I don’t fish the river often and knew nothing about the Mississippi River, it’s pools, rules, or where to start when I moved to Minnesota 7 years ago. It can be intimidating when trying to figure out a starting point.
I would recommend to go to Evert’s Resort in Hager City, WI (your MN License will work for the WI side). There are enough people around to help you out for your first time, do not be afraid to ask questions to anybody – the person launching next to you, the bait shop, anyone. On a nice spring weekend you will see a lot of people and potentially wait to launch. You will run into the person in the $100,000 boat that can launch by themselves in 5 seconds, you will see the person in a $10 tin can boat that will take 30 minutes to launch with a group of people.
It is a river, so think safety. Lifejackets. GPS lake chip that marks wing dams if you have one. Talk with the bait shop to have them also show you on a map where some dangers could be in the water. Know the buoys and what they mean for marking the channel. There will be enough people fishing this time of the year, for your first time out – honestly just follow the crowd until you kind of figure out your own pattern, and then branch off. 90% of the people fish on about 5% of the river. While there are still fish on all the remaining 95% of the river.
That said, I’ve had days where I have caught walleye after walleye. Returned the next day to the same spot, same tactics, and couldn’t find a fish. 3 out of every 4 trips are pretty fun! 1 out of every 4 I seem to get skunked. I also haven’t been there the last 2 years either….
