Pool 2 Report (2020)

I was out Saturday AM and didn’t get bit. Fished the south end from lions to the lake.

JasonP wrote:

I was out Saturday AM and didn’t get bit. Fished the south end from lions to the lake.

That makes me feel better knowing you didn’t get bit.
DT

I’ve been out a few times on Pool 2 this past week mainly rigging crawlers and leeches on wing dams. For me the bite has been streaky where there seem to be a good bite for an hour or two, then dead for a couple of hours. On Monday I had five between 15″-20″ in the first 90 minutes then went two hours without a bite then got a couple in the last hour I fished. Wednesday I ended up with four between 15-18″ and a few shorts in about six hours of fishing. Today, Sunday, I fished from 10:00 – 5:00 and ended up with seven between 17-22″ and about 10 shorts of a mix of walleye and sauger. I only caught like one or two sheepshead in those three trips, two flathead (one at 33″), and today I got a 30″ blue sucker.
Today I fished the two best wing dams from Monday for over two hours but only got two shorts. I was confident the walleyes were there and I was determined to make them bite but they must have been napping. Went the next hour without a bite checking out a couple other wing dams. So after three hours I only had two shorts and the sucker. I’m thinking… glad I didn’t ask anyone to join me and wondering… What would Buschman do? Almost drove past a wing dam that hadn’t produced on Monday or Wednesday but decided to give it a try and got four decent walleye and about that many shorts in the next hour, plus I had a couple of pop off that felt decent.
I don’t recall ever catching so many walleye/sauger under 15″ on Pool 2. I’ve caught about as many under 15″ as over. I’ve been seeing the same thing on Pool 3 this late spring/summer too…about as many under as over 15″.

I ran down to the river last night to check things out.. It was in pretty good shape yet. The water clarity was around 8-10 inches. Sure that will change with the water going up on the MN river. My buddy and his son met me down there and little man got the biggest walleye and smallmouth for the evening!

Boone, I have not seen the same with those walleyes.. I would say the average is around 21-22 inches for us this spring/summer. I have not caught any jumbos but lots of 21-24’s with some smaller and larger mixed in. Its good to hear and see those smaller fish though. They grow fast in there.

I have not been fishing as much this year. Lots of side jobs/work this year for me. Next time you see me please remind me that fishing is priority over work. I hate to turn into a weekend warrior so have to change that!!!

I think live bait in the summer lends itself to smaller fish….at least in my experience. I’d agree with Buschman on the average size being pretty good so far. Very few fish under 15″. Nothing over 28″ yet but a good number from 23-27″.

I’d say if a spot seems fishy or you pickup a couple of shorts throw on a big crankbait and work it fast. Or even a big paddletail. Also, work the heavier current but that might change with the water rising.

Anyone have a report on clarity south of the Minnesota? Planning on being out later this week but if it’s soupy further south might fish from the confluence to the dam.

Matt Moen wrote:

Anyone have a report on clarity south of the Minnesota? Planning on being out later this week but if it’s soupy further south might fish from the confluence to the dam.

The Minnesota is up 8ft since the deluge…I’m going to go out on a limb and say it is probably pretty soupy south of the confluence. I’ve been using rattling hornets with luck when the clarity is poor. The extra noise seems to make a difference.

I went down to check it out this morning and was out for a couple hours. It didn’t look good. I would say there was about 2 inches of clarity if it weren’t for the mat of mayflies across the surface. I’ll probably shelve it till the water crests and the tuna boats have their fun this weekend.

” if it weren’t for the mat of mayflies across the surface.”

I work about 2 miles from the river. There were Hex spinners all over the building this morning. That means the river is healthy and has a lot of oxygen.

SR

Good half day out there. Launched at 6 out of hdf. Really surprised the lack of boat traffic. Only about a half dozen trailers in the lot at 1pm.

Probably caught 25 or so walleyes but no real size. A whole lot 13-14” fish with a couple in the lows 20’s mixed in. Picked up a few bonus smallies and pike.

All fish on cranks. Water from pike island and south is pretty dirty with the Minnesota pumping mud in there. Another couple days and I’d think it’ll clear up.

Still really soupy down south. Only fished for about 2 hours and one fish to show for it. I think a couple more days and it’ll clear up and be good again.

Really only hit a few dams….this 27” came on a shadow rap. Not gonna complain it was the only one. Fished from 630 to 830. Water temp was 79 to 81….

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Nice fish!

Matt do you troll over the dams or are you casting? Shadow rap doesn’t dive very deep do you add weight to get it down?

thanks

tomr wrote:

Matt do you troll over the dams or are you casting? Shadow rap doesn’t dive very deep do you add weight to get it down?

thanks

I don’t troll over them. Even if you wanted to try I think the waters pretty low right now so you might hit something.

I go over them in high water and mark spots. I’m looking for steep faces or big rock piles to cast at. I usually spot lock the boat at a 45degree angle to the spots I want to cast at and let the crank sweep into the spot I’m fishing. Sometimes I’ll cast over them and drag all the way across. Usually the strike comes as the cranks bang rocks. You can also pitch live bait and plastics in this way, too. Finding that structure in the right amount of current is key.

I was using these today. They run 6 to 8 feet so bit deeper than the original shadow raps. I usually pitch jointed raps but these have produced lately too.

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Thanks, I live so close to pool 2 and hardly ever go down there in summer, been going to pool 4 more. Your posts have inspired me to get out there and give it a try.

Any updates on water clarity south of the confluence? Looking to get out in the next few days… Thanks!

I’m going to try and head down this evening for a few hours so I’ll post a report. Water has been stable for better than a week so I would expect it’s close to normal clarity.

Water clarity seems about average….maybe a bit dirty but not bad. 8 to 12” south of 494.

Bite was slow for me tonight. Only a handful in a couple of hours. With stable water levels the last week I was anticipating a better bite.

The few I caught were in heavy current but shallow. I think I spent too much time looking in deeper current seams.

Some higher water sure would be nice….watched a guy stick his boat on a wing dam. I would not suggest trying to go over any of them right now. He was lucky he was idling upstream. I had been fishing that dam a bit earlier and when a big barge went by and drew water you could see the rocks on the dam.

Might give it a rest with the heat for a bit. Or fish for kitties. They are still on a tear.

I’m fixing to get out and chase cats in the next few days, I can report back. I’m assuming they are wrapping up the spawn and hopefully staging on the wing dams with everything else right now. I’m going to be running cut bait and fishing the daytime.

Cody Meyers wrote:

I’m fixing to get out and chase cats in the next few days, I can report back. I’m assuming they are wrapping up the spawn and hopefully staging on the wing dams with everything else right now. I’m going to be running cut bait and fishing the daytime.

I have been catching them on dams with cranks for a month.

This was in SI last night…it’s a big ass fish. Not sure what it would be 5’ of water.

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I got out last Sunday and reminded myself why I don’t go down there more in the summer. Very hot, to be fair did not fish that long. Took a long boat ride instead up through the ford dam which I haven’t done in many years. Was surprised at all the people out and about around the confluence.

Lotta boats out this morning. Was slow for me but had a few in the boat. Whole lotta catfish to be had.

Seems like live bait dragging might be a better tactic right now. Last couple times out the crank bite for me has been slower.

Would be interested to hear how most guys fish this warm, slow, low water.

I fished Pool 2 from 9:30 – 3:00 on Sunday. Ended up with 10 walleye between 18-22″, a 24″ northern, and a sheepshead. No catfish for me. On Thursday evening I fished Pool 3 for a few hours and had 16″, 18″, 24″ for walleyes and three flatheads, two which were 24″. I was hoping and expecting to get some catfish today but didn’t have any luck.

I like to cover a lot of water by backtrolling back-and-forth across the upstream face of wing dams at speeds of 0.5 – 1.5 mph. I’ll either run a Dubuque rig or three-way rig at the base of the wing dam. If the fish are near the base of the dam and active, it can be effective but sometimes I think I’m “fishing under the fish” if they are feeding at the tops of the wing dams. Today I caught a few pitching 1/4 or 5/16 jigs tipped with leeches to the tops of the wing dams when Spot Locked. I also tried casting cranks on the wing dams. I gave cranks an honest effort but didn’t catch a fish doing it today or last week.

I don’t really consider the flow to be low. There’s a good amount of current moving over most wing dams. It’s not as high as we’ve grown accustomed to since the water has been abnormally high most of the time the past few years, but not low, at least to me. I’ve been seeing a lot this tan, brownish stuff along the edge of the river lately. An old timer told me it was sand and beaches. I forgot what it looked like. I thought the water clarity was good today. Water temp was about 80 f.

I might need to switch to live bait a bit more. I’m finding heavy flow on the tips of the dams or very little to none on the middle and inside. I do a lot of searching for the flow that’s “just right.” Also seems like fish are just really spread out. I can usually get a pattern dialed in but seems like a fish here or a fish there.

A rise in the water would be great. Clarity was really good today.

Matt Moen wrote:

This was in SI last night…it’s a big ass fish. Not sure what it would be 5’ of water.

Judging by the shape of the shadow, my guess is a large drum.

Matt Moen wrote:

This was in SI last night…it’s a big ass fish. Not sure what it would be 5’ of water.

My brother-in-law and I pulled this guy up Monday night trolling rapalas in 8FOW…could be the same fish! This Kitty was 44″, we didn’t get a weight, but it was a heavy one, she about broke the net.

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44″ is getting to be a good one. I’d like to catch a real whopper and have one of those fish prints made to scale for my office.

Hey everyone. I got a sweet new gig this summer in downtown St. Paul and will be done with work every day by 1 or so. Also have parking available to bring the boat to work. So I’m planning on starting to fish pool 2 for walleyes in the afternoons.

Just a couple questions. Wondering how the jig and plastic works this time of year? I have some ringworms and a bunch of plastic leeches. Is it worth a shot or should I get some live bait for now? I have an assortment of raps so no problems there.

I’ve been watching the water flow online for a few days now. How high (cfs) does it have to get before guys don’t feel comfortable getting on the river?

Looking forward to learning something new out there and appreciate any replies.

Plastics work but I’d suggest bringing some crawlers and live leeches. I’ve heard a rumor that the bait shops will have a hard time getting leeches soon but crawlers will be readily available. Some people fish cranks exclusively for walleye on Pool 2 this time of year and do well. But if you have some crawlers, your plastics, an assortment of jig weights, and some medium diving crank baits, you should be able catch some walleye on P2 this time of year. Pitching jigs tipped with half of a crawler can be effective. I’d guess most people start fishing jigs with plastics once the water starts to cool in October.

Right now the flow rate at St. Paul is about 28,000 cfs and forecasted to be about 12,000 by next Friday. No worries about high flow at these levels. Obviously, comfort level in high water varies by the individual. Most experienced, die-hards will go out until the authorities barricade off the ramps.

Just a FYI, Pool 2 is catch-and-release only for walleye, sauger, smallmouth and large mouth. Can’t ever harvest any of these four species on Pool 2.

Good luck.