Pool 2. Any action?

Any one else hit pool 2 over the weekend? TBO and myself made it down to the 494 area saturday morning after a last minute change of fishing plans. We where on are way to the upper croix and made a wrong turn and ended up at pool 2.
The day started out slow on the wingdams. Found a mixture of fish there. Most where taken on live bait and jigs.
The last trick of the day we tried did put a little walleye pattern together for us. Ended up trolling bombers on the riprap shore line. Plenty of sheepies to pick threw but about every third to fourth fish was a 15 to 18″ eye.
I am hoping a little more time spent on this pattern and some fine tuning of it might be able to produce a few more eyes and a few less sheepies.

Me and the GF were out yesterday, Now I’ll clarify and say this is the first time I’ve actually fished the mississippi, anywhere. That being said, I had picked up some crawlers, plenty of jigs in my tackle box, numerous crankbaits. I tried throwing around a couple different combinations of things, in a 3 hours of fishing I hooked 1 sheephead, and nothing else. I was going to attempt fishing under the Ford dam, got a little spooked with the water fow and such, and decided to tackle that another day, 1 boat by the dam I had talk to quickly said they has picked up a couple, but they worked really hard for them. We also trolled with cranks, nothing there, threw cranks at the wing dams, pitched jigs with yellow twister tail power baits, jigs with crawlers, gf work on a lindy rig setup, lost a couple crawlers, never hooked anything. All in all it didn’t seem like anyone else was having a great day, and this being my first time on the river my expectations weren’t the highest anyways. It always takes me some time to figure out a new fishing area, I probably should’ve put in at the 494 bridge, next time I guess.

I suppose we could’ve fished harder, it was a nice day and we had to go for a spin too. Boat was running just awesome

SAY MIKE W, THE R&R DN AWAYS [N.] OF 494 I DID MAKE A PASS ON THAT THE FRIST TIME I WAS DN ,2 WKS AGO MAY BE, AND GOT 1 EYE [18″] AND A BIGG! SHEEPY.ALL I CAN FIND S. OF 494 IS BASS OF ONE KIND OR AN OUTHER.IS N. OR S. DOIN BETTER NOW?

I spent yesterday afternoon/evening down south of 494 with poor results from the wingies and decided to troll cranks as well. I finally put together a pattern in the backwater cuts that had a little flow to them and picked up 6 eyes with the biggest around 25 inches. The best depths for me was 5-8 foot depths and keeping the cranks just off the bottom seem to be the key for me. The area I was fishing was nothing but sand and mud with access to deeper water nearby. The bite was not hot and heavy, but worth the little time that I put in.

The white bass were on tear, so I took a break from the the eyes for a bit. After about 20-25 whities, I was ready to seek for more eyes.

Stayed after dark for a bit and hit a few wingies with no luck other than one nice hit that I missed. THe bats decided to drive me off the water as they dove near my head on several occassions. Bailey was a little nervous as well!

Hopefully with the cooler weather in the forecast, the bite should pick up big time for the walleyes. Bailey has her toes crossed!

The only pattern that I found lately that worked for a bit was trolling shallow runners very fast-fast enough so that I am starting to throw a wake. Also-only the fastest moving water on Pool 2 are producing walleyes for me. The smallies and drum are still active everywhere.

Hey Steve-

What was the temp??? This roller-coaster weather we’re having isn’t helping much. Hopefully, the cooldown slated for later this week will be the end of these 80+ days… I’m itching for the plastic bite to take off! Oh I miss that “thunk”.

I hear you there…
The temp I had last night was 69 degrees.
I am seeing fish move into their fall trolling patterns a bit in the backwaters. The wingdam bite should take off in a week or so.
How about the big pond water temps last night?

Mille Lacs temps were 66 degrees on monday AM around 5 AM and the fishing was picking up noticeably. laregest eye went just a touch short of 29 inches and we had the majority of our fish in the 23″ plus range. The bite was definitely on the improve as the action was much more widespread and not as streaky as nights prior.

October is going to be a super blast!

Hey if anyone wants the water temp on pool 2 ANYTIME I can get it in mere seconds, just ask

One can check out the river water temperatures from the comfort of their computer. Just log onto the Corp of Engineers, St. Paul District website and scroll down until you get to the water temperature selection and click the submit button. This site also has flow rate, water levels, etc. It’s a really nice site. It also has historical information so if you want to see what the water temps or flow rates were during previous years fishing trips, you can get that too. Steve said the water temp was 69 F and the website listed it as 70 F. Pretty good agreement. This website has been post dozens of times before but here it is again. Go to Lock and Dams then to the specific dam you want.

St. Paul Distric Corp of Engineers Web Site for Flow Rate, Level, Water Temp, etc.

I wish the Rock Island district’s website had the same set up.

Steve,
Can you share a little information about the white bass. Did you find them on the wingdams? Were they chasing shad on the surface?

Thanks,

Boone

Boone,

The white bass were exploding in all their traditional spots that I could see. A couple wingdams were holding lots of white bass as were the tips of a couple islands down south of 494.
I was working a school that was busting the surface over about 5 feet of water as I followed them around, I just happened to glance at my electronics and noticed that we were sitting over 20+ feet of water. Just goes to show that fish could care less where they are as long as there is food near by.

I will send you a PM.

Dinosaur and I hit P2 out of the 494 access for a few hours last night. Not much happening for us either. Spent most of the time trolling cranks in new areas down on the lower end. Dean got one walleye that was about 16-17 inches, but that was it. The 80+ degree day brought the water temp up to 72.

Jon J.

Had to try it again today. Suprised I did not get blown up to pool 1 or farther.
Same trolling pattern as saturday. Tried a few different crank baits but the bombers just seemed to have the right depth going. Caught fish on just about everything I trolled with. Shallow water equiled smallies. Deeper water equiled sheepies, eyes, and cat fish. Caught as many eyes as sheepies today. Still no large eyes.
So what is it going to take to get the fall patterns going. Spent some time tonight reading past reports and it looked like the last 2 years the wingdams where going good by this time of year. Last year at this time just about any current break there was was holding fish. Any thoughts?
I would think some add current would help things out.

mike,

I was talking to steve from everetts resort on pool 4, he thinks that the good fall bite is about 2 weeks away. just ain’t quite got the water temps down to where they are going to listen to thier stomachs. I am thinking we get that water a little cooler, we will be in for some good fishing. one thing that works well, is having your lure hit and dive the bottom.

shane

Smacking the bottom on rocks. Don’t tell them all my secrets Shane. LOL

Gator Hunter

hey gator, i didn’t add the smacking the rocks. I did that with brian also in pool 3. diving the lure into the sand, makes it look like a wounded minow. but i didn’t say anything about hitting rocks.

shane

I think that it is the lack of flow right now. Last year we had high water into July and the river never got near the levels where it is at now. The current breaks arent that much slower than the main channel, right now the fish can roam the entire river fairly effortlessly-so they arent concentrated in any areas.

Has anyone tried the vertical jigging bite at the airport??? Are predictions on what this bite will be like this year w/ things been so goofy? Also-if someone is coming north on 494, can you get on and off at Hardman?

The last few trips we did not try any vertical jigging there. Last year it did not start till November.
Hardman is only open if you are going east which turns north after you pass by Newport. West will be later this fall based on what I have heard.
Good news on the launch and parking lot lights. They are back on. Makes it much easier to see what you are doing.
Dino

Thanks Dean-so coming from Eagan I would be able to get on and off at Hardman????

Yes you can. There is a bit of construction on Hardman but they are weaving 2 lanes through it. Other than some large potholes it is open to the access road.
Dino

I spent some time on Pool 2 on Wednesday afternoon/evening. Started by the Ford Dam and pulled in a few smallies and white Bass. We did find some ‘eyes by trolling Shad Raps at a pretty good clip from hwy 5 down to the MN River confluence. Numbers were limited, but we boated two fish around 20″. If you could ignore the wind, it was a beautiful day on afternoon the water.
Everytime out the bite gets better….

I was out last evening from 5-8 and we got four eye’s and a crappie. we spent equal time trolling and jigging and got all four walleyes jigging up in front of the dam. There is alot of fallen leaves in the water which made trolling less desirable!
Sealegs