High water and warm june temps means fantastic walleye fishing on pool 2. High water has pushed the walleyes into areas of less current and good numbers of fish are showing up in these spots. We have been spending most of our time trolling crank baits to find these fish with good numbers and good sized fish coming to the boat. We have also caught a few fish pitching crankbaits and jigs for fish but with such a good numbers bite trolling I just haven’t spent much time pitching.
Long line trolling has been the main presentation the last week or so. Number 5 and 7 flicker shads are the main lures of choice. A few walleye divers and shad raps have been good choices also. For colors red craw pattern lures have been tops. Chartreuse and blues have been good choices also. Using line counter reels spooled up with 20# power pro line allows us to get just the right amount of line out to get these lures ticking bottom. The sensitivity of the power pro tells us in a hurry if there is to much contact which is not what you want if you want your lures back. This type of rod combo make trolling on the river very easy.
We have been finding area out of the main current holding good numbers of walleyes. Down stream points of islands, shorelines with good current breaks, rip rap shorelines, back water current breaks have all held fish. Rocks or lots of wood laying down in these areas is what the fish have been hanging on. In some of these areas we have been trolling our lures over wingdams where they connect the shoreline. If you don’t find fish in a spot in a few trolling passes move on. The fish are hungry and very willing to bite when found. It doesn’t pay to hang out on inactive structure or fish.
It has been good to see a lot of familiar face out on the water in the last few weeks. My girls fished with me on fathers day and had a great time fishing and playing on the sandy shorlines. My self and Bob Moore jump in with Bob Johnston this morning and got in on a reel good early morning bite with a dozen fish coming off our 1st spot. ran into Drewsdad on fathers days also and was able to get a photos of a nice fish he caught.
If your looking for some good action and a chance at a big walleye grab some crankbaits and trolling rods and give pool 2 a try. As long as the water stays up the bite should stay good.
Heres a few more photos from the last week. That last photo is of a nice one just shy of 27″s and has a blue #5 shad rap in its mouth. We had many fish in the last week that come in with just the line sticking out of the mouth. Luckly none have been hooked to badly when they do that.
I love those photos of my girls. They didnt fish that day. They wanted to net fish and had a blast doing this. they knocked a good 24″er off and then next pass knocked a upper 20″fish off. This was the biggest fish I have had on in a while. It was good to see that fish along side the boat and watch the girls scramble with the net to try to get it. There high light of the after noon was netting a good mid teens flathead that hit a crank bait. The 2 of those girls together could not lift it in the boat. After that I got to listen to the chubby catfish song the rest of the afternoon.
Good fishing to those of you that are getting out.
Great report Mikey!
Nice report. Gotta love the kids out there!
Nice Sheepy! I need to put the Bass stuff down and get down there if the Sheephead are biting
Great report Mike!
This is the first year I’ve been in on a higher water bite and its awesome!
dd
My day job keeps getting in the way
Did you notice the lure in its mouth. Got to love a sheepie that can swallow a crank bait.
Wanted to add a note on the Flicker shads we have been using. Must say the fish seem to really go for these lures but there are some issues with them. The number 5s have the most issues with needing to be constantly tuned. We had to check them after every fish and every trolling pass. for the most part it wasnt to hard to get them back into tune. 2nd issue with them is the back hook pulling out. Being careful while pullinng the back hook out of the fish helped prevent this. Frequent checking the underside of the lure at the tail for any cracks help to take lures off the line before we would miss a fish because the hook would pull out. Sunday left four number 5s dead in my boat due to pulled out tail hooks, cracked tails or lures I couldnt get tuned again. Small price to pay for the 20 walleyes caught on them.
The #7s seem to be a little more solid lure. They seem to stay tuned and run very deep. The only issue seems to be when one does come out of tune it can be tough to get it to run straight again. there are a few in boat that I cant seem to get to run straight again. Ill spend a little more time on the next trip to see if they can be fixed.
The only reason I put up with these lures is the cost. For under $2 a piece Im not to worried about going threw a few of them. Just make sure you have something to tune these lures and a few extras with.
I appreciate any fish that takes a swipe at my bait. Besides it P2 where pretty much everything has to go back anyway, so what’s the difference? On many afternoons down there the Sheepheads ahve been the only action I could find, and it was fun.
Do you spend most of your time trolling above 494 or below. I have fished in the Lilydale area before in the spring – is that a good area in the summer as well?
We have been trolling down river from 494 lately. There should be good trolling runs all over the pool right now. Just look for areas with less current. Some structure in these areas is a big plus. Inside turns in the channel would be good places to look. The wingdams just down river from lillydale ramp is out of the main flow and may be a good shoreline to troll. The st paul side below the lilydale train bridge I would think would be a good bet also. I havent fished up that way in a while but these would be the types of areas I would look at.
Good report Mike and congrats on some good looking walleyes!
You and that sheepy look pretty good together! 
You are on a hot bite, since you cant keep those eyes on P2 it keeps the appetite healthy for good hickory smoked bbw ribs!
I’ve noticed this too, but we cant complain too much for how inexpensive they are
Great report Mike! That sheepie looks like a Green Bay sheepie.