Learning P4

I’ve always, always been a lake guy, but after moving last fall I live about 5-15 minutes from several boat launches along Pool 4, so over time it’s likely that most of my time ends up on the river. I know that the only way to get the river down will be to put a lot of hours on it and gain my own experience, I’m just wondering if anyone has any advice for what may have helped them with their learning curve or anything else they’d like to share from their time on the river.

2 words.

Marty Hahn

these 2 names made my learning curve a LOT shorter

James Holst

Dustin Stewart

they are not available anymore.

Well worth the money.

Im not on Pool 4 but Pool 14. I came from lake in Mn also. The first things that I did is know our wingdams and remember at times when you shut down your motor remember you will automatically start to go down the river and sometimes quickly. Learn your back eddies. The learning curve will be different. Good luck.

Find out when major tournaments are being fished and go out those days and just observe what the anglers are doing. I would do this during the tournament not the pre-fishing period. You will break that body of water down quicker then you could do yourself. Just remember there are a lot of back waters that hold some of the biggest fish in the pool, but they only might be accessible certain times of the year. Good luck

I’m in the same boat. I actually drive North to fish lakes as the river just beats me up almost every time I fish it. The constant changing conditions are what gets me… the moment I think I’ve put a little something together, it changes.

Maybe I should do the guide thing.

Tho hiring a guide will shorten their learning curve on pool 4 I found out years ago that time on the water and learning the current conditions was more beneficial to me than hiring a guide .
The pool 4 area changes almost daily and is at times very humbling to fish .
I know my way around pretty good from dam 3 down to head of Lake Pepin , there are days I just cruise around and check areas of interest to see what it looks like and if any fish are present.

Keep in mind any amount of high water can change parts or the whole river.

I suggest pick an area and go study it with your electronics ,if you like the area mark and name a way point to come back to and fish it.

Not all the fish are at the dam or in Lake Pepin, there are a lot areas the fish will stage in between those to areas all times of the year !

Put your time in learning the areas and you will be rewarded.

Being the owner of a Fishing company(Tru-Tied Tackle LLC) I get asked all the time where they at or get told what’s working , but rarely they mention where they got them .

Any questions feel free to message me on Face Book under my business and I will do my best to help

You won’t shorten the curve like you said, until you put in the time yourself. Watch the wind on the lake as it can be really rough. Lots of apps to help with that. Also use the more protected launches until you are comfortable because some are tough.
I been fishing it 25 years and still learn new things. Guides can teach you a lot but right now it’s all trolling and pulling live bait rigs. If you can do that, you will catch fish but they are spread out day to day. Spring is when I would hire a guide if you go that route. I like learning things by myself. That way only blame myself. Feel free to PM if you decide to go out and I can suggest what and where to try. I’m likely taking a break from the river until after Labor day unless I can get out early during the week. Plenty of guys on here fish it quite a bit and have helped me learn new things too.

Hours on water, attention to detail like water levels, flows, wind direction, water temp, guides, own log books, bait shops, oh….and most important is hours on the water. Good luck!!

Everything said above. Also making sure you are paying attention to the flow every time you go out. The sites with that info seem to change. These are the two I use now if the links work:

https://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=mpx&gage=rdwm5

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/mn/nwis/uv/?site_no=05355250&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060

Time, Time, and more time. Hiring a guide is a great idea, but time on your own is even more rewarding when you figure a pattern out.

If you run into someone who says they know the river completely or seem arrogant about what they know, they likely don’t know $hit. It’s a humbling body of water. I learn a new way not to catch fish each time out.

Be safe.

Trumar brings up an important issue with the river and it’s that the river is never static. You might waypoint a location that is handing you great action one day and return the next and not even see a fish….maybe forever.

Keep a notebook and record every relevant thing when you find a good bite and use that information when you find yourself with near identical weather and river conditions or apply the information to another area that shows similar offerings.

But don’t rely on what’s there today to be there tomorrow.

^^^^^^ This the best record keeping you can do, keeping good records on all pools that you fish on the mighty MIssissippi.

I have a chart that time of year at this flow at this water temp fish should be here, and works pretty well with some adjustments on the fly.

If you don’t already have them, side imaging and a Lake Master chip. I recently added a Humminbird Solix 12 with a LakeMaster chip and have learned new things about the sections of Pool 3 that I’ve fished for years.

I was in your boat about a half dozen years ago on pool 2. I picked a section of the river at a time and just picked it apart until I felt really comfortable with the area. Even now I try a new section of water every time I go out.

I learned the upper end first….now I’m focusing mainly south. The river is daunting but it’s a fun challenge.

I also keep a log and try to record locations, conditions, tactics, flow and level, etc.

The best part of river fishing is that you learn something new every day. The worst part of river fishing, (for me anyway), is that most of the time you don’t catch any fish.

Snap wrote:

The best part of river fishing is that you learn something new every day.

And a person never knows what they will catch!!

Marty is a great guide. By that I mean he has a vast amount of knowledge to get you on fish and tell you why. He’s normally booked well in advance.

Here’s three guys that have been fishing the river for, well at least 20 years that just started guiding.

Pool 4 and More
Take your pick. Doc Frigo, Woody and Tim have been and are on this site frequently. It’s not all about catching fish, it’s about…well everything that’s been mentioned above and safety.

Once you feel like you’ve mastered the river… Ma Nature will laugh at you and make you wonder if the fish you caught in the past were real.

I LOVE IT!

Google:
P4, Pool 4, Pepin, Redwing, P3, Pool 3, Pool 2, etc etc…
Read it all.
Go fishing.

I’ve done that, several times over, have printed books of information related to reports and time of year, etc etc.

The rest is on the water.

Great advice by everyone.

I have resisted the guide idea for a while – but may eventually give in. Though when I do I think I’ll try to hire a guide (and maybe split the cost with a fellow fisherman) on times of year I routinely struggle. Like now.

I’ve been fishing Pool 4 for 10 years or so and it still feels some days like it’s my first day on the water. I have to force myself to try new/different techniques. I grew up pulling crawler harnesses and love doing that. But I have gotten better at, reluctantly, trying things like dragging jigs or trying lead core.

Also, I have a relatively small group of ‘experts’ I’ve leaned on that I’ve mostly met through IDO where I pick their brain. And try to offer my meager wisdom (you want to catch sheep, I’m your man).

I also, like another poster, have sort of limited myself to one general area and continue to refine/practice/work it.

Finally, what type of fish are you after? Walleye is my go-to target, but I’ve found that I love targeting crappie and enjoy trying new species if I’m struggling with eyes.

Thanks for the kind words BK.

I have to second the recommendation of Marty, IMHO he is the best guide on the river and overall great guy.

First thing I tell clients before we leave the harbor is the same thing Dustin Stewart told me many, many moons ago ” this is not a lake “. Unless in the middle of Pepin, most lake stuff goes out the window with a river. If your serious, my recommendation would be this: hire different guides and specify you are interested in teaching trips. Maybe hire one spring, summer and later fall- the main time frames. Teaching trips are all about learning the river and situations. Only normal about the river, it’s always changing- and you have to roll with those changes. If you don’t know where to start, or how to read the changes, you will be forever lost. Time on the water is great, but means nothing if you are wasting time. Best benefit of hiring different guides is learning how they all approach the same game- as all do things a little different. The river is a wonderful place, but there is a reason majority of national tournament anglers hate river tournaments and will do anything to hook up with a local to show them the ropes– it’s not a lake.

Here’s 30 pages that will tell you were most walleyes are through out the year. Now all you have to do is catch them. LOL!

An Oldie But A Goodie and still relevent today

Thank you all for taking the time to provide some input. Tons of very good, wide-ranging advice.

For those that asked, I’m usually fishing for pike and bluegill/crappie with walleye every now and then.

Maybe I’ll run into a few of you on the river from time to time.

I’ll be sure and report back in about 10 years when I catch a few

To start, fish the river only in stable or falling water conditions. Quickly rising water means moving fish and tough bites. Stay away from times of chocolate milk water as well. The cleaner the better IMO.

Fish will sit in and on the edges of pretty heavy current. Faster than you might think if you have never fished the river. The lake is one thing, but in the river it is more about current, than it is depth. Fish will sit where it’s easy for them to eat, flat out. Stale flat water in the river is generally worthless as it pertains to walleyes anyway.

Put in the time. Trolling crankbaits works literally all year long. So does forms of jigging, vertical, dragging, pitching. Different forms of Live bait rigging as well.

Realize that the river is a fickle beotch. There are times you can go one day and whack fish easy as pie. Return the next day, fish the same spots or same tactics and not come up with much. It can and will humble even the best hooks out there. This is what makes it fun IMO, it is a puzzle almost every time out.

Another quick one. Pickup the fishing hotspots map for pool 4. It honestly has quite a bit of pretty good information as far as spots, etc go. This was one of my biggest helpers when I was first starting out on the river.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

Here’s 30 pages that will tell you were most walleyes are through out the year. Now all you have to do is catch them. LOL!

An Oldie But A Goodie and still relevent today

Brian thanks for posting, that is a good read! On a side note, does Dustin still have his camper at Everts? It’s been 7 or 8 years since I last talked to him and that guy definitely taught me a bunch back in the day too.

This spring Dustin and family bought my camper that I sold to Woody a couple years ago. I haven’t talked with him of late but I don’t think he’s guiding anyone but his family. His boy is now a young man.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

This spring Dustin and family bought my camper that I sold to Woody a couple years ago. I haven’t talked with him of late but I don’t think he’s guiding anyone but his family. His boy is now a young man.

So that means we are old Farts then My Oh My.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

This spring Dustin and family bought my camper that I sold to Woody a couple years ago. I haven’t talked with him of late but I don’t think he’s guiding anyone but his family. His boy is now a young man.

Nice! I’ll have to get a hold of him and pick his brain this fall. Maybe offer to clean the dust off his skeeter for a quick trip