Mississippi River Pool 2 Report, 10/9/11

By Pete Bauer 0

What a crazy year! Between starting a new job and buying a house, my trips on the water have been few and far between. I went from fishing a few days every week to maybe once every few weeks! Fortunately, things are settling down and I hope to be back out fishing with some amount of consistency.

Not having been on the water in over 2weeks and missing last week’s Pool2 contest due to tilt/trim issues with my outboard, Dad and I got out yesterday with the hope of chasing down a few walleyes and enjoying the unseasonably warm temp’s. Flow and clarity looked similar to a few weeks prior however the water temperature actually increased showing 65-68degrees depending on the location. Primarily pitching firecracker/char paddle tails and bright colored DT-6 crank baits; we focused the majority of our time on deep wing dams and outside bends in the river where faster moving water was present. When we found fish, they seemed to be relatively concentrated and willing to feed. We’d pop a few fish right away on a spot, then nothing. Since this pattern held true on our first few spots, we turned to a “run n’ gun” approach primarily targeting those most aggressive fish – only sitting on a spot for 5 minutes tops if we didn’t get bit.

The trolling bite seems very strong with good numbers coming on Flickershads and Jointed Shad-raps. 1.6-1.8mph upstream and 2.8-3.0mph down worked well and kept our baits in the zone. With the lower flow I found us trolling out further into the main channel and gradually zigzagging our cranks back and forth from shallower to deep. Similar to the areas we pitched, most fish caught trolling came from 10-14FOW on outside bends where flow was most prominent.

Overall the bite seems to be shaping up nicely and I would expect things to only heat up as water temps begin to decline. The cooler weather moving in later this week will help with the water temps and any rain we can get to help bump up the flow I’m sure would be greatly appreciated.

See ya out there

Pete

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Pete Bauer

Hi… my name is Pete. For as long as I can remember, outdoor recreation has been an important part of my life. Like many, my passion started at a young age. Whether it was shooting sparrows with my pellet gun, catching Full Bio ›

0 Comments

  1. nice job dude….how big was your saug-asaurus? Mike and I were just chatting about saug-hogs on another post.

    JP

  4. Quote:

    nice job dude….how big was your saug-asaurus? Mike and I were just chatting about saug-hogs on another post.

    Saug-Hogs

    This one just touched 20″, so by no means a monster but a neat fish.

  5. Thanks for the pool 2 update. But why no mention of your best catch to date? Didn’t you get engaged recently?! Your IDO family wants the scoop.

  6. In addition to fair walleye fishing, the white bass have really been on a tear the last couple days. Many nice 15-17″ fish — they really smack a crank bait. Find a school and wear ’em out! Wish I had the kids with.

  7. Quote:

    Thanks for the pool 2 update. But why no mention of your best catch to date? Didn’t you get engaged recently?! Your IDO family wants the scoop.

    You’re correct, James

    Friday night on Lake Menomin where we both went to college – fish were biting and luckily for me… she said yes

    Life is Good!

  18. You the man Pete, them walleyes look like some bruisers but that girlfriend looks like a catch of a life time

    Congrats to you both

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