A lot of changes have taken place on the river here on Pool 2 over this past week. Some of these changes are good and some are less favorable. First lets start off with the bad news, the Minnesota river has let loose a bit and traditionally brings nothing but real muddy water. Well, its not to that extreme yet thankfully of the cooler temps over the week. IF we continue to have a slow thaw, I think we may be ok for the bite anywhere downstream of this flowage. The good news is that because of this dirtier water from the Minnesota river, the day bite has improved a bit over what it was over the past several weeks. As you can see its kind of a catch 22 if you will.
On Tuesdays outing, I had Greg Peterka from South St. Paul joining me for some a afternoon of wingdam pitching. At this point the Mn river had not let loose yet but we are seeing much more flow than we had about a week ago. This changes where the fish relate to their normal lower water positions within the wingdams. After a little hide and seek, Greg and I put together a pattern and stayed away from the tips of the wingdams and moved inward a bit to shallower areas with much less flow. We were rigged with both Jimmy D’s green weenie hair jigs in the 1/8oz and ¼ oz sizes. The other rods were rigged with the jigs in the 1/8-oz all the way up to the 3/8 oz followed by Yum’s 4” ribworms of various colors. The fish took a particular liking to the hair jigs right off the bat and slowly faded to the plastics as the sunset grew upon us. The first fish worth of mention was a nice fat 29” fish that completely inhaled Jimmy D’s green weenie jig in the 1/4oz size. We proceeded to boat a fish here and there with no real consistency or pattern at this point. We moved once again to another wingdam and decided to change colors a bit. After rigging a BFT 4” ringworm in the purple with a white tail, Greg stepped up to the plate next and boated a nice 26” immediately after switching colors. Nice fish Greg! This particular evening saw a true preference for the darker color patterns.
After the frigid temps we had mid week, I decided to stay off the water ad wait a bit for the weather to cooperate again, Friday brought a welcomed sun and 32 degrees but a very cool breeze that had the ability to go right to the bone. Joining me on this outing was South St. Paul’s Mike Johnson. Upon our arrival to the ramp, I noticed the water much dirtier than it was on Tuesday afternoon. With this in mind we started throwing darker colors right off the bat and got bit immediately with several smaller fish in the 16-19” range making their way to the boat. With the increased flow and dirtier water, I decided to make another small adjustment and move around a lot on the wingdam and really explore all areas within the wingdam. After a little searching we moved in towards shore a bit more to escape the blunt of the current and found a couple active pods of fish. Mike got things started first here in this spot when he caught a nice 19 inch fish way out in front of the wingdam, this tipped my hat a bit and decided move the boat out a little more away from the wingdam to see if this was a fluke or not. Mike and I proceeded to pull about 12 fish from this area in a short period of time with the biggest fish here proved to be a nice fat 25” fish that fell victim to BFT’s Purple/white tail 4” ringworm pitched on a ¼oz jig. Once darkness set in the bite slowed considerably as expected with the dirtier water.
Thanks guys for braving the elements with me this week and look forward to the next time we can share a boat together. Like I mentioned, with the increased flow and dirtier water, look for the bite to improve during the day substantially. If you are not getting bit, be patient and be sure to change it up until you find a pattern that the fish prefer as they definitely will tell you right away once you have unlocked the mystery. With winds exceeding 20mph and forecasted light rain showers for the next couple of days, be sure to dress warm and be safe this time of year. I am starting to see small amounts of floating debris making its way down the river.
See you all on the water!
Once again… great report Steve.
I’m curious… you were throwing jigs in 1/4 oz range, closer into shore? Has the flow really picked up that much, or was it needed in order to fight these windy days?
Steve you walleye animal !!!
Way nice report…when you are pitching your jigs do notice that they have to thump the bottom or just float by with the current?
Thanks in advance for your info…..
Travis,
With the combination of both wind and increased current speeds has caused my customers and I to beef it up a bit on the jig size to stay in contact with the bottom, but still have enough free float to allow it to slow things down enough for the fish to find it attractive.
Mr. Koonce,
Up until 2 days ago, I was able to do a little of both and get away with it. But with water clarity going to the wayside and still 36 degree water, its been a touch and go bite. Things have fell off the mark considerably tonight for my boat. The fish are still there, but honestly I think the fish are still reacting to the dirty water that came on so quickly in the last 36 hours. We curently have about a 6 inch visibility compared to a 2 foot clarity we had close to a week ago.
Tomorrow’s trip, we are going to shift gears completely and shift my pattern attention considerably in hopes of putting things back in our favor.
good luck buddy , i’ll look for more reports !!
Steve, I’ve been reading your posts for a couple weeks, seem like every one gets better than the last. I’m dying to get out there and give it a try. I’ve just got a quick question. what ramp do you typicaly use. I’ve got a 16′ boat w/ a 40 horse so im not really looking for long ride just options. Thanks for the great reports.
Hammerhead50,
Thanks for the support and the nice wods on the reports. I am glad you find them useful, thats what we are here for!
If you were to ask me about the ramps a week ago, I would have said use the 494 ramp without a doubt, but with the Mn river letting loose as it does every spring I would have to reccomend the Lilydale access or the Hidden Falls park ramp.
As I mentioned in my above post, the Mn river traditionally lets out alot of mud into the river every spring and cute the water clarity down consdiderably. Fish are still there to be caught, but you really need to know on their front door to get them to find your offering!
Both the Lilydale and the Hidden falls ramps are wide open and useable right now. Both ramps do not have a dock to use after you launch your boat, so you will have to beach it if you are alone.
For fishing areas, I would consider working the MN/MISS confluence area now and look for the vertical jig bite to take shape quickly. Here a simple jig and minnow works well in depths of 14-20 foot areas. Also, consider trying your hand at the marinas that line the river channels. These marinas offer slack water for big females to move into this time of year while in the pre-spawn stage to start feeding.
Good luck and let us know how you do!
I was wondering if there was any good spots in the pool 2 area to fish from shore!! Im still a little young but I will have my own boat someday!!!
Fish Killer,
There are a bunch of places to fish from shore. Most reside in the upper end of the Pool near the hidden falls park. This is located just below the Ford dam Parkway. Here there are a bunch places to walk along the shore to fish wuth plenty of availible shorelines to fish. This time of year can be most effective to be fishing from shore on the upper end of Pool 2. Position yourself right within the heart of a current break and cast a light split shot and minnow rig and let the current take it with the current. Try pitching light plastics into these areas for active fish. Crankbaits cab deadly at night this time of year up there as well.
Some of the marinas can be accessed this time of year with a little permission from the owners. Watergate marina can be a good spot for shore fisherman.
Hope this helps you fish killer!!
Great site. thanks for the info. I’v been reading this for a couple of weeks when I found it… couple of ? do you use a minnow with the ringworm and jig. I’v only used twisters and not that offen mainly live bait/cawler harrness. Where would one find a bait store between Woodbury and the Lillylake ramp. thanks again.
lilly lake or lillydale? Cuz theres a baitstore right by the lillydale access. Dont know if theyre open yet, but if they are, theyre always open til close….
gckoury: Coming from Woodbury your best bet would be to take 52 north toward St Paul and get off on Plato. Go west till you get to Water St. Take a left and the baitshop will be a couple of blocks on the left side. From there just stay on Water St. and go about 2 miles to the Lilydale access.
Welcome to the site , good luck and be sure to let us know how you did. Without trying to speak for Steve , he spends most of his time fishing with plastics and no bait. I do also but I usually have minnows with just in case the fish want a different presentation.
Dino
BlackCat, I like the logic there!!
Jk kidding of course buddy.
Dino hit it on the head with the directions. I have had my best luck with plastics alone. Not saying much lately as the bite has been very slow overall, but still averaging 8-12 fish per outing with a couple 25″ fish the last couple of trips. The biggest key that I have found with pitching plastics is the jig head size for starters. I really emphasize that an angler needs to go with the lightest jig that he can get away with in his/her given conditions. With the increased flow we have seen, bigger jig were needed to cut through the current on some wingdams while others I can get away with 1/16th-1/8th oz.
As a reminder…..As of today the 494 ramp will be closed. No date has been set as to when it will re-open due to the bridge construction. My guess it will be the better part of the summer for sure.
St. Paul Park i a good access if you want to fish the 494 area of the river, otherwise Lilydale and Hidden Falls park is another good option for the upper end of the river.
Good luck and welcome to the site!