The back channel has been realy consistant for good numbers of eaters in the last 3 weeks but I saw a dramatic slow down during my last outing on Sunday with the colder weather pool 4 report.I’ll be on the water tommorow and provide everyone with a short up date on my findings 
I didn’t find a bunch of fish in the back channel yesterday but did have a 2 man limit of walleye dragging jigs and trolling jointed shad raps on the main channel. Red or blue jigs with crawlers were good. A red craw #5 jointed took the bigest fish for the day only going 22″ 
. Lots of little walleye to weed through as well on both cranks and jigs.
The bite was better than I thought it would be with the cold nights and days we have been seeing.
Good luck and let us know how you do 
Thanks for the posts, much appreciated. I do not have much experience fishing the river much less trolling it. Are you just trolling cranks upsteam along the main channel breaks? If so what are some target depths. And as far as jigs what are some areas to look for there, back channel or main river? I think weel start trolling cranks in the lake in a few areas I know and then probably head into the river if that doesnt work out. I cant thank you enough for the help.
crankin,
I was just trolling some of the main river sand flats and clam beds4′ to 11′ was my target depths. I know that isn’t going to really narrow it down for you but with the lower flows we are seeing in the river right now the fish are really scattered. once you find an active pod of fish try to stay on them until they shwo no more signs of interest. The most fish I have been able to pull of one single spot right when getting on it is 4, then I have been jumping off to another area. Later in the day I have been retracing my steps and been able to pick up a couple more fish of some of the spots I was successfull with in the morning.
I have not been in the head of the lake area as most of my fishing has been around Red wing and North towards the dam. But there should be fish on the red and green cans right now. This is an area I have wanted to get on and check out but the wind or boat traffic has not been in my favor the last 2 times I have hit the big river.
Well we did decent considering the conditions. Being unfamiliar with the area, a thick fog delayed any fast search for fish early in the morning. We caught about a half a dozen 18in fish trolling 17′ on the north end of the lake. I went into the back channel for a short while on the way back with no luck. Didnt get time to try much of the river. Also its kind of hard to be real mobile and try a bunch of spots with four in our boat so trollin boards was in the best interest. Firetiger stick baits on leadcore were outfishing everything hands down. I wasnt complaining with the dead calm blue bird weather.
I fished lower pool 4 Sunday in the back waters mostly. Not much going on. I caught a couple of nice northerns 36″ and 32″ and worked hard for some crappies. The bass just didn’t want to bite. I went out Saturday afternoon and fished some wingdams and closing dams. Not much boat traffic for a Saturday. Caught some nice walleyes. I was lucky enough to have a guy fish near me and was wondering what I was doing in an open area. I told him I was fishing a closing dam. I told him how to find them, told him about the hot spot maps, and this website…did everything I could to help him because he wasn’t from the area. He then catches a 28″ walleye. It was a hawg. He said, “This will be a good meal!” I asked if he was going to put it back and he laughed at me. He said it was supper. He then followed me everywhere. I tell ya people love to take advantage of ya. 
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