P2

Anybody getting out this wknd? Looks like the wind might start to flatten out Sat PM.

Tomorrow will be my only shot at it. Have to watch the radar I guess.

Was thinking about going tomorrow morning but have not looked at the weather yet. What is the forecast?

Looks like a few passing showers….but you’ll have to battle the wind…I guess it doesn’t matter if you plan on pulling cranks.

I will heading out in a few minutes. Should be interesting with the wind.

Drew

“interesting” is putting it mildly. Be careful out there that wind is ripping.

dd

I was just out there for 20 minutes and the wind chased me right back to the dock. Nasty out there!

A buddy and I were out last Friday we had 9 fish biggest was 28 1/2 an the smallest 22. Trolling cranks along and over wing dams was the ticket and chartreuse was the only color!!

The wind was pretty rough out there, but we found shelter behind an island and ended up with with an even bakers dozen. All were caught trolling in 10-12 fow and were between 15-19″. #5 black and silver jointed shads by far out produced any other color.

The most difficult part of the trip was getting the boat back on the trailer. Days like today make me wish I had one of those skeeters they have been pushing around here + a full windshield. I am starting to nudge the wife on that one.

Drew

Today was pretty decent for us. The wind wasnt as big a factor as I thought it was going to be. It did limit our pitching some. Number where good with catching somewhere between 40 and 50 walleyes/suagers today. Most came trolling crank baits. Red or blue whee our hottest colors. Lots of mid sized fish with a few over 20″s.

Mike, can you please tell me what your trolling set-up is for trolling cranks. Are you long lining or doing 3-way? bottom bouncers? leadcore? How do you avoid getting hung up on wing dams? thanks Dave

Long line trolling is the way to go for me. I like that hands on approach trolling with light combos in your hand where you can feel that crank bait ticking bottom or running over the dam. Most of the places I troll run less than 10 feet but Im still able to get lures down to the 15′ depth if needed. If I spent much time trolling deeper water I would most likely be running more lead core or three ways.

I troll with a St Croix Triumph 7′ ML rod and spinning gear. Same set up I cast cranks with. usually 15 or 20# power pro on this. Cross lock snap on the end for quick changing of the lures. This rod works well with medium to light weight cranks like #5 and 7 flicker shads. If you get to heavy of crank on it it loads up to much for trolling. Many guys like dedicated trolling combos but for me this allows one less set of rods in the boat and I really like being able to just flip those lures out and start trolling.

I think being able to troll with the rod in your hand is a big help with keeping lures from getting hung up. You can quickly feel if that lure is digging into the rocks. If it does get hung up a quick drop of the rod tip to allow slack in the line many times will let the lure float out of the snag. IF that doesnt work run the boat back below the lure and give the lure a few quick snaps in the opposite direction it was traveling.

There is no way to avoid getting lures hung up in the river. It will always happen but a person does get better at keeping them un stuck and getting them back with time. Think so far this year I have lost maybe 2 or 3 cranks. I remember the days when it was a half dozen a trip. If you find good deals on cranks you like buy in bulk for river fishing.

Forgot to mention the biggest plus to trolling with the rod in your hand is getting to feel those fish hit. Yes cranking in fish is great but if you are not feeling them clobber that crank bait on the end of your line you are missing out on half the excitement.

Mike are you able to get flickers down to 15 or are you using something else for that? I can only get them down to 11-12 feet and still be ticking. I took a larger fish out of some deeper water yesterday…so thats why I’m wondering.

Just looking at the dive curve on a #7 flicker shad it looks to be about 150′ to get down to 15′. I would bet with some 10/2 Power pro it would get down deeper than that.

You can also tweek those dive charts a lot by running down river. Get those cranks out and then slow the boat to just faster than the current speed. This will drive those baits to the bottom. I have heard of guys getting #5s to hit the 25′ mark doing this. 15′ is pretty easy with this approach.

Having these cranks running true is a must to to get to those depths. Most flicker shad I have found to be marginally tuned at best out of the package. I like to check them running about 5mph along side the boat with about 5 to 6′ of line and and see if they are tuned.

Spent yesterday with MikeW and Drew’s Dad and we trolled up a lot of fish. They’re starting to get fat and heavy! We caught some Saugers that were really thick. Flicker Shads, no particular color seemed to be a clear choice.

This morning I had a few hours to myself so I dropped in and fished around the bridge. The fish we were on yesterday weren’t there today! It was really slow until I found a pod of baitfish along the rip rap. Tossing plastics in there and slowly working them across the bottom in 10 feet of water produced a bunch of nice Smallies, a few White Bass and Sheaphead, and the Walleye in the picture. I also hooked into a tank that swam away until the hook pulled out. Probably another big Cat. The only bummer today was that I had to get off the river so soon.

Rootski

Nice looking fish Steve. Guess all those saugers must of had sore lips from us on saturday. Sure wish I could of got back out on Sunday.

ditto on that….were you guys able to troll up any saugers bigger than 20″? Our biggest was only 19.5 during the contest. I got a 22 a couple years ago at the head of the lake and thats my biggest from P2. There has to be some sumo 23 or 24 inch saugers in P2 somewhere!

Years ago I was out there with nick and picked up a 23″ sauger on that spot. It was still long and skinny at that time if I remember right. There are plenty of big saugers in pool 2. Ive had days where vertical jigging at places like the airport and confluence where its hard to find one under 20″s. The poor saugers on pool 2 take a second seat to the walleyes but there are quality ones in there.

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ditto on that….were you guys able to troll up any saugers bigger than 20″? Our biggest was only 19.5 during the contest. I got a 22 a couple years ago at the head of the lake and thats my biggest from P2. There has to be some sumo 23 or 24 inch saugers in P2 somewhere!

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2 years ago I caught a 23 and a 23 3/4 in about a 15 minute time frame at the confluence in late Oct. Have not caught any over 21 since then.

Mike, thanks for the trolling tips. Do you use any type of line counter or are you just letting out an approx amount of line unitl your cranks starts ticking bottom?
Also are you using a kicker motor or tiller motor to do your trolling? I don’t have one and it semms my 150EFI always seems to troll min at+2.5MPH to almost 3MPH. thanks Dave

Have used line counters in the past. A very nice set up is a Diawa sealine 17 on a st croix tidemaster 7′ 6″. Think its the TIS76MLF that I used to run.

Been just running the spinning gear the last few years. A quick cast out runs about 50 to 60′. I just let out more line or reel in as I feel how the lure is contacting bottom. Another nice thing about trolling spinning gear is that it is easy to quickly change over to casting those cranks. If you are on a run and get hit going over a hump it easy to just kick the motor out of gear, real up and take a few cast at that spot or maybe even a nice current seam you just noticed on the shoreline.

If I was doing more long straight trolling runs like on we have going now for saugers in the main channel I would most likely switch back over to a dedicated combo like the sealine and line counter.

I run a 1750 navigator with 75hp yamaha. This allows me to troll with the main motor. On the lake it will get down to just under 2mph. IN the river if I want to go slower I just kick it out of gear every once and a while. Hear again on lots of my trolling runs there is not just one set speed. Current seams pop up. Speed of current changes. Some runs I may start running into the current and end running with the current. Its nice to be back on that tiller and make the quick changes that are needed.

That 150 seems big for trolling. A kicker motor would be nice. To get by less expensive maybe running a drift sock of the front or trolling against the trolling motor might help. How does that motor handle running at slow speed for long periods of time. Think my 75 hp ran for a solid 10+ hours on saturday. This is not uncommon.

Instead of a line counter I use the metered suffix braid. its a regular braid but has a different color every 25′. I love that stuff for trolling.

I purchased 4 of the St. Croix TIC76MM, 7’6 Medium Moderate Action from Dean Marshall a few years back – it’s hard to use a different trolling rod after using these. Especially when hand holding the rod, you can feel everything! I’ve got them paired with Diawa 17LC reels and 20lb braid.

I too have used spinning tackle for trolling and used to exclusively. My main problem was burning out clutches/gears, I’d assume they weren’t mean to take the abuse.

Good Luck!

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I purchased 4 of the St. Croix TIC76MM, 7’6 Medium Moderate Action from Dean Marshall a few years back – it’s hard to use a different trolling rod after using these.

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Best multi-purpose trolling rod ever made~! Unfortunately they aren’t made any more. St. Croix discontinued them this season and moved the TICMM76 to the Eye Con line and that rod is, in Dean’s words, a poor substitute with durability issues.

So Dean and I have been on the hunt for a replacement but finding a rod that will long line troll cranks, pull 3-ways with live bait and bottom bouncers and spinners with the perfect action that made the TCI so popular isn’t the easiest thing to do. Plus we’re looking for a rod that can perform those duties without breaking the bank. At present the goal is $130 or less. I believe the TIC76MM was $150+/-.

The search goes on.

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I purchased 4 of the St. Croix TIC76MM, 7’6 Medium Moderate Action from Dean Marshall a few years back – it’s hard to use a different trolling rod after using these. Especially when hand holding the rod, you can feel everything! I’ve got them paired with Diawa 17LC reels and 20lb braid.

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I spend more time using this set up than any other. Awesome multi-purpose rod. I love it for 3-way and spinners.

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Best multi-purpose trolling rod ever made~! Unfortunately they aren’t made any more

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Could Thorn buy a blank and put one together to duplicate the TIC?

I’m sure they could… Lonnie, Thorne’s head rod builder, can build anything but I don’t think it could be done for under $130.

I finally made it out after about 3 weeks of not fishing pool 2. Found a few walleyes willing to bite in the 18-22″ range. All fish landed hit crankbaits. I lost two on a paddletail. The first was a light tap that felt heavy for a few seconds, but came unbuttoned. The second bite was a crushing hit, but when I set the hook nothing was there. Crawlers only produced sheepsters. Also found a few largemouth that were willing to inhale a paddletail. Water temp was still a little warm at 61 degrees when I left.

The wingdam bite today wasn’t to bad. Crank baits on the dams was producing pretty good. Couldn’t find much going for a jig bite. Hope tomorrow is just as good.