Landing by the powerplant is open on south end of town. ALso on county road OO you can put in. There is also a minnesota launch down near West Newton.
Should be some smallies willing to bite by then if the temps come up…
When your fishing smallies this time of year what are you looking for. Are they deep, shallow, current, no current, sand flats? Just looking for a starting point not a hot spot.
The smallmouth will be a lot more active than you think. I caught fish last fall down to a 35 degree water temp. right now we have 40 degrees on pool 8. Try the faces of wingdams for starters, but don’t forget the backside and the deep hole. Sand flats can be good but they must be protected. 40 degrees isn’t an artic chill for the smallies, but they still don’t want to be in rapids yet 
how do you find wing dams and what are they and how do you fish them, what lures
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how do you find wing dams and what are they and how do you fish them, what lures
Drive your boat wide open close to the shore line. Once your lower unit rips off chances are you hit a wing dam. This will then allow you to drop your trolling motor and begin fishing for smallies. 
Actually they are pretty easy to spot once you are on the river. They are easier to notice in calm conditions rather than in wind. If you search wing dams here on the site you can figure out what they are. 
cade, have you been out slayen em yet?
a good map will show you where they are, and a good chip for a gps will show them too. they are just piles of rocks set to slow the current down. you can see the ripples on the back sides of them. channel buoys are pretty common on the ends of most of the wing dams
Bassslayer,
If you’re serious about fishing the wing dams on pool 5 you should consider the Navionics North American Rivers chip. It has the dams marked and will save you a lower unit. Not all of the dams are visible on the surface. With all of the tournaments on poll 5 your not going to get an honest answer as far as which dams hold fish. It’s up to you to figure it out.
John
The fish we found on Saturday were in 20-24′ water on the downstream side of a rock pile. The water temp was around 38 degrees there and the fish were TIGHT to the rock pile.
IS THERE A ARMY CORPS MAP THAT SHOWS WING DAMS AND WHERE DO YOU GET ONE CANT AFFORD THE CHIP TECH THAT WOULD BE PRETTY SWEET TO HAVE THANKS FOR ANY INFO
WHEN YOU SAY ROCK PILES IS THAT ALONG THE SHORE OR ARE THEY THESE WING DAM THINGS EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT THAT I HAVE NO CLUE ABOUT HOW DO YOU FISH THEM THANKS FOR ANY INFO
google maps of pool 5 and you shoud come up with some decent ones.
Kris, No I have not been out slaying anything by any means. I haven’t even caught the first bass of the year yet (open water) 
I’m thinking either tomorrow or the next day, I’m going to hit the backwaters and get it done. I’ve been working the channel hard and just can’t come up with a smallie. I think at 45 degrees i’d be having better luck. Off the the winter largemouth spots I go!
You may want to try riverangling.com Click on the “HuntFishTV” box and you can get videoos on demand. Andy Loos does a good job about showing what he is fishing and what lures/presentations he is using. There are a few throughout the season about fishing on the river and one with John Stears about fishing wingdams in the fall. I know its not spring, but its a start.
Its hard to give advice on the river, cause when you get out in a week or two, the water could be totally different and the way fish move, no advice is ever consistent
The best advice I ever got for learning how to fish the river “Put your trolling motor down and go.”
Personally, I think your best bet is to chase largemouth if you are just looking to catch fish. In that case, just try and find some nice wood that has access to deep water, and flip away or bounce spinnerbaits. If you are just playing dumb and have a tournament coming up that you are looking for spots for, than I suggest you find schooling prespawn smallies. Good luck
You forgot the part about walleys feeling like wet socks when reeling them in. 
I’m getting out tomorrow after school. I have two lakes I’m looking at, and I’m just going to sit them out. hopefully they produce. I’m done with the channel for a little bit, The backwaters are my struggle this time of year, Hopefully I can stumble upon a few of the 15-18″ largemouth that are always so common through the ice….
Bassslayer,
Check my web page… http://www.kyleschauf.com
On the right hand side of the home page there is a quick links column. In that you’ll find a link for US Corp. of Eng. maps as well as for the USGS Bythymetry charts. I like to use both maps when looking for wing dams on a new pool (if I don’t have a gps chip available). The corp maps give you generic locations of them while the USGS maps will give you a lot more depth related detail. Hope this helps.
Kyle,
Cool site! Nice job
John
Thanks John!
I noticed that on the GIS site there are supposed to be 3D type of maps.
I can find the color coded map by depth. but not the 3D maps.
NICE JOB ON THE SITE LOOKS GOOD YOUR LINK TO THE ARMY CORPS WOULD NOT WORK FOR ME PROBALY MY DUMB COMPUTER. DO YOU KNOW IF THERE IS ANY PUBLIC LAUNCHES ON POOL5 ON THE MINNESOTA SIDE AND HOW DO YOU GET THERE PLANNING ON A TRIP DOWN THERE ON APRIL 11 12 13 THANKS
There is 3 on the mn side that I know of. Only one is really worth a crap though. Directions??? Without a map its hard to describe. Look at a map and find Kellogg, MN along the river. From there follow that highway(not 60) to the river. Turn left at where it says West Newton. Then keep your eyes peeled. I think its your first left. Gravel parking area. Best spot though.
whats the best landing on 5 if I am going solo (actually, my better half might be with me, but I think its still easier to to load/unload by myself )
The one I was trying to explain before. It is really the only logical landing on five. The other two are only suited for tin boats really, unless you really know your way around and know where some sand is you need to skip.
HOW IS THE ALMA WI RAMP IS THAT GOOD AND EASIER TO GET TO OR IS THE KELLOG RAMP BETTER HOW THE HELL DO YOU GET TO ALMA ANYWAY
The Alma is great. All blacktop. Cross the bridge in Wabasha over the Miss, that will put you in Nelson. Turn right in Nelson and go 10ish miles to Alma. Turn right immediately after grain bins on right side of road. That is the Alma landing. Do you have an atlas
Mapquest, yahoo maps, google earth are all great tools for general geography needs.
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(actually, my better half might be with me, but I think its still easier to to load/unload by myself
AGREED!
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