This is my first year on the river and I need to pull my boat out at Watergate by the end of October. I was hoping to get some fall tips from the fishing report topic, but it’s been quite.
Any tips for fishing the upper end of pool 2 in the current conditions? I’m not exclusive to walleye and want to get my kids on a few fish if possible. I’m willing to get live bate.
Thanks!
Fishing should be very good on that stretch. Jig and minnow on any current seams between the dam and the confluence should have a mixed bag of fish. Crappie, walleye, sauger, smallies, sheepies, catfish, etc. Jig and half a crawler will probably also work.
The other best bet is to troll the shorelines on that stretch. If you pickup a couple of fish spot lock or anchor and throw cranks or live bait.
Water temp was still close to 60 last weekend so it’s not the plastics bite yet for me. Not sure the age of your kids but live bait and trolling cranks is a good bet right now and easy to do.
That’s great, I love bouncing a jig, but have never done it on a river. On Vermilion I’ve always moved fairly slow to keep my line mostly vertical and my jig bouncing off the bottom. Same idea on the river? Should I anchor or spot lock the seam and use a heavy(3/4 oz) jig to get to the bottom, or drift a bit with the current to stay vertical?
Any recommendations on color? I tend to go bright on Vermilion.
For trolling, do I compensate for the current when picking my speed? After 40 years on lakes, fishing a river is messing with my mind more than it probably should.
Kids are 10 and 7.
What temp does that hard fall bite start?
Thanks again.
I don’t fish P2 but P4. Don’t overthink it just go fishing! Water is fairly low and slow so beware of wingdams. I think they have them on P2? I accidentally found one with my skeg drifting down river. Most of them hold fish this time of year so casting down into them can be good.
I switch to plastics when it gets 50-52.
The north end (north of the confluence) doesn’t have wingdams. You need to watch the shorelines especially in the low water but you are generally OK even pretty tight to shoreline.
The flow is super slow right now. I’ve been using 1/8th and 1/4th oz jigs in the seams. You don’t need to be vertical – you want the jig slowly sweeping in the current. Sometimes a vertical hold at the bottom of the sweep will get bites but they usually come as the bait sweeps across the current. I spot lock on an edge and jog in and out.
For trolling, I have been going upstream between 1.5-2.0 mph. You want to make bottom contact. If you troll downstream I’d target 2.5-3.5mph again making bottom contact.
Agreed on 50 degrees is kind of the changeover for plastics but the plastics bite is there all the time. You just slow down as the water cools.
I agree – don’t overthink it. Run up by the dam with some live bait and drag it around. There will be other boats up there so you can see what they are doing. Find a current seam on either side of the island and put bait near the bottom. You’ll catch something.
PM me and I can give you a few more specifics if you want them.
Thanks all!
I plan to get a line in Saturday. The water temp may be down around 50 by then. Hopefully I’ll have something to report in the pool 2 tread.
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