River newbie

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

Thinking about fishing pool 2. Close to home and it sounds like there are some nice c&r opportunities. How does a guy learn about the hazards of fishing there? Also how do you learn about tactics there vs lakes?

[Larry FlatCaster]

Thinking about fishing pool 2. Close to home and it sounds like there are some nice c&r opportunities. How does a guy learn about the hazards of fishing there? Also how do you learn about tactics there vs lakes?

Your stepping in the right direction by asking the questions. Keep sifting through the threads, older ones can have a lot of great info if you have time.

Hazards of fishing the river are down this year when you don't have to factor in high water dangers.

Keep in mind your basic boating safety, do your homework on navigation. Its a little different fishing moving water, but the fish are still there and they have to eat.

The best way is to get out and take is slow and easy, keep an open mind.

You will have more questions once you start digging into it.

[Chode2235]

I agree with Larry. The best idea is to get out there and do it.

The biggest challenge is staying between the bouys. There aren't any bouts north of downtown St. Paul, and they're pretty clearly marked south of downtown. The only tricky part for me was around the first bend coming out of downtown as it is tough to see that first green one coming down south. Through there, its best to stay to the East.

Also, most of the bouys are off the ends of wing dams, so you never want to go between the bouys and the shore.

There are lots of good ways to learn the river out there, but I would recommend taking a bunch of jigs and some minnows out there and pitching them up on wing dams, around any piece of structure that you think looks good. You'll catch some fish, and it will help you figure out a pattern you can build upon as you get more experienced.

You'll lose a lot of lures when you start learning the river, so thats another reason to try the jig first. But don't be afraid of throwing and trolling cranks either.

[old timer]

Time on the water and doing your homework. Watch what others are doing. There are lots of good posts from pool 4 as well. Pick a section of the river and learn it well. I fish from the Ford dam to the confluence with the Minnesota. Where you fish and what you use changes daily. That said, there are periods where tactics are pretty steady. Ice out till spawn is pretty much vertical jigging with minnow. After spawn through mid summer is trolling cranks. Late summer is cranks and three ways. There are others as well, but we have had good luck with these methods, in this section of the river. Good luck and have fun and be safe. Always respect the river. She doesn't suffer fools.

[jwmiller33]

The previous posts have covered it well, my biggest piece of advice is to just get out there and go slow your first time until you get the feel for the area, where the buoys, wingdams and the main river channel is. Pay attention to your graph and watch for what the edges of the river channel look like and take note. When you are in the middle of the river channel, lay a few waypoints on your gps and/or record your trail. I always drop a waypoint every so often and record a trail because I usually end up going in at night in the dark and it is not as easy to see buoys and hazards. Always keep your head up out there, even when you are anchored or trolling around, you never know when a random log or piece of debris is floating down the river headed right at you. Lastly, if you have never landed a boat in a river/current before, it definitely helps to have a buddy along. It is always interesting loading a boat at certain ramps (ex; Hidden Falls) because of the current and eddy right at the ramp. If the wind is howling out there, it can be quite the task to load the boat solo. (If you are using a ramp with current) angle the trailer slightly down stream when backing in.