Its been a little while since my last report. I have been on the water for the last 24 out of the 28 days this month alone. I had the opportunity to have shared my boat with some great groups of anglers over the past several weeks on Pool 2 and tomorrow I am back at it once again. Thanks to all I had the opportunity to meet and fish with and I look forward to all those in the coming weeks. Even though a few of the trips were not hot and heavy with fishing action, there were a lot of great conversations exchanged. Thanks again to all!
The bite on Pool 2 has slowed over the past 10 days or so giving way to the lowlight periods for your best and most consistent action for wingdam walleyes. Once the water had discolored a bit, the fishing fell off the pace as expected and the fish were active in shorter periods of duration throughout the day. Staying on the move constantly trying to put together a solid pattern has been tough to say the least, so shifting gears a bit gave me the opportunity to sit on my confidence spots and wait it out for best results. This required sitting on a wingdam for more than an hour or so and have two or three short feeding periods lasting only 10 minutes at a time. Even though the river can deliver much more dirtier water conditions, the water appears to be getting better and better as the days past giving we do not have any heavy rainfalls. 8-10 inches appears to be the best we have had south of the confluence for more that 10 days. Yum 4” Ribworms and Heddon sonars are definitely taking the most of our fish as of recently on the wingdams. Pumkin Pepper Green taking top honors for the ribworm colors and Green flash doing the trick on the 1/4oz Heddon sonars.
As for the upper part of Pool 2? I have spent a little more time in the past couple of trips on the northern part of Pool 2 (confluence up to the dam).
Here the bite appears to be picking up a bit from last week. Some fish are being taken from the confluence area for anglers going vertical with jig minnows. 14’-20’ appears to be the best depths for active fish. The morning bite here has been better than the afternoon evening bite for most anglers.
The current breaks from here up to the dam have started to show some fish as well. Pitching light jig and plastics are picking off the active fish. These fish are very shallow but much be approached quietly and try to minimize the boat wakes in these areas as the fish are a bit sensitive to the waves crashing on shore. Early mornings are the best bet for getting the bang for the buck in these areas. Drifting down a shoreline and pitching every noticeable current break will produce fish occasionally and also teach you a lot about the stretch you are fishing. Slight “bumps” in the shorelines will often provide enough current breaks to hold a fish or two this time of year. Best way to find these are to put in the time and fish it well and keep a keen eye out for noticeable changes in current.
I really think we need the water levels to continue to rise a bit more for the numbers of bigger fish to start running their usual haunts. All last week has provided half day trips with 10-15 fish per outing and most of them running 16-20” with an occasional fish over the 20” mark. The next 10 days should provide the river angler with the opportunity to boat those bigger fish as conditions have shown that the time is right for the spawn to be taking place on the river!
Thanks for the report Steve,I’m hearing more and more about the ringworm! Are you rigging it just like you would a twister? I would imagine? Nice roport and pics.
Steve, I’d like to thank you again for our trip. Your knowledge and willingness to pass it on makes every trip worthwhile.
wallyliner,
THe ringworms have counted for more big walleyes on Pool 2 for me than any other presentation combined!! Hard to argue with success. The ringworms are half the trick, the way you fish them can be the difference in a slow day versus a arm aching great day! Basically go light as you can with the jig size. Jig size is the most important factor here. Do a search on the website here and you will find days of very good reading. Some very good ringworm information givin out in the past several years!
Good luck
Troy,
My pleasure sharing the boat with you guys. Hope you found the trip and information helpful in your quest for walleyes whether it be Pool 2 or anywhere else on the river. A river walleye is a river walleye no matter where they reside!!
Thank again!
Steve, I love using the sonars in the spring and am curious how you are fishing wing dams using them? I’ve always used them vertical but have heard of other casting and retrieving them.
Schmidtty,
I like the 1/8th oz sonars for pitching to the wingdams. Slow upward 1-2 foot upward sweep and let the blade fall back on a taut line. You will feel the blade thumping as you let it slowly rest back to the bottom. Wingdams have been known to eat these things on a regular basis, so be very attentive when it rests to the bottom. Some guys rig them on heavy braids or mono so you can pull them free of the debris that lies within these structures. However, I have had my best luck out front of the wingdam as of late.
Steve, I just wanted to thank you on your excellent reports. I used your method of a 4 inch worm at night and modified it a bit for the Missouri river in South dakota last weekend. I managed a 27″, 9lb 6oz walleye using your techniques. We were definately the only ones i saw using plastics and fishing at night in the spring.
Thanks alot for all the information and good luck on some more of those pig walleyes.
Glad I could help you out Jigs!
Congrats on your fat 27″ walleye!
Spring walleyes and plastics…..Doesn’t get much better than that!
Great report Steve and nice fish.
I haven’t been out for a couple days Steve… hows the water looking? Temps?
Water temps are right around 44+ degrees and the water levels are on the rise pretty good right now. Water clarity has decreased from last week as expected.
I am off the water early this week for some boat maintenance, but will be back at it later this week.
Now is the perfect time to be on the water.
Good luck to all that gets out in the next couple days. I will report back here when I get back on the water in a couple days.
Dang Steve !! Love your reports. I have got to get up there and fish with you some time soon !!
Oh thats right…we are fishing together in a couple of weeks !! Can’t Wait !!
Yeah Ecnook and I both!
here where the season doesn’t open for 7 weeks and its still snowing. But YEAAAHH! I’ll be there in two weeks 
to get my “batteries charged” 
I read your reports and its like torture…
Thanks for the HOPE Steve!
Hey Gursky, On the river here you can fish year round.If.. it stays above freezing that is. This winter is was kinda tough
Hi Steve, I have a couple Q’s for you. What launch are you going out of to get on Pool 2? I heard that the 494 launch is closed. Is Hidden Falls open? Are there any other launches in St Paul. The two I know are Hidden Falls and the 494 launch. Thanks EBass
EBass-
The 494 ramp was open yesterday. It looks like the road leading to it will be closed sporadicly over the next few months.
Thats a big 10-4 AllforEyes! Looks likre your cheeks can get prettty red out there!
Love that River!!! 
I keep try to get my wife to move!
There is a launch in lillydale that is very nice, the catch to lillyday and hidden falls is no dock, so it’s tougher with just one person, but totally do-able.
Good point guys, I have heard the 494 ramp has been hit and miss lately. THe lilydake ramp is a good ramp for the bigger boats, but like MN-RST-RIDER mentioned, there is no dock so you will have to beach the boat on the rocky shoreline while you park. No biggie though.
Travis, how did the water look down there?
Great reports Steve! If you ever need someone to run the camara, let me know.
Thanks fellas. We are debating going to Red Wing or Pool 2 for Sunday. I heard there was a tourney in Red Wing this weekend launching from Bay Point. Is that true? Red Wing gets so packed, but the eyes and sauger are there, however very picky. The carp kept things interesting last weekend in Red Wing. We really don’t know Pool 2 well, so it would be like a search mission. I only know the Hidden Falls to Hwy 5 area and I don’t think there are any wing dams in that neck of the woods. Would you guys want to post a good area to try for Pool 2? Like where do the wing dams start? I hear a lot about the airport area, but I’ve never been down that far on Pool 2. As you can tell from my user name I’m not a walleye guy, so they confuse me like women.
Thanks again,
EBass aka Eric
Steve-
Even though all I could do was look at the water from shore
, the clarity has gone back down again. I’d say 4-6″ tops for visibility. Pretty muddy. The channels semed clear of any major debris, and the water levels were slightly higher.
The truck problem I had at the ramp the other day has been fixed… just a @#&*##*@ fuse!!!! Glad it was that minor of an issue. So, needless to say, I’ll be down there all day today.
I also agree that the ramp for 494 will be closed on a random basis throughout summer. It seems like they put up the signs far enough in advance to let people know when it will be closed. So, if you see the sign back up, please post it up here for all to see. I know I will!
Ebass- The wingdams really don’t start until you head down past the confluence towards the Lilydale ramp. I’d have to say that staying up on the northern end (which you seem to be more familiar with) would be your best bet. This time of year, the Dam area would be the first choice to hit. You ever fished up by that area? The most common tatic is vertical jig/minnow combo. Stay on the lock side, where the current is less, and just drift through the area. You can also try pitching lighter jig/plastic combos on the rip-rap shoreline. Cast right up to the rocks… the break there is fast and sharp. The confluence is also a good area to try. It’s been pretty slow all over, but I’m hoping that this is the week when the big girls go. Again, vertical jigging is the norm here as well. Hey, ya never know. The good thing about Pool 2 is you won’t be playing bumper boats as you would in Red Wing.
See everybody on the water!