After finishing a few chores I decided to head to Pool 2 to try my luck. With temps in the 50’s I had to give it a try. It was getting late in the afternoon so went to a shore spot that has been good to me. I made it down there about 15 minutes before sunset.
I have always used live bait when shore fishing. I never had luck with plastics and don’t have much confidence throwing them from shore. The first spot I tried was very rocky all the way out to the channel and not a good spot for my set up. I was using a 1/8th oz. black BFN jig head with a purple/chartreuse paddle tail. I moved down the shoreline and 50 yards to a spot that drops off quickly into sand with rocks close to shore. On my first cast I raise my rod to tighten the line and immediately felt tension. My first thought was, great I didn’t move far enough down and I’m still in the rocks. Then I feel the headshake and game on. I went on to catch 8 walleyes in 30 minutes. They were all pretty much cookie cutter fish (17”-18”).
The method that worked for me was casting straight out to the channel and retrieving it back by raising and lowering the rod tip while slowly reeling to keep the line tight. As soon as I started to bump rocks I would reel in fast and cast back out. The fish seemed to be out in the sand on the edge of the channel. There was no missing the bite as they were hammering the paddle tail. All my fish had the whole paddle tail/jig in their mouth. Today should give me some needed plastic confidence.
One question for you Pool 2 veterans. Do you ever see big fish mixed in with these cookie cutter fish? I have been up and down Upper Pool 2 in the boat and I usually find areas like this were you can hammer this size fish but I never catch a big gal amongst them. Do you continue to fish the area or do you move on.
Between some great fishing on Pool 4 yesterday, and tonight’s action on Pool 2, it sure takes the sting away from the whole no ice situation.
