Pool 2 Report

Got out on pool 2 a couple of times over the weekend and I will have to say the bite is going pretty well. Havent had a lot of time to fish during the day down there lately. The little bit I have the day bite has been okay. Maybe a fish or two a hour on the wingdams. Pulse R’s, hair jigs or casting cranks still all seem to be working. For better numbers during the day trolling saugers in the main channel was still going middle of the week last week.

Now when the sun hits the tree tops and a little later the bite has been taking off for my boat. A evening trip the last few weeks has produced anywhere from a dozen fish to 50. Pitching Moxies to shallow rocks is the ticket. 1/8th and 1/16 ounce jigs on some of these shallow rock piles. When the fish find these baits you will know. Its typically a good solid thump. Some spots are just a fish or 2. Others its game on to hang out for a while and catch maybe 10-20 fish.

Size of the fish we are seeing is always good. If I had to guess I would say average size is 18 to 20″s. The last few trips out the over all size is going up and seems like more big gals moving in. We had our fair share of 23 to 24″ fish last evening and heard of some bigger ones getting caught.

Would think this bite should continue for a while. Hopefully until freeze up. Looks like Ill be out again a evening or two again this week and then its a break for deer hunting. After that Ill be back on the river until freeze up.

Do want to mention about being safe on the water while running around after dark. Make sure and where those life jackets. Let someone know where you are and when to expect you back. Use those kill cords on the motors. Night fishing is not for everyone. Things do happen out there and can happen fast. Hit a 20′ section of pipe floating down the river last fall. So far this fall have almost taken out a river cone that we could of high fived as it went by. Had a near miss with a barge in the fog last week. So if you do go out make sure and be careful.

Have not taken a lot of pictures over the last few weeks but here is a few of fish we have found during the day.

Lots of green in the back ground of that 1st photo. That might of been from more than a few weeks ago.

Beautiful fish, nice job!

Was out last night as well.

Totally agree about being careful out there. Coming back down from the St. Paul airport just below the railroad bridge, and suddenly there’s a 10 foot long log floating in about 20 feet to the left of our path. I dumped the throttle and then spotted another object right in front of us so I hit reverse to dead stop. That was when the second object took off. 8 geese.

Be careful out there. Lots of guys out last night with high HP rigs running around at 30+ MPH. Best case scenario hitting that 10 foot log at 30 MPH is going to cause some lower unit issues.

Worst case scenario is too bad to think about, so slow dowwn and be freaking careful out there.

Grouse

Nice job Mike…some good looking fish there. They’ll just keep getting fatter now.

Make sure and have your lights on out there while running around after dark. Had boats Sunday night with no lights on running the main channel. Buddy of mine tells me he missed a guy by about 10′ last night. If you cant figure out a light system for your boat you have no business being on the river after dark.

There’s one guy I know that never runs his lights and goes out by himself at night a lot with out a PFD on.

I know there are some that never fall in their whole life and there are those that know they won’t ever fall in. Some of them aren’t around today.

Patrick and I were talking about this the other day. Neither of us could believe the number of boats running around without lights on. Just stupid… If you don’t have a light system on your boat, shame on you, but at least wear a headlamp. You may not care if you get hit, but the person running into you is sure going to care.

-Drew

No respect for other people or the law.

What is really funny is when a barge captain gets on his horn and starts tearing a guy a new one for not running with lights on. Most of south st paul will know what is going on at that point and you might just be in his spot light the rest of the evening.

Thought I heard off a few guys evening getting tickets out there after dark.

Quote:

---

Thought I heard off a few guys evening getting tickets out there after dark.

---

Now why did you have to go and bring Drews Dad up?
It was a crappy pinch.

Now why did I know that was going to come up? It was a crappy pinch. I put on my lights. I was a bit tardy doing so; but I did put them on. And I was anchored. I wasn’t running around without lights. You have to put them on at sundown not a half hour after sundown. It cost me $100 clams to find that out.

dd

I will add that we where anchored between two wing dams in the middle of Jan or Feb when most of the river was frozen. DD caught a fish at Sun down and we took photos ect and released it. Reorganized and realized the lights weren’t on.

Turned them on and one of the three CO’s was a little grumpy from what I can only assume was the hard time he was given by the three they stopped prior that didn’t have any life jackets in the boat.

If I recall, we were 20 minutes late…which is 20 minutes late…but we were both shocked when the ticket was handed out. I mean…our lights where ON when they came over and there is still light after sundown!

A legit pinch by the letter of the law, but a crappy pinch by the spirit of the law.

So they where actually out on the water after dark giving you a ticket? Dont think I have seen them on the water after dark. Have heard of them waiting at the landing to hand out tickets.

Yeah this was several years ago. I remember JJ saying that they wouldn’t be seen again until the following winter in that area.

Most know I’m a safety first kinda guy. But wedged in between two wing dams, anchored and the only boat that was moving was the CO’s…we broke the letter of the law.

This was taken 3 minutes before sunset that day.

15 minutes later we had the lights on. 25 minutes later we had a ticket.

FYI Purple ringworms worked well for Joel that day.

Now last year I was out with DD and had a battery malfunction. No working lights. He said the CO’s never came out after dark…………..

We were catching really big fish and still had trolling motor power!!

Not my brightest move ever………

Thanks for the report Mike. I can’t wait for this weekend, as I’ll be spending Friday, Saturday and Sunday on Pool 2 sun up til sun down.

Made it out yesterday for one last quick trip before deer hunting season. The bite seemed to have slowed down a bit from previous trips but still a fun evening. Chartreuse/white core moxie’s took most of my fish. Water temps are into the 40’s now and the fish seemed to want a nice slow steady jig presentation. 1/16th ounce jigs helped with this slow presentation letting the jigs hover over some of the shallow rocky areas.

Good luck to you guys getting out this weekend. Hoping to be able to get back down there again by next weekend.

Sitting here in the Bismarck airport thinking back on the great trips out on pool 2 that I have been a part of makes me want to skip the trip to Denver (weekend trip with my girlfriend and her daughter) and head east for some pool 2 piggies! The trip with Eric was “lights out” in another sense. He got into 2 absolute pigs. The biggest had to have been around the 12 lb mark…. Thanks for the trip down memory lane Brian!

Joel

Mike, you are absolutely correct. Today was a struggle, almost 9 hours on the river and very limited results. Good thing I got tomorrow and Sunday.