What a great afternoon to spend on pool 2. Light breeze, a little sun, good company and a decent walleye bite made the mid 20 degree temps this afternoon more than bearable. Today we launched our boats at the Hidden falls ramp of pool 2 and from there headed to the confluence of the MN and Miss. rivers. The plan was to look for a daytime vertical jigging bite for walleyes and saugers. It was a good choice.
Drewsdad and I started out jigging a variety of BfishN plastics and blade baits looking for fish. The bite started off a little slow with not many fish showing up on our lines or the Lowrance as we drifted threw some familiar cuts. At the end of the 2nd cut we found a large school of rough fish and as it was entertaining to watch our lines bounce threw the school. It didnt take long to find that a few walleyes and saugers that we where looking for where hanging in there with them. Jigging 1/4 ounce blade baits scored us our first few fish of the afternoon. Joel ended up getting a really nice 21" sauger on a purple blade. This would be the only sauger we caught. Sorry no picture of it Joel. It didnt save on the camera.
After a few drift over these schools it was clear the fish where moving around alot and more fish moving into the area as it got closer to evening. It was time to move back to the edge of one of the cuts to see if the walleyes would start working that area for evening feeding. About this time Marty and Jackson moved into this area also and from their photosyou can see we did find feeding fish.
Just a hour before in this area we could not buy a bite. Now maybe a hour before dark there where plenty of fish on the screen and many active biters on the line. Joel and I caught most of our fish dragging 1/8 and smaller jigs in the 10 to 15′ range. Martin looked to be doing the same but I think he was working a little deeper water. Cotton candy and firecracker ringworms where just a couple of the colors we caught fish on. We where also able to get a few to go on blades in this area.
The bite was fair this afternoon. For the 4 of us we caught between 20 to 25 walleyes and 1 sauger. Size was decent for the confluence area. Marty got the biggest walleye at 20"s. Joel got the biggest fish (carps) at about 10 to 15#s. It was a good afternoon to be on open water.
For those of you looking to get out hidden falls ramp is in good shape. The river channel is fairly ice free but always keep a eye for floating ice. Make sure and drain those boats and trailer in the water at the ramp. In these temps it wont take much to ice up the ramp. Bring some salt for the ramp may be a good idea to.
Good luck to everyone that is getting out.
Thanks for the report Mike.
Good to hear you guys had some action. What was the water clarity like? I imagine it was pretty good. Joel, I bet that carp had your knees shaking for a bit. Hate it when that happens, fun to catch, but I suspect you were thinking “monster” walleye.
Good report Mike…I finally convinced Jackson to come along and from the pics you can tell he was not disappointed.
In our boat, we were making a lot of “S” turns between the shallow shelf and the deeper water. The fish seemed to be hanging right on the edge of the drop. Nearly every fish we caught was on that “outside” rod going through the “S” turn.
Jackson is turning into a pretty decent dragging guy. Now we need to work on his pitching techniques to go chasing those sumo size mamas feeding on the wingdams.
Thanks Mike and Joel for company out on the water. Jackson and I had a blast.
Water is pretty clear right now Jim. For those that are into carp fishing I have to think they would be real easy to target right now. Not only the confluence area but other areas of the river right now those fish are schooled up tight. You cant even get the depth finder to read threw them in spots.
Good to see you and Jackson out there Marty. Jacksons got a good teacher to show him how to drag up some nice walleyes.
To be honest Jim I was pretty sure I had snagged a carp both times; but the 4lb sauger had me thinking I was into something good (and I was)
Those carp had my rod bent over double and had the drag screaming pretty good. The walleyes/saugers caught on blades were either caught in the mouth or very near the mouth. So at the very least those fish were looking at those blades hard. The carp were wacked in the tail and were a lot of fun to fight!
Thanks Mike for taking me out sir!
Good job Marty and Jackson! 
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Good job boys !
Nice fish Mike- thanks for the report!