494 ramp?

Is the 494 ramp open? Heading out tonight.

Thanks,
Mike T.

Yup Mike… shes good to go!

Sweet! Thanks

Fished the 494 area last night. Hit a couple of wingdams north by the airport (this is pretty new to me). Got a nice 17″ eye and a white bass. Red Craw worked best.

Had something interesting happen on the way up. I was trolling a rip rap shoreline, and broke off. Grabbed another rod and set up again in the general area. Lure wasn’t running right (love the braided line), so I pulled up. No kidding – I snagged my lure that I just lost, along with the line. That is a first for me!

Wing dam question – I’ve done this a couple of times, but again am pretty new to this. I know the location of a couple of wingdams up by the airport, and know enough to look for the disturbance as the area for one. However, last night (yikes, close call), I got a little too close for comfort to one. Now there was no disturbance or any sign of one in that area. If there is a ripple on the water, or the flow isn’t great enough, how do you guys locate these… more importantly, how do you avoid them? They aren’t all marked by bouys either.

Thanks.

Not sure if there is a good way to find unmarked wingdams. There sure are plenty of bad ways to find them. Maybe just hang out down there for a few weekends until you see one of the pleasure boats cruzing the shore side of the cones and watch him.
Time on the water will help you to learn where they are. There is a map of pool 2 that shows the wingdams that looks to be fairly reliable also. I think maybe the corp of engineers may have it on line somewhere.

Hey try this link out. You may have to use a GPS to mark them for future reference. They are pretty good if you know the water you are on.

http://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/NavCharts/UMRNavCharts.asp

Thanks for the link. A guy could spend a lifetime getting to know Pool 2 alone….

Quote:

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A guy could spend a lifetime getting to know Pool 2 alone….

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Tell me about it.
There are some real jewels wingdam spots in the river that turn on and off with the changes in the season. Right now, I would look for faster flowing wingdams for best success. The more water the better. October cool down usually marks the start again to a great crank bite on Pool 2 with the plastics bite right around the corner from there…

My son and I fished Pool Two yesterday. For a change of pace, I had told him about my carp experiences fishing the river in my youth. He said he wanted to give it a try. A can on Green Giant corn and several carp later, we agreed it was big fun. I forgot what a great fighter these fish our.

Went down river from 494 and pulled one silver off a wing dam and sheepie on a jig and crawler.

A question, as fall comes on, I would like to spend more time fishing silvers on Pool two. Its new to me, any suggestions and ideas about what lures and locations might work the best?

Im new to this stretch of river, but the more I fish it, the more intriqued I become. Its just plain fun to gain confidence that on most trips something interesting is going to happen in ways of catching fish. For those of you new to the river, I started by hiring Steve for a day and man has it paid off. For anyone interested in learning some cool trick, its worth the price of admission. I certainly plan on hooking up with Steve down the road. An exceptionally knowledgeable as well as personable angler.

See you on the river.

fredbart,

How big were the carp that you were catching? Last year I kept a can of corn and a can opener in the boat in hopes of finding some nice ones but I didn’t have much luck. Do you mind sharing what type of structure/water you were fishing? No specifics requested…. just some general information to point a guy in the right direction. I’ve got a son who I hope to take fishing in a couple of years and those two-walleye mornings won’t keep a four year old interested very long.

Thanks,

Boone

Im not sure the walleye fanatics who freguent this thread would take kindly to a discussion of carp fishing but here goes. First, I think its fair to say that an advantage of this site is the free flow of good information. From the guides to other postings, I think we call gain a great deal of value and good ideas from this site.

For our trip, I looked for slight flow, with deep water near by. I then seeded the erea I was going to fish with most of the corm, I did this because I know that carp have a great sense of smell, I wanted some flow to push the smell and attract fish.

As we fished, I periodically seeded the area with more corn, not much, just enough to keep them interested.

Heading out again today, plan on doing carpen then hitting some wingdams. Will post later

Thanks for the information. Yes, this thread has strayed from a discussion of the 494 ramp. But hey… there isn’t a Mississippi River Rough Fish forum.

I wonder if carp fishing will one day become more popular in Minnesota. As catch-and-release and restrictive slots become more widely accepted, will people decide it doesn’t matter what they catch as long as long as they’re fun to catch.

Thanks,

Boone

Count me in an an angler who will take time to target carp or white bass for their fighting ability. Right off the pier at 494 can be a good carp spot but I think a few more snags have moved in that will make bottom fishing a bit tough. It sure is surprising to be working a jig and minnow for the usual species and have it slammed by a big carp. I have even caught carp on flourescent orange Raps in the spring.
If there is enough interest maybe we can talk James into adding a rough fish forum?
Dino

I never had the pleasure of fishing for carp. With the size of some of the monsters I have watched float down the river, I can imagine it would be a hoot to tie into a big one. If anybody wants to give a carp rookine some pointers, I’ll make the time to listen. Either on or off the water.

I had a quick run down to lower 2 last Thur. Ended up pulling a 22″ off a wingie, and a 19.5″ trolling up river.

Gotta give Jon J. some ‘street cred’. Learned alot as far as wingie 101 a few weeks ago. I am still losing too many lures, though…..