Pool 2 Walleye

Anyone have any luck out on pool 2 yesterday? Counted quite a few boats.

One nice fish on my third cast of the morning, then nothing. Quit at 11 and went icefishing instead. Bite was good for sunfish and crappies.

I caught some yesterday. Started at about 3 and didn’t get a bite until 8. They are moving in shallow at dark. Using Pulse-R’s.

23 trailers in the lot at hidden falls this afternoon at 3pm, 24 and 25 heading in as I left. Guys were parked up on the snow.

Looking forward to lilydale, watergate, and ft Snelling opening up just to spread the crowd around a little.

So what does lilydale look like? Anyone been by in the last few days? How about Lions Levee?

From Shepard it looked like lilydale may still have shelf ice but landing is mostly melted. There was someone standing on the landing looking at it at 5 tonight. I was also a 1/2 mile away but couldn’t see any rigs in the lot..

I managed to catch two with one being 22 inches in two hours. Looking forward to a little warmer weather this weekend.

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Andrew, you must be fishing from shore already? Good work!

I spent wed and Thursday on pool 2 roughly 20 fish both days but the bite is in windows where it is strong in between those windows is slow 1-2 fish every hour fished from 494 to the dam. Mostly males 16-19” couple already squirting and a few decent females 24-27” lily dale has a good size shelf ice otherwise it’s open just needs to be chiseled out the last 4-6 ft. Even salt would probably clear it in a day.

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Those are some chunky fish! Nice job man. The bite isn’t fantastic but its still alot of fun just being out there.

Boated 6 fatties from 20″ to 25″
3 18″ers then 2 smallies and snaged 1 sucker between 2 of us.. Morning was slow once water warmed up we picked up a few..

Andrew, what area of the pool have you been shore fishing? I went out last night on shore near the dam and it was pretty slow there. Saw one boat catch one small male.

Mike W wrote:

So what does lilydale look like? Anyone been by in the last few days? How about Lions Levee?

Looks good down here at the Levee Mike. I did not pull into willies to see if any ice was left at the cut going out but don’t see why anything would be an issue now. Looks good.

Im planning on hitting the dam, or hidden falls from shore during the week next week a couple days. Glad to see people catching some fish.

I’ve been fishing on Pike Island at night where the Minnesota river meets the Missisippi. It’s a long walk but it’s fun to catch a few fish.

You need a park pass for that, right?

I park up at the top at fort snelling and you do not need a parking pass. If you park at the lower area of fort snelling you need a pass.

Wow, that’s a hike! I thought it was a decent walk from the top of river road all the way down through hidden falls to the dam and back…

Yeah its 1.9 miles each way according to google maps. This is my first spring fishing on pool 2.

Love it man — that’s badass!!!!!

Andrew Hubbard wrote:

Yeah its 1.9 miles each way according to google maps. This is my first spring fishing on pool 2.

There are guys that fish the other side at the confluence. Plenty of fish on that shoreline to. Might be easier access from the park on that side. Good luck .

That hike probably keeps a lot of shore fisherman off that spot. But, like Mike said there is great shore fishing from the dam to the confluence on both sides. Lots of great shoreline current breaks all along that stretch.

However, sometimes is as much about the adventure as it is about the fish!

Couldn’t have said it any better myself. The adventures never get old!

Thanks Andrew for the heads up. I made the journey tonight myself. I only had about 30-40 minutes to fish, but I got one(19″ male) on my very first cast. That was it, but I’m sure if I would’ve had more time I could’ve put a couple more on shore. There were only two boats there when I arrived and roughly 8:30pm. And btw, 1/16 oz white jighead with a purple/charteause tail puls-r was what it ate. Thanks again for the info and maybe I’ll see you down there in the next day or two. Tight lines!

Thats awesome! Sounds great bro! Might head down there after work later this week.

You guys are having better luck from shore. Dead Sea this afternoon from the confluence to the dam. Only saw a handful caught between the 25 or so boats at the confluence. I hit another half dozen spots from 11 to 3 with nothing to show for it.

Been a long time since I’ve been skunked out there but it was a beautiful day.

Caught just one on Friday.

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Made it down again tonight and fished from about 6:45pm-9:00pm. Not a bite. I covered about 100 yards of shoreline from the sandbar down the Mississippi side of pike island. There were probably 4-5 boats and a kayak when I got there. Witnessed one boat net 2 small males and nobody else bend a rod. I tried jig/plastics and then a small husky jerk after dark, constantly switching between baits and retriever styles, as well as parallel-to-shore and perpendicular casts to deeper water. I just find it kind of crazy how it went from guys nailing decent numbers and some good size, to barely a male or two from last week to now. I know river eyes can be unpredictable, but MAN! I thought with the flow and temp both coming up a touch from last week that it might be getting better(47-49° water temps this weekend according to USGS). Hope it picks up again soon!

That was me in the kayak. I fished from 2:30 to dark and only caught 2 saugers. Tried jig and fathead, hair jig, lipless crankbait, and plastics. The Pulse-R was the only thing that seemed to work.

Boat control (obviously) is more difficult in a yak. Today’s light wind was good, but my speed is pretty much the current speed.

I fished there Wednesday, Friday, and today. Water temps were 34,38,and 39 on those days.

I’ll wave at ya next time, kayak guy! I’m curious how many of those guys go on these forums. And yeah there is definitely something to be said for those puls-r’s. I like the purple/chartreuse tail in the 3″ or whatever.