yearly *run* which will often result in many fish keying to these areas of high shad concentrations which is usually somewhere in close relation to some type of water inlet. In areas with no water inlets, shad will concentrate in areas with moving water, and somtimes over deep water in huge schools.

Sorry I have fallen way behind on the reports and info guys.. but I am still trying to toss information to help folks out when I can.

There are a few ways to think about slow water (and it is slow, I was on one of the fastest wingdams on my pool yesterday and a barge came by and the current actually stopped). Some will say that you have to find the current to find fish. I think this is true when the water temp is in the 80s – the moving water means oxygen and it will have the baitfish stacked. Below that temp, however, I think all the low flow means is that flatheads don’t have to locate themselves based upon the current – they can sit around about anywhere and not burn energy, so they’re all spread out. If you’re using traditional tactics, the only place you’ll find them will be current, but that’s because in places with current they’ll still follow their normal patterns. Elsewhere, I think they orient to the bait more than the current. I fished around yesterday and about everywhere I put a worm down I caught a bluegill – in widely different current and cover situations. So they’re all spread out.

I managed to pick up a 23 pounder off the tip of a wing dam a few days ago – on cut bait. My wing dams with good current and a deep hole, if flatheads would need the current would be literally packed with fish, but they’re not – it’s about like it is at any other time, worth a fish or two on a good night.

What to do about it? Pray for rain! Lower expectations! Fish the best looking spots with the most baitfish and hope the blind squirrel finds a nut. Low flow sucks!

It is raining right now!!! Hurrah!

Just 20 more storms like that and we’ll be set

Any noticeable effect from the rain yesterday?

I didn’t get out…but noticed this morning the water was going OVER the lock and dam 3 rollers.

Lots of wood coming over too!

Be careful out there guys!

I was bored yesterday and read posts from a year ago to see what happened then. I think the fishing report section will be helpfull for that in the future. There was a big lull then until one of the tourneys in early august or so. Then Steve and Bret or someone has a number of fishing reports on the fishing reports page catching nice channels in August.

There is even another post about low flow sadness from a year ago. For the fall, it seemed like there wasn’t as much info. The only thing I remember was that there were pictures of flats on crankbaits starting in August. Theories of early morning/daytime/refreshing rain feeding sprees also. There a thread for rain dancing. Also another thread by Brian about mayflies.

It is nice to be able to see a trend but not nice to see that trend as slow for the near future. Is anyone having a little luck out there? Hang in there guys. Josh

sorry the thing takes the spaces out after the “.” and I can’t help it. The first cranked flat just appeared in the pictures section when I was writing this! It is a sign!