White Hot Morning Bite on Pool 2

Hey, is anybody out there taking advantage of the white-hot morning bite on P2 this morning? Precise casting and boat control could be a little challenging out there today… Bring your drift sock…

What the heck is up with this weather? Torrential rains last night, then the wind came up, then the snow started, then the wind REALLY came up…

Tornados in March. Yes, not unheard of, but still not good.

Well, I guess the good news is there’s no lack of walleye chop. Better have the Wave Wackers on if you’re going to back troll.

Grouse

My back is still killing me from the 3ft rollers out there on Sat.

3ft? lol
It wasn’t that bad. I was out putting in break in hours on my new kicker, even found a few fish on cranks.

You must have been down in the calmer sections. It was brutal where we were.

Yeah, there’s always places to hide except that stretch by 494. I looked at it at about 9:45, there was one boat out and it looked pretty nasty so I took off to another stretch.

I had the day off but spent the morning with my daughter building LEGOs. I went out on p2 around lunch time, marked a lot of fish but couldn’t stay on top of ’em to jig. Trolled some cranks but didn’t have any luck (is there an echo in here?)

I’m going to shore fish around Hidden Falls in the morning after I get off work. Didn’t have much luck out there last fall so hoping Spring is when it’s good.

Mahtofire14 did you get out there? How was the bite?

I was out there from around 8 am to 930 and didn’t get a bite. Tried jigging plastics, cranks and even a jerkbait. Lots of current but the water clarity wasn’t horrible. Still pretty cold so hopefully once things warm up a bit more it’ll pick up. I’m no expert though. Only been trying to figure out pool 2 shore fishing since last fall.

Plastics up near the dam on either side are usually a good bet. I think sometimes live bait catches more fish but the big ones will come on plastics. As it warms, it will be busy up there so I used to try and hit it right before dark. Drag those jigs right up to shore…I’ve caught them in a foot of water in the past. April usually seems like the best shore fishing time of the year.

The little eddie current on either side of the launch can produce sometimes, too.

First time fishing hidden falls from shore, Saturday with the full moon then Sunday as the snow started to fly, absolutely nada. Same report from the few anglers I asked, and couple boaters as well.

Like that eddie by the launch though. See how many anglers would have a tough time fishing the back current right along the first drop off. Pretty nice spot right der if ya ask me.

Water is a bit cold I think still to shore fish. It seems to pickup around about 40 degrees in my experience.

I’ve tried to fish that eddie from the boat and never caught a fish but I have from shore.

Hiking up to the dam on the Minnehaha side can be good, too, but you might break your ankles.

I’m definitely going to keep going. I figured it was still a bit early. I work at the U of M hospital so I’ve been going right away after work in the mornings. Super calm out there and yes that eddie looks so good. Just bought a catfish setup to keep things interesting while I’m not catching walleye. Might turn to the dark side if I have any luck with the cats.

Have at em and good luck!

If i were to go back, to hopefully at least pick off a few males lingering in the area id resort to a small livebait rig, with a parrot floating jighead with a tailhooked fathead or smaller shiner.

Last fall I caught a decent number of smallmouth at Hidden Falls. So hopefully they’ll be around soon too.

When the water is this cold I think live bait is best like nhamm said. As it warms the plastics bite will pick up.

For SM, I have had luck casting cranks or plastics parallel with shore wherever I find a little bit of structure. Even if it’s small rocks it will hold SM. The SM bite will last all summer and into the fall. You might even pick off a nice pike, too.

Spent the morning near the dam on Pool 2 this morning and caught my first two open water fish of 2017. My first Mississippi walleye and a nice little chunk smallmouth. Restored my faith in shorefishing that area.

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_2874.jpg
   

2. 

   IMG_2872.jpg