Where to go Sat. evening and Sun. Morn near Pepin?

Hey all! It sound like you all have been having a great time this spring even with the crazy up and down temps. My wife and I are going to go fishing this weekend for my birthday and was I wondering where you knowledgable folks might send a guy to catch some walleye, sauger or crappie? I will be visiting my father in Pepin don’t have a big rig to travel real far on the water. I haven’t fished spring time in many years and it seems you people on this board are experienced and do fish quite a bit. If you feel uncomfortable leaving specifics, just general ideas would be much appreciated!! Thanks again to all of you for replying and have a great weekend.

mustbefishing

I have noticed all of the views of this post. Could you just steer me in the right direction? I am not looking to take anyone’s “hotspot”, just some basic idea of where to head this weekend. I would actually prefer an out of the way place where the bite is not that strong. Just want to get out, enjoy the weather, and get my line in the water. So don’t feel that I am going to cram any of you this weekend. Thanks again and please reply.

mustbefishing

sorry no one has tossed you even a bone!!…. well… shoot… first off.. the easiest way to get on fish is just run up to the dam and start hitting the current breaks…. sometimes they are not that obvious if your not experienced but the current actually slows down in some areas… notably behind the wing dams on the Mn side… and along the clam beds on the Wi side… pick either of those spots… then an easy way to go for a first timer is to use a 3-way… and some cranks… its pretty safe.. you will loose a couple but not usually a lot of snags up there…. you might need a fair amount of weight in this current.. Ive not been out since it came up… but Im guessing 3 oz is a good bet (minimum!)….. a decent setup would be a 12″-18″ drop with a 5 foot lead… Im NOT an expert on this and if one of the experts wants to refine that feel free!….. maybe do a search on 3-way information on the site.. and there may be an article on it too.. though I cant recall……

read James report.. he speaks of 3 waying cranks….. gave sizes, colors, depths… plus information on other species…. the white bass bite he talks about will be fun…. for that go the Mn side and fish up from the first wing dam along the rip rap there…… whites will take many things… the jig that James mentions should be killer…..

if the crowd by the dam is TOO bad.. drop down river a bit… work some current breaks down from the Y….. they are on both the Mn and Wi side… there should be LOTS of fish around and you should be able to hook up just about anywhere…….

anyway.. thats my story and Im sticking to it!!…. it does suprise me that no one commented to your post before… I know our people are NOT closed mouthed… and truthfully reading our Pool 4 reports by James and Everts and Dustin and any other FTR staff are VERY accurate and informative… I would recomend reading them CAREFULLY and doing WHAT THEY SAY!!… they WILL put you on fish… if ANYTHING will……!! they have helped me time after time…. really saves time when you get the tactics nailed down then all you have to do is find some fish.. at this time of year they are in EVERY current break….

I replied to the same post made in the general discussion forum. Didn’t think to throw up the same info here. Maybe I should have.

I see you have a smaller rig, so I wouldn’t suggest going to the dam this weekend unless you can trailer the boat up to the back channel landing. The water is going to be moving pretty quick this weekend and there will be alot of stuff coming down so be very careful. Happy birthday by the way. If you need to stay close to pepin I would suggest the head of the lake or just up from there in front of the cabin on the minnesota side(red and white i believe with a little harbor for their boathouse. pulling cranks in this area produced fish for us. Others that know better may suggest different, but i would say there could be some walleyes along the wisconsin shoreline between the rush river and the head of the lake so if it just about being out you can give those areas a run through they will be close to home. good luck

labsrule

Thanks Rivereyes, H2O and Labsrule. I will probably stay close to home so the advice and reports will definitely point me in the right direction;. For my birthday, I am getting a 7 wk. old blk lab pup. Thought you might like to know labsrule. Should be a great summer!

put everything you like away for about a year. Mine is about 15 months old and she still can’t be left alone. It has been tough, but they are well worth it. You might be able to find fish right around where the rush comes out. I don’t fish down that far until a little later so i don’t know for sure, maybe someone else could tell you for sure. I assume they are there now because they are usually there in a couple of weeks. good luck

labsrule

bump

i meant BUMP!

New to FTR and Pool 4, but so didn’t feel I could offer much advice, except, I agree with RiverEyes. Spend a little time on this great site…both in the discussion forum archives and library. Lots of great info. there. It’s only cost me a couple hundred bucks so far for different tackle!

Instead of bumping this thread up everyday, do a little research of your own. Use your experience of walleye/rivers to figure things out. I get a lot of satisfaction figuring the bite out myself than I do getting spoon-feed information. A lot of info on this site is GREAT information, but enough is enough!

I can tell you if you are staying down by Lake City..stay along the rip rap on the MN side up from the landing north of Lake City..look for deeper, slower current..any kind of break, and go as light as you can..be subtle with your presentation..Have Fun, and good luck!

Thanks for your wonderful information, Walleyeman. You are so thoughtful. Have you ever got the satisfaction of figuring out that people are different and maybe that I just want to go out and enjoy the weekend and catch a few fish. My goal this weekend is not accomplish a life long goal, like figuring out the bite. I just found this site and have researched quite a bit. How much can you get from a book or maps? I haven’t had time to fish this spring and thought that a few fellow sportsman wouldn’t mind sharing a few tips. Of course I am sure that you have never asked anyone at the proverbial “baitshop” where they were biting. Or never asked any of your friends where they “had the best luck the other day”. A true thank you to crankybait and all of the other people who offered sincere advice and tips. I will certainly do better this weekend becaues of them.

BUMP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Keep on asking/sharing information! That’s what this site is all about. We’re all here to help each other catch more fish and as long as we practice CPR, we all can enjoy things. Reading this site and talking to others IS research and is also a fun experience. The more information a person takes in , the better he will be. Yes, going out and fishing is a big part of it as well, but if you can increase your odds by talking to people here, then by all means do it. I often go out and from reading this site I can already eliminate many spots/presentations etc. and therefore spend more time catching fish. The bottom line is you have to still catch the fish. So Walleyeman lighten up. This site is here for exactly that reason.

In all that we hold dear to this sport of fishing, when is enough info enough info? As far as I’m concerned it’s just another question and if something can be added to the benefit of the requestor, post away! I can’t imagine for any reason that we’d want to set limits or see info presented in “rations” on this forum. How great would FTR be for saying, “We’re sorry but your post cannot be processed because: 1) this thread already contains 10 replies or 2) this question has already been asked in a previous post”.?

Walleyeman, we’ve all had moments like yours…………just hang loose, stay cool, and show us your trophies when you feel better.