Pool 2 Wingdams. Fall Get Together.

Been a few weeks since Ive been back down to the river. Water levels have dropped just about to their late summer lows. Still seems to be a fair amount of current. This time of year means wingdam tips and a few trolling runs for me. That was the plan for the day.

Started out on the tip of the 1st dam with a bit of crawler on a 1/4 ounce Tiger Barred H20 jig. Did pick up a nice 24″ walleye after a few casts but that jig was hitting the bottom way to quick for drifting the face of the dams. Quick switch over to 3/16ths was a much better feel.

That one walleye was all we found on the 1st dam and ended up being typical for the rest of the spots we hit to. Think the most we found on one spot was three. Good number of other fish on those spots to keep us busy. Cats, sheeps, bass and even a crappie and sunfish. Spent most of the day pitching leaches and crawlers both both working well. Did manage a few fish on cranks to.

Did not get to hit all the spots I wanted to check on Saturday. Anchoring up and pitching bait to wingdams is not a fast presentation that allows covering a lot of water. With just finding a fish here and there it left me kinda wondering if those walleyes just havent set up on the tips real well yet or we just did not get to the right dam. Maybe a few more trips this week will help me answer those questions.

The little bit of long line trolling we did did not produce much. What we did find all hit blue cranks. Got to say my long line trolling runs this year have been a real bust so far. Here again maybe I just need to spend more time on them tweaking the location or presentation to get them to go.

Okay final part of this report is that I have been working on getting set up for this years fall pool 2 fishing contest and get together. Looks like things are going to run pretty much the same as the last two years. $15 entry and $5 big fish pot. Same location and time. The date is going to be Saturday Oct 5th. Looking forward to this again this year. Its been a great event.

That’s the way to get after them Mike.
Jack

I already took that day off.
DT

I am gonna do my darndest to be back home around that time. Current job is supposed to be done by then. Beautiful morning in Maine, BTW.

Joel

Mike-I should have said hi. I thought that was you. My father and I were in the black/white/red Skeeter. We saw you all afternoon.

Sorry for the dirty looks….I was trying to match the face with the pictures to see if it was you.

Was that you guys trolling over the wingdams about mid afternoon? I do the same thing. End up staring at other boats telling myself I should know who that is.

Yes, we were out from 10am until 2:30pm or so. We first saw you in some back water, we had just left that spot a few minutes earlier after taking some fish off it, a green boat snuck in there before you could anchor up.

New Avatar.

Not quite. That cat was a lot of fun on walleye gear. Did not want to come off the bottom for nothing. Reminded me of a trip late last summer with Jon J where the channels where going nuts on leaches. We spent most of our time pitching them with jigs to rock piles. A few of those rock piles where stacked with channels smacking those leaches just like a fall walleye.

I bet I can talk Dean into sharing a boat again. It was a great time last year and I would expect much of the same this go round.

…. I brought the boat home from Mille Lacs today! Pool 2 here I come.

-J.

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…. I brought the boat home from Mille Lacs today! Pool 2 here I come.

-J.

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Is pool 2 ready for some mayhem like you?

I dig the new avatar JJ. Somehow it fits.

Mike , How far do you anchor off the tips of the wing dams ? Thanks

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Mike , How far do you anchor off the tips of the wing dams ? Thanks

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With the still decent flow right now its right up river from the tip or a little past it. Many spots I like those jigs to swing past the tip on the retrieve. Of course this all varies with the spot. They all fish a little different. With lower flows Ill even move out past the tip at about a 45 degree angle up river from it.

What I call the tip is typically where the shallow part of the dam ends. Many dams up here run 3 to 5′ on top then at the tip drop off. Even where they drop off there are many times plenty of rocks out deeper and some times very scattered around.

A good boat position is where from the back of the boat I can work the shallow tip and off of it. Then when done with that go sit up in the front of the boat and work the deeper areas in front of the dam and tip with bringing those jigs right back to the boat. Its also not uncommon with the boat in this position Im casting some jigs up river in front of the dams and letting the jigs get swept into the base. This is very common on deeper dams figuring the base might be 20′ and it can take time for those jigs to get down there. Many times with these cast the jig come right past practically under the boat and then down river to hit the deep rocks on the tip.

A couple of tips for this type of jig pitching is try bulking up those jig heads and go with a braid line for the best feel. That heavier jig you can feel right when it hits bottom. Then pick it up, let it swim a few feet and thunk it right back down. Just keep repeating this through he retrieve. I used to call this thunking. If you know right when that jig cntacts bottom then you know right when to pick it up again and move it before it gets snagged.

Dragging jigs can be very good for this to but you tend to loose the feel of that jig thunking the rocks. Dragging jigs are great for those extremely snaggy areas or those that tend to leave their share of jigs in the bottom. What you need to do with the dragging jig is just have the confidence its getting down to the rocks. If it bumps or slides across the rocks even a few times on a retrieve you are getting it down there. Of course snapping up a few fish with the dragging jig is the best way to build confidence that its working well.

James. Would be great to see you and Dean there again. Been working on trying to get one of the older shaggy hair regulars on pool 2 to show up to.

Ill put up more info for the get together and contest towards the end of the month. Just wanted to get the date out there so people could pencil it in.

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James. Would be great to see you and Dean there again. Been working on trying to get one of the older shaggy hair regulars on pool 2 to show up to.

Ill put up more info for the get together and contest towards the end of the month. Just wanted to get the date out there so people could pencil it in.

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Dean and I are in. We’ll be rocking the War Eagle again this fall.

I am sure I can convince the nephew to go, however, it is sturgeon season. I’ll be all moved into the new place and hopefully raring to make up for lost time.

Mike do you use two anchors , one for the front and one for the back ? Thanks for all your help .

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Mike do you use two anchors , one for the front and one for the back ? Thanks for all your help .

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No. Will use a drift sock if needed due to a south wind. Strong south wind Ill just run the main motor in reverse against the front anchor. Another great use for the VTS button on the 75 yamaha. Lets me dial those motor RPMS down so Im not tearing the anchor off the bottom. Spot lock on a trolling motor or running a kicker motor in reverse would work well to.

Should also add that there are 5 different spots to tie the anchor to on the front of my boat. They all get used to. One cleat dead center front. One more on each side towards the front. Then two other posts between those and the front if I dont want such a great angle to the anchor rope. 100′ of anchor rope to.

Looking forward to the contest again!

Thanks for getting the date out there.

Mike…I look forward to the Fall Get Together. I tried to look at some past posts from last year, but couldn’t find any. Do you have any other information on the day? Rules? Times? Is it run like the SCWL with measuring of fish? Thanks…

It’s a CPR tourney. Mike will hand out a control item that morning that you need to add to your pictures.
DT

Here is a link to the 2011 Get Together
DT

Here is the contest rules from last year. No plans for changes so far this year. Looks like we will have some great prizes sponsors again to.

2012 rules.

Did you fill out the 25 boat roster last year? Even if we don’t get in the tourney, I’d like to go down there.

Hopefully it isn’t the weekend we go up to Grand Rapids.

Thanks Mike. If you do fill up with the 25 boats, is is first come first served or can one pay in advance to reserve their spot?

We have not filled up the 1st two years. Think it was 14 teams the 1st year and maybe 18 last year. I usually put up a sign up post a week or so in advance just to get a rough idea on how many to expect. Also do a post for the pot luck to make sure we dont all show up with the same food. Got to say that pot luck afterwards has been fantastic both years. Plenty of food and lots of variety.

As always there are some that dont care for fishing contest and they are still more than welcome to show up. Spend the day out on the water fishing with the rest of us or just show up mid afternoon for the pot luck and get together. Its all good.

Plan to fish it again this year. How about increasing to $20 entry and $5 big fish? Don’t think $5 more will break anyone.