Pool 2

Fished upper Pool 2 last night. H20 temp = 61 degrees. Caught 2 ‘eyes about 100 yards north of the confluence on the east shore trolling cranks. Marked alot of fish in that area and then again up by the dam. No other takers for the night…

the last few times out, the faster water around the Hwy 5 bridge and Hidden Falls have produce more numbers. Until the temp drops a little more, I would think that these areas will continue to produce.

Fishing down river from you yesterday morning and the bite was very very good. I was fishing north of the 494 bridge tolling shad raps. The best fish were a 25″ walleye and a 20.5″ sauger which is the biggest sauger I’ve ever caught.I also caught quite a few white (silver) bass in the same areas. All the fish are fat, looks like they are eating everything in site. Ive never fished to much in the fall opting to spend my time bowhunting. If the fishing stays this good the bow might be for sale.

Dave

What techniques were you using along those areas? I made several passes underneath the Hwy 5 bridge and never got a thing. Trolled from 8-12′. Also, I marked alot of fish in the main channel next to the dog beach, but didn’t get any hits.

Sorry it took so long to get back-I was out of town. I have only trolled #7 Firetiger shap raps since June/July. Some others in my boat have tried other colors, sometimes with equal results, but usually not. I usually troll quickly against the current on the shore side (6-8′). Then troll the deeper break toward the channel in 10-14′-but always on or near the break. Like I have said previously, I usually catch 2-3 walleye per hour per person. Plus 2-3 smallies, cats, northern or drum per hour. So good constant action, but I havent gotten big numbers of fish since July. After 6pm is when they typically bite better.

Hope that helps.

I havent heard how others are doing lately. Anyone been out?

Was out this weekend down in the 494 area and had some excellent wingdam fishing. 25 fish for Saturday. 2 25″ and the rest were honest 19-23″ fish. These wing dams hold some very active and hungry walleyes this time of year.

If you all get a chance to try the wingies yet this fall, you will not be dissapointed. You usually hit them with in the first 10 minutes there. I was there well before sunrise on Saturday morning and my first 3 cast had or caught walleye on. Just fabulous. Just a thought, hang in there after dark and be ready because these fish hit right at the boat most of the time. Exciting.

DeeZee, What did you take your fish on? The other day I couldnt catch a fish an live bait, all were taken on cranks. Thanks, Jason

DeeZee

I’m still new at this. Did you fish north of 494…..and how does one find the wing dams in the first place. Thank you in advance.

I would also like to know how you choose a wing dam to fish.In other words what do you look for in a wing dam?Submerged or exposed,speed of cuurent etc.?

Sorry guys for the late response, this work thing had me pretty busy lately. On Saturday I was mainly south of 494.

First off, a major tell tale sign of a possible wingdam is to look at some of the channel markers (green and red) that are in the main river channel for the barges. These not only mark the main route for the barges but also helps us anglers identify some of the wingdams that are there. Most of the time the channel markers are put in position to mark a distinct area of the river. Off of these markers are sometimes large windgdams. What I have noticed on Pool 2 is that not every channel marker amrks a wing dam, but there is usually some near by. Also there are many wingdams that are not marked that you have to look for the tell tale current deflection on the surface or run slowly over it with your eyes peeled to the sonar.

All these fish as of lately has been coming off of cranks thrown and ran over top of these wingdams. Jig/plastics has taken semi-nuetral fish off of these when a crank has gotten most of the agressive fish.

Was out last night and picked up 6 fish, with one at 24″.

with a bonus 15 lb flathead that inhaled my crankbait. Thats the best part of fishing a river, you never are quite sure what you might end up with at the end of the day.

Sorry for getting windy here.

Good luck to all.

DeeZee

You have sold me …..I’ll give it a shot this weekend

Bfish

Fished last night in the Upper Pool. The Stripers were in thick below the Hwy 5 bridge – picked up 3 on 1 pass. Also, got a 23″ ‘eye right in front of the Minnehaha Creek. Be careful – lots of floating debris coming down river (and all kinds of Tennis Balls – poor doggies).

Nubby

I wonder where all that garbage is coming from. Last year, sometime around Halloween, there was an endless stream of trash floating down the river near Fort Snelling. Everything you can imagine floated by the boat. I hate to see any garbage on the river, but it was almost entertaining to see what was coming next. Anyone else notice this? Is it just washing in from the streets? Vern

it does wash in from the streets… but did we have any rain recently? Ive stood by some of the storm sewers and fished right after a rain storm… and yeah… lots of werid stuff comes down the pipe……. wish they would “filter” it out… there should be a law dont ya think? its not exactly organic stuff thats for sure…..

jfish,

When one first tries to fish wingdams, I have two pieces of advice.

1. Try to pick a day when there is a light, upstream wind, say in the 5-15 mph range. This really makes the ripple line stand up. When the wind is howling downstream the ripple line is not visible and this makes it much more difficult to find the wingdams. Precise boat control really helps fishing success on the wingdams and obviously this is much easier when one can see the ripple line. The ripple line is always just slightly downstream of the peak of the rocks. Upstream boat wakes can also make the ripple line stand up for a few minutes. I often “throw” a wake upstream over the top of the wingdam so I can see it then zip around to the upstream side to fish it. This works well if you know the general location of the wingdam but need to pin point it. Obviously be careful not to crash into the rocks when doing this. This leads to the second point.

2. If your depth finder has a shallow alarm, use it! I set mine to about 3-4 ft. The wingdams come up real quick but this often gives me enough warning to back off or at least kick the motor into neutral or raise it up. Some wingdams have enough water over the top of them that it’s not a concern but some others are just inches below the surface, especially now with the low flows.

I know there’s been a web site address given several times on this board where one can find the US Army Corp of Engineers river maps. This shows the location of the wingdams. Some of the wingdams that are shown on the maps have slitted-in and no longer really seem to exist.

Boone

Boone

Thanks. I’ll get on my snow suit and give it a shot tomorrow.

jfish