Pool 2 this morning

Hit 494 this morning before the wind picked up. Launched at 6am and fished till about 8.30. There was not a breath of wind and it was actually not that cold. Only managed two fish, 17 and 21 both on purple/chart ringworms before the sun came up. Caught on the same dam and both fish I could barely tell I had a fish on until they started swimming. Not the usual Pool 2 “crack” when they hit the bait. Switched to oystershell, firecracker/chart, pro blue, cotton candy when the sun came up with no luck.

When I was out yesterday I noticed the same things, esp the extremely light bite

I’m new to pool 2….just started fishing it this year. I was wondering if all you guys were still pitchin PT’s and RW’s to rocks or if you tried anything different. The water must be in the mid to high 30’s by now…and I’m not sure what types of presentations I should be considering when throwing plastics to the dams isnt producing.

Jason,

I had 39 degrees on the graph yesterday. Ringworms should be coming into their own very soon as a mainstay, but the only fish we got to hit yesterday was on Paddletails…Pro Blue infact…Imagine that!

K-grubs and ringworms should be taking off very soon. IMO we are a little behind schedule here on P2 from what I have seen for many years here. It is what it is and we have to roll with the punches, but ringworms will start to get more and more of an effort as the days roll by here in my book!

Good luck!

We finally had some fish this morning on K-grubs.The plastic bite is finally taking hold here,and hopefully just around the corner for you guys!

Thanks Steve….thats good news. I was a little worried I had missed the window. Thanks too for the advise on what I should be presenting. How about “how” I should be presenting? Same approach of sweeping into dams? Also, should I be moving away from wingies as the temps drop further?…or continue to go to the rocks first? Not asking for the P-2 pros to give up the farm here….I’m willing to put in my time …after all…I love fishing….not just catchin fish…but any further pointers would sure help me this time of year….since Im usually sittin on my waiting for the hardwater.

any of you long time river rats have any thoughts on the bite difference? Almost every fish I’ve every caught on P2 with a plastic has been that distinct whack (smaller fish) and the thunk (bigger fish). It was a very different sensation so I’m just curious.
Jason, I would pretty much stick to wingdams from here on out with the current where it is and most likely decreasing as winter progresses but I’ve only been fishing seriously for 2-3 seasons. Others, what are your thoughts?

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any of you long time river rats have any thoughts on the bite difference? Almost every fish I’ve every caught on P2 with a plastic has been that distinct whack (smaller fish) and the thunk (bigger fish). It was a very different sensation so I’m just curious.

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I don’t consider myself a P2 expert by any means but feel I have a meteoric handle on the river in general. On Sunday when I fished I had 100% solid whacks and thunks, but yesterday I didn’t even know I had the fish, felt like they were foul hooked but they were legit in the mouth. I thought it was just me…

Pete

Jason,

Pool 2 is quite a bit different than Pool 4 in a bunch of ways, not the least of which is that we don’t have nearly as many fish. Lake Pepin supports a huge walleye/sauger population, and Spring Lake is no Lake Pepin. Also, most of the fish spawn in the MN River so we don’t get a huge concentration of fish below the dam or really anywhere else.

I make quite a few trips to Pool 4 myself even though I spend a ton of time on Pool 2 and love it. Maybe I just like the change of pace, but I can also say that a really good day on Pool 4 consists of, say, 50 fish while a really good day on Pool 2 consists of more like 20 fish. Yes, the average size on Pool 2 is bigger but if you want any kind of quantity it’s just not the place to be overall. I’ll take quality over quantity 9 times out of 10, and I love Pool 2 for that reason, but she can be tough as evidenced by the recent reports.

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any of you long time river rats have any thoughts on the bite difference? Almost every fish I’ve every caught on P2 with a plastic has been that distinct whack (smaller fish) and the thunk (bigger fish). It was a very different sensation so I’m just curious.

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My 2 cents is it was just an off day. They aren’t all tuned up every day. And yesterday was one of those days when, if you could get a fish to hit… it did so very lightly. Tomorrow they could be back to smoking it.

thanks for the info. ive caught a lot of walleyes on the MN…but had assumed that the P-2 fish were stacking at the dam like other pools. hadn’t realized that most of the fish were spawning on the MN. makes sense. thanks John23!

I agree with John. A lot of those fish can swim up the MN and have no need to stop at the dam and also we are dealing with alot less fish than pool 4. As far as the slow bite right now it seems every fall the bite goes up and down. Havent been able to put a finger on what triggers this. Could be flow, temps, clarity or moon phase or a combination of them. Maybe some day Ill pay attention enough to figure out the pattern. Not that it would keep me off the water any ways.

speaking of which mike, i keep waiting for that pm that will be a better excuse to say “honey, mike wants me to go fishing with him all day” instead of honey, I think i’m going to go fishing by myself today while you stay home with the kids.

Speaking of the confluence area. I’m planning on keeping an eye on it this winter to see just when the fun begins there. I’ve been too busy to get out lately. And I’ve been getting the fat dog out for some bird chasing instead of fishing. But I hope to get back out on 2 soon!

dd

Bite was off for me this past Sunday. Finally got a biter on a pro-blue paddletail. Will be out on Monday if anyone wants to share a seat with me (or vice-versa).

Good luck this weekend guys…I have to go chase deer in WI to fill up the freezer. My son’s first deer hunt.

Jason,

Yep I would stick to what you are currently doing and just slightly alter your presentation as the fish dictate (etc….colors, plastic profile, jig size).
As James mentioned, our recent outing resulted in fish with a very small strike zone. If you go back and look at alot of the Pool 2 reports up to years ago, you will find some days the fish are on like freight trains while other days were more subtle. My advice…take your licks as they come.

Pool 2 boat traffic or lack there of is really nice IMO. It did not used to be that way. In the early 90’s the fall/winter would draw lots of boats chasing mid river saugers. Since 1994 (C&R reg) the fishing traffic has gone dramatically down. Because of little online chat over the years the population of anglers seems to be more of the hardcore types that tend to venture out in the cold water months chasing a shot at a big walleye or two. As John mentioned P2 does not have a large population of walleyes like P4 (courtesy of Lake Pepin), but what it lacks in numbers is rewarded with the a good average size. IMO P4 istough to beat all the way around. That big breeding water caters to large fish and a good year cycle year in and year out. This is what a system needs for growing truely giant fish.