Mississippi River Fishing Reports Pools 2 & 3

[Craigums]

Just an FYI for people still going out on pool 2. The 494 launch is closed, I'm not sure what they have going on but they have it all tore up with heavy machinery. Doesn't look like it will be open the rest of the season.

[Craigums]

Just an FYI for people still going out on pool 2. The 494 launch is closed, I'm not sure what they have going on but they have it all tore up with heavy machinery. Doesn't look like it will be open the rest of the season.

Must be open again I saw trailers in the parking lot while at the compost today

[expl]

Yep 494 is open,I was down there and used it on Halloween.

[Craigums]

Yep 494 is open,I was down there and used it on Halloween.

How did you do? I've always heard there are some big walleyes to be had in the fall. Not sure how people target them though.

[expl]

I was doing awesome up until the snow and cold came,havnt been out since.Over the past couple weekends and a couple weeknights here and there I have caught quite a few big ones 26"-29-3/4" they were fat and heavy.I lost a few bigger ones at the boat and I know I missed a few also just by the way they bit I could tell.I caught a ton of 15-23"some fatter then others.I was vertical jigging or dragging a jig with a minnow downriver and trolling stickbaits back up.Some times jigs were better sometimes stickbaits.One day they would just barely touch the jig/minnow and id miss them but they would hammer the stickbait on the way back upriver.If it would warm up a bit Id head back out,dont know what the landings are lookin like now tho.i may take a drive and see whats goin on maybe do some shore fishin with a little bonfire or something.Im sure the water cooled down a bunch now a

[RuKiddingMe]

Expl - I understand if you don't want to say but was all that action up or down steam of downtown STP?

[expl]

I dont really want to say a whole lot but I will say other then barge traffic I have had the place all to myself for quite some time now.I figure by the time the weather improves enough for me to go back the fish will have moved on or quit biting, woulda gone today after work if the sun had stuck around and the wind had died but it gets old after working in the weather all week and then tryin to fish in it to.

[rascal23]

expl,

how are you rigging the stickbaits? 3-way? Any better than others? I'm running out of places to put the boat. A wild hair just might bring me down there.

rascal

[expl]

I have just been tying them directly to 8lb Suffix and long lineing,as the waters cooled so has my speed, casted some with them also but never had a strike. having luck on shallow rapala sticks not sure of the # but started with the smallest triple treble ones and now have been running smaller double treble in blue,purple,silver,gold,chart..,rebels-chrome,,and some old berkly lures i had.Kinda just been tying on a new color each time out the past few trips,or when I lose one.Still havnt tried any of the storm stikbaits i have they usually produce to-next time i guess.Yeah it may be tough to get the boat in down there with this cold now,not sure tho..Could be if ya wanta be in the boat you will have to head to pool #4 which i may very well do

[rascal23]

Thanks for the info, expl. Yeah, It might be ice fishing from here on.

rascal

[expl]

No problem.

[buschman]

expl,

how are you rigging the stickbaits? 3-way? Any better than others? I'm running out of places to put the boat. A wild hair just might bring me down there.

rascal

the best advise I can offer is to use a fast snap and allow as much freedom from the nose of the bait to your line. If you are using stick baits in the fall bend the nose point down as much as possible without going out of tune. Sometimes you will have to retune these when doing this but gives you more actions in a slow pull. Biggest piece of advise is to SLOW DOWN.. when water is below 40 degrees you don't have to move that bait much if at all sometimes. You will be surprised now slow they really like it. Late advise but better than never I guess

[DREZLER]

Was out on pool 2 Saturday 3/14. Flow was very slow. Water was clear. Fished for about 4 hours including down by the airport, up by the confluence, and a few holes in between. Only caught 2 smallies and 2 walleys total. I did also hook into a 30lb flathead catfish, it was a riot!

I did not see much else being caught at all.

[Craigums]

Are the backwaters starting to open up?

[Naturboy]

is fishing down there that good that nobody wants to say anything?

[searching4slabs]

Fishing is good there. I dont like the cities so I would rather not fish in that scenery. Quarter ounce jig with a fathead or plastic vertical jigged will work. Dont be afraid to try shallow.

[expl]

With the water warming it has become a variety bite - walleyes,sauger,cats,smallies,whitebass,crappie,sheephead.If you can get there during or rite after a rain event you have a very realistic shot at getting the elusive candy bar wrapper or other hook and line fouling trash .Plenty of action from something lately you just never know what.

[DaveZman14q]

Hopefully I can revive this thread and get a discussion going!  Not a great report, but it's better than nothing.  I've been shore fishing pool 2 from the 35E bridge (just down river from the confluence) up to the dam with minimal luck.  I've been targeting my typical current breaks along this stretch that normally produce well for me come April.  

 

Although I haven't been out in the past 5 days, I'm guessing my lack of success has something to do with one (or all) of the following:

1) The walleye are still down river a ways (on the wingdams?) and haven't congregated that far upstream yet.

2) I'm fishing too shallow and once the water warms up a bit, they'll start using these haunts.

3) My presentations have been too aggressive for this time of year/temp. I've only been throwing blade baits, rip'n raps, and 4 inch ring worms on a 3/8 oz jig. I'm guessing live bait might be the ticket but prefer to catch them on artificials if possible.

 

Anybody have any thoughts on this? Advice? Thanks!

 

[Slobslayer99]

Last week caught a bunch of small males on pool 2 in the  usual spring haunts no big females yet  use live bait in the current brakes and eddies along the shore there they're just slow down your presentation and be patient   The big female shouldn't be too far behind another week or two and they should be moving in once the water gets to the right temperature 

[drscholl14]

I've been out shore fishing a couple times at Hidden Falls and Minnehaha up to the dam.  Been really slow for me too.  Going out again this morning for the first time in a couple weeks.  Hoping to find a better bite as I've been hearing slightly better reports from boaters in the area.

Edited March 30, 2017 by drscholl14

[fisherjmb]

I've been out a couple of times over the last few weeks and I have never had so much trouble finding the walleyes. I generally fish from the 35E bridge to the Dam. I know this time of year is not always fantastic for walleyes in this stretch but in years past I have always done fairly well on walleyes in the summer in that area even though they are mostly smaller fish (under 20 inches) but we always catch 8 or 10 each time we are down there. The past two weeks we caught two walleyes in two trips. We've caught plenty of channel cats and sheephead/drum but the eyes have been very hard to find. Tried several tactics including jigs, rigs and trolling cranks. What is odd is we just aren't marking many fish either. Most years we mark a lot of fish in certain areas, now not all of them are eyes but we would mark a ton, not so this year, in many areas we mark nothing, like it's devoid of fish. Seems odd.Anyone else that fishes this part of the river noticing the same thing? I've been fishing Pool 2 for the last 10+ years and this is by far the toughest year I have had for walleyes. 

[phishnerd]

Anyone been out recently sniffing for kitties?  June was a tough month for flatheads in my boat.  They should be starting to spawn so I'll have to switch back to channels for a bit.  Does anyone have any input on where they're at with their spawn so far.  They're usually finishing up around now.  Thanks fellas!

[phishnerd]

Was out last weekend sniffin' around for kitties. Put in at the Wakota Bridge Access. I was surprised to see how low and slow the river was! Tried a couple of wing dams but the action was pretty inconsistent.  Moved to a mud flat in about 12 fow. Found 'em in the same spot as last week. Lots of channels in the 10-12lb range. Still having some trouble finding the flathead. Tried a variety of baits from livers to bullies. Had a couple of doubles which was fun. Channels were really digging the liver for some reason. Easily 3 to 1 vs cutbait. The key for me was finding current which was actually challenging. Good luck out there!

[fisherjmb]

Went out on pool 2 yesterday and did well. Quite a few walleyes and saugers. Jigs tipped with just about anything worked great. River is down to near normal and water has started to clear up a bit. Found fish anywhere from 3-12 feet although most fish were caught in less than 8 feet. Great day to be on the water. 

[fisherjmb]

Caught this fish down there yesterday. I think it’s a smallmouth buffalo fish but not 100% sure. Anyone know for certain what kind it is?

[GeluNumber1]

That buffalo is either a smallmouth (my guess), or a black buffalo. Do you have any shots of the lips?

[fisherjmb]

That was the only picture I had taken of it. The more I look at pictures on google, the more I think it’s a smallmouth buffalo.

[Wanderer]

I like the color of that fish!

[fisherjmb]

I agree. It definitely had an interesting color to it.