Seemed like an average opener to me as far as fish catching goes, but the lack of fellow boaters on the water made it a pleasure to be out there.

We found ’em shallow, but I saw ‘eyes coming in from just about every depth available on the upper Croix. Cranks and plastics were the ticket for my boat. Lookin’ forward to next weekend.

I hear ya’ RBF. There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that the chemicals found in those P2 fish were manufactured at the Chemolite site but you hit the nail on the head with your statement regarding the fact that some of these chemicals hang around for a long time. It’s a similar situation to lead, mercury, or PCBs which are found in fish in many waters and have a very long half-life –> ie – stick around for many years without degrading significantly. Whereas the general public has for years known about the basic negative effects associated with heavy metal or PCB contamination, it has just been in the recent past that this chemical has been discovered in the environment and therefore it has generated a bit of publicity. The difference between these Chemolite chemicals and the others I mentioned above, however, is that there’s no known adverse health effects associated with the concentrations found in the P2 fish.

Again though, back to the topic of my true interest…. I’ll be out on P2 again both Saturday and Sunday. Planning on pitchin’ wingies and perhaps hit the confluence area for awhile. Give a wave if you happen upon my blue & white Nitro.

Gotta post a correction re: the “chemical dumping” by 3M. That’s simply not the case. To briefly explain, 3M’s Cottage Grove facility, aka Chemolite, had manufactured for years and years 2 chemicals used in the Scotchgard products. Recently it was found that trace amounts of these chemicals, in the single digit parts-per-million concentrations, were found in fish in the adjacent Mississippi River. It should also be noted that trace amounts of these chemicals were found in fish and other animals in other places in the world, too, so this isn’t a Chemolite-specific finding and is not indicative of chemical dumping in the river. Rather, it indicates that the Miss River fish in P3 have some miniscule quantity of these chemicals in their system. There is no evidence there is any adverse health effect on humans or animals in these concentrations, but 3M voluntarily changed their Scotchgard formulation a few years ago to do away with the PFOS and PFOA chemicals. You can probably google it to find more info if you’re interested.

OK, back to fishing now. Looking forward to hitting P2 again Saturday. Likely follow up with a trip to P4 on Sunday. Could be a good weekend for pitching shallow assuming the water level starts rising with the recent precipitation.

I was out both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was the better of the two days with action right of the bat jigging the channel at the airport. Seemed that most folks were up shallower in 16-18 fow but we found a better bite out deeper. Also picked up a fat mama sauger deep near 494. Chartreuse ringworm was the ticket. Nothing found on wingies however.

Sunday, well… let’s just say it was a nice day for a boat ride.

Yes, the bite was fairly slow today but it was a great day to get outside and enjoy the sunshine. The fish were pretty lethargic as indicated by the very light bites. BFN superdoos were the most productive lure today on the current seams. I am getting excited about the spring bite; only a couple weeks away if Mother Nature cooperates.

That’s all the justification I need to take a day off and head to P4.

Yup, it’s time to hit the river again. Like you, I found some good numbers on the ‘sippi this afternoon, except the plastic bite was on for me on Pool #3. Stong winds made it challenging in terms of boat control but overall the trip exceeded my expectations with the warm weather and hard hits on the plastics.

Mike hit the nail on the head, Professor. Any smaller minnow-imitating lure should do the trick. As far as color goes I gotta say white. My personal confidence lure is a 1/4 oz white roadrunner as I can cast it a fair distance, fish it at a variety of depths, and can see it fairly well in dingy water. Did I mention it catches whites hand over fist?

Briank, I was north of the ol’ birthplace. Can’t go wrong in that locale.

See ya’ on the river, fellas.

Professor,

I was out Friday afternoon for a few hours. I found the water to be a couple feet higher than my previous outing a week ago. The flows were also up and the river was fairly silty. Vertical jigging was not the ticket. Seemed like a fairly slow day for most fisherpersons operating in this manner. I managed a few nice ‘eyes in the 20″ range pitching to sandflats w/ringworms and I saw several guys having luck pulling 3-ways on the breaks.

It’s gonna be busy on the river this weekend but if it’s anything like yesterday the boats will be spread out as guys are searching for a pattern. Good luck.