Just about stopped my heart!
We’re still finding a few nicer fish in the lower stretches of Pool 2. Numbers typically dwindle quickly as the water temps drop into the 30s.
Here’s a nice one we pulled from a shoreline seam last weekend.
IMG_20181029_102331_386.jpg
It is based on a number of factors; water clarity, where shad are going, and temps are a few that seem to matter. I fish pool 6 dam. The fish moved up four weeks ago, they are no longer near shore, but I’m certain they are still in there. We are getting fewer and smaller, but still some from shore.
I thought it was fun to read the old report here..
I can only speak on pool 2 in the fall/winter.. The migration to (The Dam) talk above does not apply to pool 2 at all in the fall if you ask me. There is upstream movement but I do not see it happen here till Feb/March. There are many fish that stay put down river well into January anyways. Those familiar with pool 2 may understand what I mean by down river. I am referring to areas south of the St Paul airport and 494. Come January I do see them start to move but just in short spurts. They head to deep water sections and hold till the smell of spring hits their nose ( late Feb-early March). Once we see the water get back up above 36-37 degrees they start to move daily. This is when I consider the migration to (The Dam) to begin.
I thought it was fun to read the old report here..
I can only speak on pool 2 in the fall/winter.. The migration to (The Dam) talk above does not apply to pool 2 at all in the fall if you ask me. There is upstream movement but I do not see it happen here till Feb/March. There are many fish that stay put down river well into January anyways. Those familiar with pool 2 may understand what I mean by down river. I am referring to areas south of the St Paul airport and 494. Come January I do see them start to move but just in short spurts. They head to deep water sections and hold till the smell of spring hits their nose ( late Feb-early March). Once we see the water get back up above 36-37 degrees they start to move daily. This is when I consider the migration to (The Dam) to begin.
I agree with this completely. There are always fish on the upper end but they do not migrate early like p4. Feels to me like the bigger fish stay south until the water starts to warm slightly.
I was fishing the spring walleye run on pool 2 last spring and a guy pulls up in a Lund and starts graphing around. After 15 minutes of idling all around the area and right next to me, I playfully hollered over, “are you going to fish, or are you going to just drive around all day?” Right away I knew the guy had his panties in a wad and probably hadn’t caught a thing all day when he yells back, “DO YOU OWN THIS SPOT? DO YOU OWN THE RIVER?” Like I always do when I run into a Jackwagon, I kept calm, “never said I did,” was my reply. Shortly thereafter when captain hothead went upriver to the confluence, me and my buddy were laughing away as we caught a dozen eyes right where he’d just been side scanning for fish.
lower pools here many fish move up but many do not. they stay on their summer spots the entire winter and only move up in the spring.
but we seem to have the best most consistent success start around 55 degrees and continue to get better til around 38 when its still good but can be slower.
the constant for me in the fall is big baits. we had a 18″ sauger spit a 7″ drum out of its mouth. the drum hit the water, sat there a sec and swam away. go big.
What factors put the walleyes in the Fall feeding frenzy and approximately when do they start to migrate back toward the dams? Is it water temp, daylight hours, or other conditions?
..One of the other conditions I have noticed. One of things I have seen to be true over the yrs.. Is the late summer an early fall an into the fall when there is HIGH WATER an the higher the better for this theory. That it seems to trigger a earlier migration with larger numbers fish heading up river. . RRR
Yeah the giant walleyes don’t make there way up to the dam at all. ????????
Yeah the giant <em class=”ido-tag-em”>walleyes don’t make there way up to the dam at all. ????????
They do but the best window seems to be early spring in the cold water. Big fish in March when water was 35ish degrees. Lotta small males mixed in but the prespawn can be good from the confluence to the dam.
You don’t always need to follow the crowd to find big fish though.
Yeah the giant <em class=”ido-tag-em”>walleyes don’t make there way up to the dam at all. ????????
If I am speaking for pool 2… You might be 90% correct.. Sure, a few go up to the ford dam but believe the majority of the big females head up the Minnesota. They stage at the confluence in waves as they move up river.
I believe many of your big females in Pool 4 do not see the tailwater of the dam either. There are many spawning locations downstream that get the big girls attention also.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Andrew Hubbard wrote:</div>
Yeah the giant <em class=”ido-tag-em”>walleyes don’t make there way up to the dam at all. ????????If I am speaking for pool 2… You might be 90% correct.. Sure, a few go up to the ford dam but believe the majority of the big females head up the Minnesota. They stage at the confluence in waves as they move up river.
I believe many of your big females in Pool 4 do not see the tailwater of the dam either. There are many spawning locations downstream that get the big girls attention also.
Is the MN River comment just speculation? I’ve fished it in the summer a bit with limited success but by the time it’s open to fish in the spring it’s usually flushed out and dirty so I avoid it.
It makes sense not all the fish at the confluence go right in the spring – that some would go left. It’s an interesting theory for sure.
That a majority of the fish go up into the MN is not speculation if you believe the results of a telemetry study published a number of years ago.
That a majority of the fish go up into the MN is not speculation if you believe the results of a telemetry study published a number of years ago.
If someone had a copy or link of this it’d be great to look at. I’d love to start venturing up the Minnesota a bit more.
Have to agree with rrr I’ve noticed a correlation between this years high water we just had and a movement of eyes towards the dam . My luck this fall had been excellent until last week when the temps took a dive haven’t been out since not done yet tho. Fall is the best time to fish down here pressure is reduced to almost none, spring can be great too but more pressure . Eyes start their migration to the dams as early as October is my rule of thumb
By the time the walleye season opens on the minnesota in spring, not much left. Fall could be interesting though.
Link doesn’t work. I still plan on getting out this fall so might have to venture up the Minnesota.
If I do I’ll post a report regardless of outcome.
Matt, I have this on file but not sure how to attach it here. PM me your email and I can send it to you.
The Minnesota offers so much more in terms of spawning areas than what Pool 2 does. Sure, the dam is there but that’s not really what they are after. There is a lot of water that comes into the Minnesota and provides flooded gravel that is natural and man made that they will use. The river may be dirty but the water coming into the river is not the same. I honestly think 90-95% of the walleyes spawn up the Minnesota. They do have samples of them using Minnehaha and maybe the dam but very small trace of eggs sampled compared to what should be there if thousands of walleyes used it. They even found some eggs by the St Paul airport. This was most likely washed down
Just PM’d you Buschman….logically it makes sense. Early spring from the confluence to the dam you see a handful of big females caught but not that many. Most are by the confluence and that makes sense as a natural transit/staging area. There’s not a ton of suitable spawning areas in that stretch so it seem that you could find them pretty easily if they were all trekking towards the dam.
Just when I think I’m getting P2 dialed in I have to go learn the Minnesota now….
I am sure you know this, but the MN is closed until the opener. The goal of the telemetry survey was to see if the Pool 2 protected walleye move into the MN and get harvested. It was impressive to read how far fish move in a day or two.
I am sure you know this, but the MN is closed until the opener. The goal of the telemetry survey was to see if the Pool 2 protected walleye move into the MN and get harvested. It was impressive to read how far fish move in a day or two.
For sure. But, you have until end of Feb.
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