Pool 2 Report (2022)

I was down there this weekend. Launched at Willies and was still 10.00. He has a drop box next to the launch on the south side of the parking lot. The river was in great shape. Lots of flow but was very clean IMO. Caught a super cool looking bass. I put a photo in the general forum also. If anyone else catches this fish you will know.

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Nice day on the river Saturday. Three nice fish in a 2 hour span in the morning. One really nice Sauger (18″) in the evening. Current super swift still so no sitting on wing dams. I did a mix of trolling up and then drifting down a channel 8-10FT.

With the water dropping should be a nice week.

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Put a pretty good smacking on them this weekend. Water clarity is pretty good and temp was 64 degrees.

Caught all of our fish casting cranks in pretty heavy current. Had to hunt around for them but once you found fish they were stacked up pretty good.

Handful of fish over 25” with the biggest 28.25”. Any color worked as long as it was purple!

Thanks for the reports guys! I’m going to head out tonight after work today and see what I can find.

Is the 494 ramp open?
Thanks

Fished for about 2-1/2 hours last night and caught a couple nice saugers trolling crank baits in 5-10 FOW. Water was 67, dirty in some areas but a foot of clarity in others. Tried jig and plastics for a little bit, but no dice.

Lions was still closed, so I would assume 494 is still closed, but I can’t say for sure. Ended up launching out of Willy’s.

I started fishing the river fall of 2020, so this is my first season with higher water and I’m really looking forward to it. Anyone been fishing the upper half of the river and having any luck?

Mike Otis wrote:

Fished for about 2-1/2 hours last night and caught a couple nice saugers trolling crank baits in 5-10 FOW. Water was 67, dirty in some areas but a foot of clarity in others. Tried jig and plastics for a little bit, but no dice.

Lions was still closed, so I would assume 494 is still closed, but I can’t say for sure. Ended up launching out of Willy’s.

I started fishing the river fall of 2020, so this is my first season with higher water and I’m really looking forward to it. Anyone been fishing the upper half of the river and having any luck?

I haven’t been up that way recently but past history tells me the water will be cleaner up there and the shoreline trolling bite will be in high gear. You’ll catch numbers but won’t run into any size.

May want to check launches if you head that way…hidden falls and lilydale could be closed.

494 was still barricaded as of 20 minutes ago. The water is way down, leaving a lot of mud on the ramp area.

SR

Matt Moen wrote:

May want to check launches if you head that way…hidden falls and lilydale could be closed.

HF is back open, there is a small amount of ramp above the water line. I believe the road to lilydale is still closed but I could be wrong.

Lillydale still closed.

-J.

Anyone know if 494 or Lions opened back up?

Lions is open. Bring waders to use the dock.

494 – not sure if the baracade was moved to the side of the road? But there are 4 truck/ trailers parked in the lot.

-J.

Did pretty well again yesterday casting and trolling cranks. Overall size was smaller with only a handful of fish over 20”.

Water temp was 69…with the water drop and upcoming high temps I’d expect fish to be setting up on summer patterns.

Just a friendly heads up that there will be a Catfish contest out of 494 ramp this Sat 6/18 from 5pm-12am. 50 boats expected. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Talk about the ups and downs of fishing and the grind that is the river. To say it been a frustrating bite would be a understatement this spring! Typically June is a killer month for me but it’s a different story this year! There are a lot of things in play this year and I truly believe we’re on the cusp of a phenomenal bite! The fish are there to be had it’s just been tough to present anything efficiently to get them to go! It’s been high water and wind, dirty water and wind oh and did I mention WIND? Oh well I’m gonna stick with it and when it happens…I’ll be there.

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I had a good bite this AM trolling cranks. No hogs, biggest walleye was 22.5” and sauger 22”. They bit all morning.

Corey Cook wrote:

Talk about the ups and downs of fishing and the grind that is the river. To say it been a frustrating bite would be a understatement this spring! Typically June is a killer month for me but it’s a different story this year! There are a lot of things in play this year and I truly believe we’re on the cusp of a phenomenal bite! The fish are there to be had it’s just been tough to present anything efficiently to get them to go! It’s been high water and wind, dirty water and wind oh and did I mention WIND? Oh well I’m gonna stick with it and when it happens…I’ll be there.

I ain’t judgin, but is that a tin of chew in your lady’s pocket?

dirtywater wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Corey Cook wrote:</div>
Talk about the ups and downs of fishing and the grind that is the river. To say it been a frustrating bite would be a understatement this spring! Typically June is a killer month for me but it’s a different story this year! There are a lot of things in play this year and I truly believe we’re on the cusp of a phenomenal bite! The fish are there to be had it’s just been tough to present anything efficiently to get them to go! It’s been high water and wind, dirty water and wind oh and did I mention WIND? Oh well I’m gonna stick with it and when it happens…I’ll be there.

I ain’t judgin, but is that a tin of chew in your lady’s pocket?

Got out for a couple of hours this morning. It was surprising to see how much crap was coming downriver, and how muddy the water was. Anyway I set up on some rocks with a current seam coming off one end and found a bunch of Smallies, half a dozen Sheephead, and a big White Bass. Then the wind came up and the temperature started to climb so I bailed. Everything hit 1/16th jigs with a smaller green Moxie. Gotta love a jig bite.

SR

On the water at 5AM, looking at the fog. It was pretty soupy out there. Found a bunch of Smallmouth that wanted to play. The big Hexagina Mayflies have hatched and were all over the shorelines. Additionally there were millions of Flying Ants out there. They were falling in to the water so much it looked like it was raining. Water temp was 74 degrees and the flow has slowed down considerably from last week. Nice morning to be out.

SR

First post:
Getting large sauger upper pool. 18.5, 17.5, I think those are large sauger?

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Gordon mergens wrote:

First post:
Getting large sauger upper pool. 18.5, 17.5, I think those are large sauger?

Definitely a nice sauger for any water! I have seen a lot more sauger on the river this year too, very nice to see. Pool 2 is a rare fishery that has a number of 20”
and mid 20s are possible too.

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Those are nice saugers. I had a 22” and 20” saugers on June 23, upper pool.

My biggest is 19 in the same area a few years ago. I guess I have some work to do. I have 5 walleye @ 27 and can’t seem to break that mark and I know they are there. Thanks for the reality check.
Keep the lines wet everyone.

Kids had a ball this afternoon, probably 30 fish in three hours. Here are a couple 20”ers

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Got a 27” walleye in my boat tonight plus a couple more. My trolling bite was dead so pitched cranks on wing dams and found a few.

Well lookie there. Old dogs can relearn old tricks. I haven’t been on P2 in a long time. Maybe two years. The spots, sights AND smells were all familiar. My buddies took me out so it was even more relaxing not running the boat and we got some nice fish. Here’s my 25. I even instinctively dove low in the boat for the picture to avoid background scenery!
I owe this fish to James. So many years ago he taught my buddy and I how to fish wing dams right down to the type of rod and tackle to use.

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Nice fish. We’ve started naming the wingdams based on the fumes we have to endure when fishing them.

Had a good bite Tuesday afternoon/evening and and a decent bite Wednesday AM. Not much current so pointed the bow mount downstream. Jig with 1/2 a crawler, 2.5” paddle tail and trolling cranks worked. Biggest 22”. I think there’s a good population of 18-22” walleyes.

We did very well last night cranking wing dams. Lots of nice fish and 2 tanks. Luckily my partners each got a tank similar to the one I got last week. Possibly the best night of wd fishing I have seen out there. I snagged a giant channel cat too. That was a fight!
Some shore fisherman were yelling at us for throwing back fish. Leads me to believe a lot more fish are poached than I previously thought.