Pool 2 Report (2019)

Sweet rig Matt. Now I know who to follow on pool 2!

Follow me to the 13” walleye!

My daughter (on the left) and her friend got this double Sunday evening. Lots of commotion and excitement with two, 26″ fish on the lines. Luck shined on us to get both in the boat.

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boone wrote:

My daughter (on the left) and her friend got this double Sunday evening. Lots of commotion and excitement with two, 26″ fish on the lines. Luck shined on us to get both in the boat.

That’s awesome Boone! Good stuff.

Great pic there, Boone !

-J.

The smiles on their faces is what it’s all about. Nice job!!

Got out for a couple hours yesterday after work. The dock is in at 494. And they have done some repairs/upgrades to it. Looks nice! Managed to find a couple bites too.

-J.

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lions levee is open also

Thanks Jeff, that is good news!

-J.

Now if I could only get my boat back, I could go fishing

Does anyone know the owner of the purple boat on Pool 2 with the teeth painted on the front? Its often flying a Viking flag.

I thought they were going to capsize on Sunday morning!!!

DaveB wrote:

Viking flag.
I thought they were going to capsize on Sunday morning!!!

Mike Zimmer?
Ohhh They typically capsize on Sunday afternoons.

jeff_huberty wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>DaveB wrote:</div>
Viking flag.
I thought they were going to capsize on Sunday morning!!!

Mike Zimmer?
Ohhh They typically capsize on Sunday afternoons.

This may be old news but Lions Levee is now open.. I have been busy the last couple weeks and finally put my fishing hat back on. I should have told you all sooner if someone has not yet. Looks nice. The stairs were not finished yet but the boat landing pads are in and open.

buschman wrote:

This may be old news but Lions Levee is now open.. I have been busy the last couple weeks and finally put my fishing hat back on. I should have told you all sooner if someone has not yet. Looks nice. The stairs were not finished yet but the boat landing pads are in and open.

Thanks buschman! Good news for the hawg haul.

Slower night on the upper end, lots of small fish, but did get this dandy eye

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Good day on the lower end on cranks and believe it or not hair jigs. Water is still really warm…69 degrees. Picked up a dozen in 4 hours. Largest was 25” with a handful in the lower 20’s and a couple nice sauger to boot.

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Hi,
Just wondering what the consensus is for “upper end” and “lower end”? Is upper above 494 and lower below that? How far down does lower include?

I’m way down by the Hastings dam and find this water very different and challenging than what you have upstream where the is essentially a single channel.

nice fish Matt!

Willib— there’s no official line but I’ve slays considered downtown St. Paul to be the transition. The upper launches are lilydale, watergate, hidden falls; lower being 494, lions, willies, etc.

I agree with Tangler….basically downtown/airport and south I consider the lower pool all the way to Hastings dam.

Was out yesterday from Hidden Falls early and then went over and watched the Flugtag for a bit.

Really good mixed bag of walleyes, saugers, crappie, smallies, pike and white bass. Caught a couple really nice white bass on jig and minnow. Haven’t seen them in awhile.

Water is still warm….68 to 69 degrees but fish seem to be setting up on fall patterns. Caught fish all over from the dam down to confluence. Jig and minnows, trolling and casting cranks were the presentations. A guy could probably do pretty well targeting pike right now. They seem to be on a tear.

Good to see ya out there in that pretty new ride Matt.

Kid and I picked up 10 in a few hours trolling cranks and all were tiny. Even upsizing to a large tail dancer and banging bottom brought the shorts. We had one bonus channel cat that was nothing special but felt great next to all those little walleyes.

There seems to be a ton of small walleyes in the upper end. Haven’t really caught anything up there over about 20” but a lot of 10, 11, 12” fish.

We marked bigger fish in the bottom by the confluence but I think they were all rough fish.

Another pool 2 smack down tonight. Water is in the mid 60’s but pretty clear on the upper end. Flow and level are way up with the rain but that didn’t slow down the fish.

Caught about 30 walleye in a few hours with the biggest in the low 20’s. A lot from 12-15”. Tyler picked up a 17” whitebass, too.

Perfect night out there.

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Wow that’s a tank white bass!

People typically troll the break along shore for walleyes this time of the year? Do you guys not go through dozens of cranks each time out?!?

For the first time since moving to the cities I’ll have my boat stored in town. Only fished pool 2 from shore thus far. Cant wait to give it a shot!

That’s a killer whitey, nice work matt & tyler!

@tbro16:

1.) Trolling walleye on p2 is one of the simpler games in town. Even I catch fish, sometimes. Troll shorelines, make some s-curves, get shallow, get out to the channel, let the fish tell you where they want it.

2.) I’ve been on p2 maybe 15 times since the beginning of July and haven’t lost more than 5 or 6 cranks. It helps to set your drag loose and to have good capacity reels. You will snag — banging bottom is often crucial on p2 so don’t be afraid to scratch up those rapalas. Let the snag take line while you get your other rod clear (assuming you have two guys in the boat) and get the boat turned around, then just track it back to the source, reeling in as you go. A lot of the time all I’ve had to do is get back upstream of the snag and it pops free.

I lose a lot more tackle shore fishing up here just because there’s only so much you can do standing on the bank with a jig stuck in a rock underwater.

tbro16 wrote:

People typically troll the break along shore for <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleyes this time of the year? Do you guys not go through dozens of cranks each time out?!?

For the first time since moving to the cities I’ll have my boat stored in town. Only fished pool 2 from shore thus far. Cant wait to give it a shot!

I agree with everything Tangler said. I rarely lose cranks but getting turned around when going 4 mph downstream is an adventure. Been close to getting spooled more than once.

Cranks will be good until the water cools way down. You can also get them throwing cranks at seams, jigging with live bait, and the plastics and hair jig bite should start to pickup. Best time of year imho to fish the river. All species are on a tear right now.

That whitey is huge, keep in mind y’all, Tyler is 7’4″ with the fro

Just read in the news that Fort Snelling State Park is opening today so I’ll be out tomorrow morning shore fishing. First time it’s been open all year so I’m hoping the eyes will be within lipless crank range and jig and plastics. Really looking forward to it.