P2 May 2, 2015 - Mississippi River – Walleye - Mississippi River – Walleye

The first thing I noticed on P2 was how low the water was for this time of the year. We are pretty much at Summer time low flows – this was the lowest I have seen P2 this time of the year.

With the lower flows and water temps around 61 F the Walleyes seemed to have set up on their post spawn patterns in the main channel. Usually, this time of the year I am fishing back channels and current breaks in P2.

With the lower flows, we targeted main channel trolling runs with current breaks. Trolling flicker shads and smash shads (no. 3 and 5’s) in various trolling runs provided some pretty steady action for both Walleyes and Saugers. We caught some beautiful Saugers with one just shy of 22″. The key was to dial in the correct speed, direction, and depth. Most of our fish came in 10 to 13 FOW trolling upstream. Another key point is we always made sure our flicker and smash shads were running straight and even checking them after every fish. Straighter running crankbaits not only catch more fish but also keep from tangling with your fishing partner.

Casting crankbaits to wingdams later in the afternoon was also a pattern for us. The key was to find wingdams with good flow over at least part of the wingdam. We seemed to get bit pretty quickly and after catching a few fish we moved on to the next wingdam. Rapala DT6’s and Wiggle Warts were our crankbaits choices for wingdams. I love feeling “thump” “thump” banging off rocks right before a Walleye smacks your crankbait on a wingdam.

All in all a beautiful day to be on the river. Especially when you are catching fish.