Over the past 2 – 3 weeks I’ve struggled to find time to get out on my favorite body of water during my favorite time of year. There’s no place I would rather be than on the Mississippi River in November pitching light jigs tipped with plastics for fat and hard-fighting river walleye.
Thankfully the stars finally aligned this sunday and I was able to put together some time to get out on the water for a full day of walleye chasing on Pool 2. Weather conditions were… perfect. No wind. Warm temps. Clear skies. It was one of those days when it just feels good to be outside with the sun on your face.
The river levels are still a little high for this time of year and during our run downstream away from the landing there was a fair amount of small to medium sized logs and branches to dodge that had drifted into the river after the last rain fall. By mid-morning the vast majority of this debris had cleared up making travel up and down the channel a heck of a lot easier.
Water clarity is right at 6" up near the airport. The further downstream you get the better the clarity becomes but you’ll be hard pressed to find visibility past 10" – 12" anywhere on the main channel. Water temps were 46 degrees in the AM at sunrise and 48 – 49 degrees later in the day.
With the falling water levels the fish seem to be moving back on the wingdams in numbers now. I wouldn’t however call the fish "stacked" by any means. I think we’ll see larger concentrations in the expected locations as the water levels continue to fall over the next week or so. Combine a return to more seasonal water levels with an improvement in water clarity and I’m predicting we’ll see the best pool 2 has to offer in 7 – 10 days barring any further rainfall.
We did find our willing biters on wingdams with most of the fish showing up on the middle of the dam and in towards shore. We caught few if any fish out on the tips where there seemed to be far too much current on most of the dams we fished.
1/4 – 3/8 ounce Precision Jigs in black and Pyrokeet put the most fish in the boat when tipped with a Purplecracker Chartreuse Tail Paddletail. We did catch one or two fish on a chartreuse pepper ringworm but on this particular day the purplecracker / chart tail PT was dominant and accounted for 90% of our fish. The best part of the day was how aggressively the fish took these baits. We didn’t have any issue with reluctant biters and short hits… quite the opposite. The fish we did catch gave the jigs the best wallop they could muster which adds to the fun quite a bit in my opinion.
I’m going to keep this report short and sweet. Look for more reports from Pool 2 in the coming weeks as the water levels come back into a more normal range. Once that happens I think we’ll see the Pool 2 parade of big walleyes we’re all so accustomed to seeing in the fall. 
Here’s a cool sight you don’t see too often!
As we ran upstream about 9 AM we came across two deer trying to make the crossing. Or were the just swimming for the 494 bridge until we messed up their travel plans?! Either way there’s something pretty cool about seeing a couple deer swimming that prompted us to break out the cameras.
Just wanted to say THANK YOU again for such an enjoyable day on the water! Although the day could have started disastrous(frozen pole dance
), it turned out to be a beautiful day. Those deer were also really cool to see. It was a great learning experience for the both of us, even learning how to empty a jig box! 
Again—-thanks.
Tim Feldmann
Thanks for the report James! Sounds like you guys did pretty well. Sunday was a little slow for Deezee and I, but a gorgeous day to be out with some fantastic November weather.
I wasn’t sure if you’d recognize Steve’s
as we passed you 
Good to see ya out there
Tim
It was my pleasure. And thanks go to you for your generous donation in support of St. Judes! I’m just thankful I got to play a small part in the fisherman tri-fecta of Halfen, Feldman and Holst that made this happen in benefit of a fantastic charity.
Funny you mention it… as you guys went by and Steve gave me the psuedo-moon I turned to the guys and said “I hate to admit it but I know that clown.”
Its good to see those 4 legged critters down there James. I may down next week to see if I can bag one of those. Maybe even a walleye or 2 while Im at it.
They ended up on the first island south of the 494 bridge. Have at ’em.
Thanks for the update
Marty and I were out Sunday too. We ended up catching about 6 walleyes. Marty got a real nice one around sunset that had to be pushing the 10 lb mark. She was a real fatty. Beautiful day to be out there!
dd
Glad you were able to catch a good fish Tim! That is a rather stylish looking hat you are wearing as well!
We saw those two deer a couple of weeks ago, they were swimming from the island over to shore, down by the powerline dam. Apparently going for a swim is no big deal to a deer.
Nice fish James, I’m still amazed
Rootski
James, It’s good to see you get to spend a little time on the river. Great pics. Love the dear shots!