Mississippi River Pool 2 Fishing report 12-6-04

This past week of pig hunting on Pool 2 has shown some significant changes taking place right now on the river. The biggest change that I have noticed is the midday bite has fell off the mark considerably. Seeing only a couple fish coming to the boat from 9:00am-3:00pm the last couple outings has left me leaving the wingdams at this time and searching for different terrain. There is no doubt the fish are still there on the dams because once lowlight comes, the fish come out of the wood work. So, what is happening during the day right now to leave us slightly puzzled? I have a couple assumptions, but nothing concrete to give out as some advice for right now.

The water clarity has changed considerably over the last week, giving us nearly 2 feet of clarity and flows are still slightly above average. With these conditions, we should be seeing more fish concentrated then we do currently. From the looks of every fish we are catching right now, there appears to be no threat of any food shortages in the system for the walleyes. Having said all that? I am still searching for a good mid day bite to be had. The fish are still there where they are supposed to be, but getting them to bite has been tough to say the least. Our best results have predominately come at lowlight conditions for peak activity. The last couple trips surely indicated that being in the right place at the right time is luck of the draw or some may call a trial and error approach. Either way, come sunrise or sunset and you are not getting bit, keep moving until you make contact with some active fish. These fish are getting more and more aggressive at lowlight conditions on the wingdams. I have been visiting some deeper rip rap recently in hopes of finding another go to pattern right now with fair results at best.

I think we are in the middle of a substantial change on the river right now. I think the fishing will get better in the days coming. So, hang on a couple more weeks! Loads of fish from certain wingdams are still an anticipated pattern that should develop in the coming days.

Our best approach this past week has been visiting wingdams that have been a little deeper on top with deep water nearby. These spots seem to be giving me the best consistency for numbers as well as average size. Pitching Yum ribworms and 3-1/2” Croaker tails in the chartreuse color patterns have been my go tos, but the more natural colors such as Cotton Candy and Ozark Smoke colors turning on as of late. Rigging these fine cold water plastics with BFT’s precision jig heads in sizes of 3/16th oz to 5/16th oz has been my size ranges that I have been working with. Use lighter weights on the wingdams with less current and heavier on spots that have the faster flows. One thing that I have noticed that has changed from my last report is the fact that the fish have been moving around a little more with the dropping current flows. I have been seeing fish on the first couple wingdams now versus the 3rd or 4th spot in a stretch. Look for this migrational pattern to continue as flows drop to winter levels.

Last Saturday I experienced one of my slowest days on the river thus far with only about 10 fish coming to the boat for the entire day, although the size has blessed us yet with the shot at boating a fish over the 7# or 8# range each outing. I anticipate this bite to get better and better in the next day or two already. Last night showed signs of little changes that I was excited to see in the bite. I have been still launching my boat at the St. Paul Park ramp (Lions Levee Park). This ramp has a slight feed of current off the main channel to keep this ramp open to some temps in the low 20’s right now, but any colder and we may be forced to use alternate locations. Jon Jordan and a couple others have been working hard at keeping us up to date on the 494 ramp conditions and times when the ramp is available to use. Keep an eye on the Mississippi River General Discussion board for updates here!

Good luck to you all!