It was a nice crisp sunny day and I decided to take a road trip to visit the local boat ramps. My first stop was Hidden Falls. I was surprised to see that someone was able to get out. There was no trailer in the lot at the time so maybe they were out on Friday. There is about a 1′ drop at the waters edge so a bit of chopping will be necessary. The ramp is a bit slippery but 4 wd should be OK to launch.
My next stop was Lilydale. As you can see , this one will not be usable for quite some time.
Then it was off to the South St. Paul 494 ramp. I can see some potential to get this one ready soon. The snow on the ramp is not too deep but the ice will need some work.
If any of you Pool 2 regulars know someone with a plow, maybe they could stop by for a minute or two. I will contact the city on Monday to see if they can help. I plan on getting down there the next couple of days to do some chopping. I hope to be able to fish out of here. I have LOTS of free time and it is close to home.
Dino
The 494 ramp looks a lot better than I thought it would! Two guys chipping at that for a while could get that open.
30’s by mid week….hummm may need to schedule a day off!
J.
Thanks for the report Dean!
Dino, I was just about to make the rounds yesterday and do the same thing!! You beat me to the punch. I agree, the 494 ramp looks better than I thought with the subzero temps we had over the weekend. With a little elbow grease and some warm sun rays, this could be usable this week no doubt.
I will be down there about mid week.
Thanks for the update Dino!
Dino,
Thanks for the report. It’s geat to think about getting out there soon.
Time to start scratching that itch!
Hope to get out Wednesday.
J.
Is it legal to fish for walleyes on pool #2 this time of the year? I thought it was illegal to intentionally fish for a species out of season.
Gator Hunter
The season is open year round on that body of water, but is 100% catch and release year round.
I went down and shoveled part of the dock on Monday. We will need a good day of thawing to even get us close to opening it up. I will check it out late Tuesday afternoon.
Looks like Everts and Pool 4 for Wednesday. Then I hope to do 2 later in the week.
Dino
I heard that all the blocks of ice that were used to make the Ice Palace are going to be dumped in the river. I don’t know when the demolition is going to be taking place. Perhaps they are already done but watch out for some very large, unexpected chunks floating down the river.
Boone
They are currently taking it down as we speak. Still ALOT left. Are you sure they are going to dump the blocks into the water? I recall they were just going to dump them where they put all the snow from the streets.
I’m pretty sure Travis is correct. There is city owned land down by the river where they will be dumping the blocks. I don’t think they can legally put the blocks into the river since Lake Phalen has euroasian milfoil everywhere!!
Dean and I plan to get the 494 ramp open tonight after work….that is if someone does not beat us to it! lol.
Jon J.
Travis and Jon,
I just heard something about it on the evening news a couple of weeks ago but now that I think about it, I’m sure you guys must right. In any case, as always in the winter, watch out for any ice.
Hopefully I’ll get out this weekend. I haven’t been out since Jan. 17th and I’m itching to go.
Boone
Anyone have a open seat in the next few days? I got time to fish but for some reason my boat is not suposed to leave the gerage this week.
Anyone looking for company shoot me a PM.
The 494 ramp is not good but could be usable depending on the size of boat you will try to put in. There is quite a bit of ice on the ramp. The rig I am using has an old Spartan tilt trailer and I should be able to get out.
Hidden Falls is usable if a person can launch the same way or do some chopping to make ramps for the tires.
It looks like it is going to be a nice day on the water.
Dino
This weather is killing me!!
All I can think about is poking a few eyes on 2 this week!
I am hoping to get down there tomorrow night for awhile.
5 more days until I get my cast off my leg!!
Jon/Dino,
Would you guys be so kind and let us know how she looks after you are down there tonight? Thanks guys for all your help with the ramp also! You guys are the ones to get this ramp open about every spring!
Good luck fishing!
Steve..at least you guys have open water!!!
We’re all getting the fever 
I stopped by the landing at 494 bridge and there was some desperate soul out in a boat already yesterday. Don’t know how he got the boat in the river but….. Maybe I’ll be out next week.
I know Dean and possibly Mike are out today. I could not get the day off….
Maybe tomorrow.
J.
Mike W met me at the ramp this morning. I was pleasantly surprised to see that someone had plowed the ramp. After about 5 minutes with the chisel we were able to drop in and launch. There were a few ice chunks coming downstream that slowed our trip to the airport. Fishing is slow. We worked the usual spots and only had 1 sauger and a nice smallie to show for 3 hours of looking. We did motor down to a deeper hole that finally produced some sauger up to 16″.
It was a decent day to be on the water and enjoy Mike’s conversation. I look forward to tomorrow.
Dino
I swung by lilydale and hidden falls tonight on the way home. They do not look good. The ramp at hidden falls is in good shape. There is just a 20′ ice shelf out in front of it. A couple of day of good weather might take care of it or maybe a couple of hours of chopping.
Lilydale is still froze up tight. Ramp is full of snow.
Okay for the bad news on the upper strech of pool 2 right now. With a little checking around I found the river is still frozen across from the train bridge down river from lilydale, up past the confluience to the bridge below fort snelling. So if you do get a boat in at hidden falls there is not very far you can run. It did look like someone tried to get to the conflueince today from down river. They made it as far as the 35E bridge.
Thanks for the boat ride today Dean. It sure was a nice day out there. Hope you have better luck finding fish tommorrow.
Just looking at the forecast for the rest of the weekend and into next week. Looks to be in the middle to upper 30’s and sun with lows in the low 20’s. This will make a huge impact on that ice on the upper end of the pool. I would say by the weekend, the upper end will open up the main channel and will be fishable. There is alot of current up there that just needs a little sun to help things out a bit.
Dino/Mike,
How clear was the water where you were fishing?
Right now it is real clear with very little flow. Mike had commented that he should have brought the camera. It would have helped to see what we figured were rough fish. When the graph shows fish , and nothing bites , a guy gets frustrated.
It was a little hard to tell, but the 35E area looked open on each side at 6am this morning. If this is open, the entire river might be runable.
Yup… Dave you are correct sir. I just passed over the 35E area a few minutes ago. She is open! I’m guessing that a guy could run from the airport all the way up past the confluence now. Don’t quote me on it, though.
If anybody plans on hitting Pool 2 this weekend, and has an open seat that they’d be willing to share, let me know!
Wow that was fast. It was froze from the train bridge to the marina on wensday. I have a feeling that the fish are still hanging in the lilydale area of the river. Last time I fished that area there where a few numbers spots for saugers but we still caught fish every place we tryed.
Fished pool 2 today. Launched at 494 bridge(great shape) and spent all day by the airport. Caught 26 walleye and sauger.(10 walleye-16 sauger). Most were between 16 to 18 inches. Most walleyes that we caught were in 14ft. to 17ft. The sauger we found were in 20ft. to 24ft. We fished in rain, sleet, and snow. It was great to get the boat wet again!!
Jon J.
I got out there for the first time in over a month. Got on the water about 4:00pm Sunday and went hog hunting right away. Things were real slow for me until, the sun went down and then a nice flurry of action for about 30 minutes and then it was like someone turned a switch and then were down for the time being. I stuck around a couple hours and were able to boat about 12 fish with one at 27″ and two more at 23″. All came pitching sandbars wit hlike plastics. Did some experimenting last night for awhile with different plastics and surprisingly got bit good on a stick bait rigged on a 1/8th oz jig head. More to come with this on my next report…
I get my cast off tomorrow and looking to hit the river hard in the next week!
See you all down on the river!
Steve, was that you at the landing with a black truck and a 14 footer with a 15 horse? We were pulling out with a maroon Cretliner.(about 4:00) I have started to read this forum more frequently and if I knew it was you I would have introduced myself. Fishing for us was hot and cold. We would catch a bunch in a row, then like you said, they would just shut off. We had numerous doubles.
Trophyhunter,
Yes, that was me and my mega-stylin winter fishing rig!
I am digging out my Ranger and hitting her hard for the spring again starting this week!
Welcome to the site, glad you stopped by! If you see me out and about, feel free to pull up and say hi. Starting the end of this week, I will have a Pool 2 report up every week until about mid to the end of April!
Hey Steve
How’s the leg?? Did you get the cast off yet? It’s gotta be tough getting in and out of the launch with a bum leg.
Gator Hunter
Gator,
Just got the cast off yesterday and will have my Ranger in tow with me today to Pool 2. Cannot wait!!
The leg feels better than I suspected it would.
Steve….Want to go Ice Skating this weekend?
I can pull you behind the truck 
Glad you’re feeling better…
All I can do is shake my head and giggle a bit and wonder what kind of influence you guys are to me!!
Maybe make this a annual thing? NOT!!
Thanks for the ride opportunity, but I think I am good for this year? How about next year at the GTG?