Mississippi River Pool 2 Report, 7-20-09

My time on Pool 2 over the last week or so has been semi limited but one thing can be said for certain, the bite has changed. With the river flow dropping down to a mere snail’s pace and now picking back up, these fish have been shifting setting up on high flow structure such as wingdam tip’s, main river rip-rap shorelines, and rock piles.

The bite has turned from a swift ‘whack’ on the jig to a very subdued tick. The one thing I do know for sure is that the fish are still around and willing to bite, however a slightly different approach must be taken.

When fishing the wing dams, without a doubt, the number one top producer as of late has been BFNT’s Draggin Jig. I’m really gaining more and more appreciation for these things as time goes on. Not only because of the weed-guard and slim profile but the simple fact that I can pull them though some seriously snaggy areas without constantly getting hung up. The staple starting size for me seems to always be 1/8oz but I’ll vary lighter or heavier, mainly depending on the wind and flow in the area. Color and bait choice has strongly varied from day to day; one day it’s a blue jig with a jumbo leech and then next time out a pink/white jig with a crawler takes top honors. If you’re not fishing alone the best way to determine that bait/color/size choice is to simply keep changing, those fish will tell you in short order what they’re lookin’ for. The whiskered feline fish have also been hot to trot for a jig/leech/crawler. When draggin’ don’t be surprised if your rod doubles over and ya hook into a channel cat or 10…

While anchoring up on a specific spot and pitching the dam has yielded some amount of success I’ve been taking a little different approach; dragging jig’s along the face, at the base, or in front of the dam. Boat control has proven to be an incredible asset in successfully keeping your jig where it needs to be. I like to point the bow of the boat towards shore and turn the outboard so that it’s pointing upriver. By pointing the outboard up away from the dam, you’re now better able to run semi-parallel (or at least 45 degree angle) with the dam while moving towards the shore at a slower pace using the bow-mount electric. This really helps a lot when there are multiple anglers in the boat and you don’t want to anchor or sit perpendicular to the dam.

Trolling has also been a great way to put fish in the boat and a phenomenal search tool, allowing us to find new areas to drag and live bait rig. Targeting rip-rap shorelines and running along the shallow side of steep breaks into the main channel has worked well. Pulling #7 Berkley Flicker Shads and Rapala JSR5 Jointed Shad-Rap’s in 7-13fow, 3.2mph downstream and around 1.8-2.2mph up. Most of the fish we’ve caught trolling came while going up against the current and moving slow.

Pool 2 is still in great shape but the bite is a little ‘off’ in comparison to a few weeks ago. The last couple trips out have been very hit or miss, feast or famine, trying new things and exploring new areas. If you’re not catching fish in the same spots you were a month ago, move! It’s really easy (myself very-much so included) to get into a rut doing the same thing, running the same set of dams, and pitching the same baits every trip out. With the river changing as much as it does, we need to be flexible and willing to change with it as well.

See ya out there!

Pete