The cool mist and fog set in on the river to make the after dark visibility even worse… Mike Westman threw his tiny BFT Draggin jig and Moxie toward an invisible spot on the shallow rocky shoreline below the boat and immediately set the hook into something pulling hard, taking drag off the reel…Soon I reached for the net (again) and turned on my headlamp… two big brite eyes of an beautiful overweight 26″ Walleye slid toward the Frabil…
This was the third consecutive year that I’ve met Mike here on Black Friday. My daughter lives about 20 min north and while the girls are shopping, I (happily) get to go fishing!
Mike gave me a heads up that the bigger walleye had scattered from a great wingdam bite to a run n gun up and down the river…fishing anything from a wingdam to a rock pile or shoreline riprap…and NO water was too shallow. We fished several likely spots and finally caught up to Gary R, who had picked up a few off a tiny point of land. We thanked him for some tips and headed up river…Where Mike nailed the first of three very fat 21-24″ Eyes while I struggled with the feel/rythym of casting the 1/16oz jig and Moxie.
We moved up to another wingdam where I changed from 6# Mono to 6# braid in my XS69MLXF and slowed way down… I felt a sharp “crunch” and snapped my wrist into a bulldogging 22.5 incher…Yea! I was on the board! The next few hours we would follow the same pattern…catch one or two fish of a piece of structure then it would fizzle out and we’d move on…
I was surprised to see about 20 boats/trailers parking near the boat I-94 launch…last year there were only 2 boats in the ice jammed river…and two years ago maybe 6-7 boats. The warmer weather definitely moved some more fishermen out in the rainy night. We moved into a backwater area and I see 2.7 fow on the H-bird…wow… “There’s a good un!” Mike blurts out and again the netting ritual…( I am getting good at this by now)…another dandy over 23″. I have to say I wish we had a scale to see how heavy these fish were…they were SOOO Fat!
The later it got the heavier the rain came down. I was glad I brought my Gamehide H2O fleece bibs and Parka, as I stayed warm and dry after over 8 hrs in the cool wet weather. Mike and I both took 23s and a few chunky 17-18″ males off the last spot which was a tapering gravel point that ended up tailing off into the channel.
My eyes were getting pretty heavy as we finally headed in…the last boat off the river (again)…
To summarize our outing…We CPRed about 15 nice eyes…
Mike losing a biggun at the boat…
I used a St.Croix XS69MLXF, Pflueger Arbor 30 series
Mike used a Triumph 70MLF, Pflueger President 25 series
1/16 and 1/8 BFT Dragging Jigs
Moxies…Purple/Chart…White…Firecracker
we used hardline on the reels to enhance the hooksetting capability of the softer ML rods and sensitivity.
The Dragging Jigs are the heart of this shallow water presentation…we were fishing rocks and wood in less than 4 fow most of the night. The few times I tried conventionaljigs I was instantly hung up. I switched to braid and the MLF rod because I was not be able to cast 1/16oz jigs into the wind unless I used a rod with some “whip in the tip!” My LTWS 68MXF was of little use because of its stiffer action.
Finally, If you want to jump about 10 years on the P-2 learning curve…I would strongly suggest booking a trip with Mike Westman. He knows the river, is a great stick, and a fun guy to fish with!
I know where I plan on being on Black Friday 2012!
Some addl pictures of Pool 2 Fatties…
Great report Tom. Thanks for the company and putting the report up. Sure was a fun trip. Could of easily stayed much later as it was one of those trips that the fish just seemed to keep coming.
Made it out again this afternoon. Just cant believe this weather. Had to start switching rods over to mono today due to the below freezing temps. A guy sure needs to blow the dust of his hook setting arm when doing that. Joel and I ended up with around 15 walleyes again. Size was off a bit. Think the biggest might of been 25″s.
Cant say enough about BfishN Draggin jigs for pitching in this shallow snag filed water. There is very little flow on most spots so most jigs go straight to the bottom. The draggin jigs are very forgiving for getting your jig back off the bottom.
Nice looking fish guys!
Good pics too!
Good job guys!
-J.
Nice work guys! Were you fishing right out of Newport?
We launched right at the I-94 bridge… S St.Paul. Lots of gnarly structure up and down river.
Looking at the forecast we should have another week of pretty decent fishing and not having to deal with frozen accesses. Water temps where still 39 degrees yesterday.
Very nice fish
Nice fish guys…I was up at the confluence all day Friday and only got one sauger for my efforts. Should’ve stayed south and fished with you guys.
way to get at em Tom!!
Great report and pix Tom. I’m glad you and Mike got into some really nice fish. I stayed out till about 9:30 and picked up a total of 8. All on the same Draggin Jig and Moxi setup I used two nights prior. Purple sure has been the color of choice. It was real nice getting to meet you finally.
Here are a couple of the nice ones Joel and I caught yesterday and a couple from last weekend.
Tom and Mike,
Very nice trip the two of you put together.
Jack
Absolutely a fabulous night of fishing Mike & Tom, Congrats to both of you !!!!
Nice job fellas!!
Nicely done, guys. I made sure not to educate, or even give some sore lips to any big walleyes before you could get out there Friday!
Maybe I should have stayed out a little later.
You did it up good boys!
Some of us had to work Tom 
Mike, that last picture looks like it was taken before the sun went down. I thought Pool 2 walleyes only bit at night?
Nice fish guys! Thanks for the report, looks like a hoot.
Joel
That one might of been blind.
That was about 4pm and was not the only one hitting. Guess when you get those lures in there just right they dont care what time of day it is.
I hear ya JC…
I’m sure glad someone was working at Joes so I could get some last minute Dragging Jigs…
BTW… It wasn’t a “Guide’s” day off for me as I was netboy a lot more than Mike!
I have the privilage of hiring Mike this Friday night! I can only hope for the same success, but extremely pumped to learn a thing or two about the river flowing through my backyard!
Looking forward to it. If the bite is anything like tonight we should be in for a pretty good trip.
I’m taking it you did well?!
I passed over the landing around 6 last night and saw a single boat out on one of the dams, I was thinking that was probably you! 
Can’t wait-I’m seriously pumped