Mississippi River Fishing Reports Pools 2 & 3

[Sandmannd]

Go around the prescott area. I see a lot of boats handle it fine with that size motor.

And welcome to FM ohenryohenry.

[Shack]

Hi all! I'm new so I just have a general question.

I looking to fish first time in Mississippi river. How fast is the current right now in Pool 2 and 3? Will my 25 HP motor be able to handle it?

Sand does bring up a good option, but the way the Miss. is right now , a 25hp would get you anywhere you want to go on the Miss. right now (upstream or downstream).

The water level is almost like summer time now.

Good luck!

[OLY]

Made it out today with my dad for a few hours. We ended up with 3 walleyes a 28.5, 25, and 24.5 all on crankbaits. Down deep rattlin fat raps over rocks in 5-7ft of water in heavy current. We also caught about a dozen bass half LM and half SM nothing of any size. Also 1 30 inch pike and a 11.5 in white crappie on a spinnerbait. My camera is broken but my dad took pics I will try and get them posted

[HellaBass]

I was a few hours today, caught 4 largemouth, 2 smallmouth, 1 walleye, & a 14" crappie that sucked down a big bass jig, my camera phone would not cooperate

[OLY]

Hit the river with my dad again today and the bite was even better than yesterday. We ended up with 2 walleyes a 21, and a 25. We only fished walleyes for about an hour than we went after some bass. We ended up with 23 in about 3hrs. Most of them were smallies and I caught every one of my fish swimming a white bitsy bug jig with a white power grub trailer. We found three key areas that had rock in 2-4 ft dropping quickly into 7-10ft. All of the fish were caught far back in backwater bays with the water temp 61-63. We had 2 17in smallies and the rest were between 12.5 and 16in. Also hooked up with another nice 12 in crappie on a spinnerbait.

[tommyk]

Nice reports guys! Keep up the good fishing.

[OLY]

Made it out today for a few hours and ended up with 12 SM and 2 LM. Biggest smallie was 18 and the LM was 17.75. I also got another 12 in crappie on a spinnerbait. One of the days I am going to have to get some minnows and just go after crappies. I also got my first and possibly biggest white bass today, measured almost 17 inches.

[Jethro80]

I also got my first and possibly biggest white bass today, measured almost 17 inches.

That must have been a fun fight.

[Daze Off]

Are you guys finding the bass bites in the backwaters or the main river if you don't mind me asking. We are hitting Pool 2 for bass on Thursday and I have not been on it in 2 yrs and my partner for more than 20.

Not looking for specific spots although would not throw them out if you were to give them...LOL Might save us a few hours of hunting to solve the backwater/river question.

Are the weeds bad yet in some of the backwaters? Water temps?

Thanks for whatever advice you can provide.

[OLY]

If you are looking for smallmouth you can still find some in the main river, but if you are looking for largemouth you need to be in the backwaters. Right now if you can find rocky rip rap areas on the main channel you might hit some smallies, but I would concentrate on the backwater rocks. If you can find rocky areas in the backwaters with depth near by 4+ ft you will find smallmouth. The largemouth seem to be relating more to the wood and once again you need to find some depth to find the fish. The Grey Cloud area is always good this time of year if you can find your way back there. I will be out on thursday as well so maybe we will run into eachother. Good luck.

[Daze Off]

OLY -

Thanks for the info - Grey Cloud was going to be our first stop so thanks for confirming it. Got a couple of other backwaters marked on the GPS from last time as well. Probably hit that first then work our way back upriver if we need to.

Hope we see you - we'll be in an outboard jet river boat. Look for a couple of old guys....

[phishnerd]

Made it out overnight sunday on pool 2. Despite the water temps being down to 56, the channels were feeding pretty hard. Active fish were caught in 5-15 ft of water just outside of the current seams. Barge mooring channels off of the main channel were the ticket for consistant action as long as they were adjacent to current. They didn't seem to have a preference on bait as we caught fish on cut sucker, chichen livers, and shrimp. Didn't bother trying bullies as the action was pretty steady. Biggest fish was a little over 14 with a bunch in the 6-8 Lb range. Had to turn on the heater after the dew settled, 46 and damp is chilly Hopefully next weekend will bring river temps in the 60s. Good luck everyone!!

[OLY]

Made it out for a few hours today and ended up with 8 bass and 1 18 in sauger and 1 19 in walleye. I caught both the sauger and walleye in the backwaters fishing for bass. I also lost a walleye that hit my swim jig right at the side of the boat. I guess I figured out a new way to fish walleyes. The bass were not as aggressive as they have been. I missed more fish than I caught, and I had to cast over and over to the same area before I could get a strike. I tried a bunch of stuff but the swim jig was still best. Water temps were 63-65 where I was fishing.

[Daze Off]

We were out for most of the day with about the same results. Our fish came on senkos mostly. Could not buy a jg fish either swimming it or jigging it. Biggest bass was 18.5" on a shad colored spinnerbait and she absolutely creamed it. Every other bite was so light as to be a surprise when a fish was on.

We managed a walleye (27.25") and a huge drum (for me) which we did not measure or weigh but it was pretty close to 24" if not a bit over and at least that in girth. Walleye was on senko and drum on spinnerbait.

Weeds are starting to get thick in parts of Grey Cloud.

Expected slow because of weather conditions but not quite as slow as it was.

[CarpKing921]

.a huge drum (for me) which we did not measure or weigh but it was pretty close to 24" if not a bit over and at least that in girth.

Thats a nice fish I always wanted to catch one over 6lbs. I seem to always catch the small ones.

[fr33land]

Fished pool 2 yesterday. Cought 4 Small mouth (in 10 min.) just below the dam with a yellow crappie jig (from the bank). After the fourth, I took it off. Wasn't fishing for them, just happened on 'em. Soon the will be in trouble though...

[ILLIFIED]

where were you fishing? by the Ford Dam across from Minnehaha Creek?

[fishdale]

Fished pool 2 yesterday. Cought 4 Small mouth (in 10 min.) just below the dam with a yellow crappie jig (from the bank). After the fourth, I took it off. Wasn't fishing for them, just happened on 'em. Soon the will be in trouble though...

FR33land - Pool 2 is open year round for small mouths so it is OK to fish for them now but since it is also a catch and release area they all have to go back.

Any size to the smallie's?

[fr33land]

where were you fishing? by the Ford Dam across from Minnehaha Creek?

Yup. Just below the first eddy across from Minnehaha. The two big rocks near the bank that form a funnel... Hows that for specific? I wont be able to get back to the state for a month or so, i hope the fishing stays hot until then! Had to go back to NYC for work (non res.)

FR33land - Pool 2 is open year round for small mouths so it is OK to fish for them now but since it is also a catch and release area they all have to go back.

Any size to the smallie's?

[SneakAttack]

was out last night, two flats and a channel that were all 2-4lbs was trying for walters up by the dam, jig and a minnow turned the trick on these very aggressive cats, wish i had my cat gear and some cutbait

[Dragon Fish ll]

Was out shore fishing the river last Sunday and Memorial day mornings with non stop sauger action for a hour or 2 and some nice walleys coming thru on occation. with a first for me suprise a 33 inch sturgeon. hooked my first one a week earlier up north on the rainy river that was much larger but snapped my line like nothing when he got tired of playing with me.

[MN BassFisher]

Walleye and Sauger action off of shore, huh?? Man, that is something I want to try and get into. I don't think any of the spots near Hidden Falls that I've been fishing have that potential. What kind of lure or bait were ya using?

[Bait'nCast]

Was out yesterday from 10:30am - 2:30pm. Fished with white 3" gulp minnow and chartreuse jig and caught 5-6 smallmouth bass (missed a big one), 2 northern (1 was 28" or so), 1 walleye, 1 crappie, and 2 catfish. Windy but otherwise comfortable. Basically drifted down from the Ford Dam to Watergate. Slower current areas seem to be the most productive. Had a nice largemouth (I think) take a bite on spinner in a backwater but no cigar.

[tommyk]

I have had good success pulling three way rigs with and against the current on the tips of wing damns and over and along shallow rocks. Not all wingdamns produce. I look to the first two or maybe three in a stretch of river. Drifting with the current and vertical jigging a 3" Gulp! minnow has also been a good way to trigger a couple more bites after the three ways have been pulled through numerous times. Good numbers of fish on most of my spots, but north of 494 seems to give up alot of 22" and less while south of 494 I've been getting mostly 24" and up.

Good Luck!

[Jig Master]

Caught about 30 smallies yesterday from hidden falls up to the ford dam. Got most of them on a mepps spinner and some on a chartruese curly tail mister twister grub. Biggest fish was over 20 inches! went 5lb. 10 oz. on the Rapala digital scale. I did catch few carp too. Threw them in the livewell and gave them to the people shore fishing at the ramp as I pulled out. No luck on the walleyes.

[SunneyeDay]

Thanks for the report.

Did you get a pic of that smalliemonster?

[jwmiller33]

tonight, two buddies of mine and i fished pool 2, searching for eyes.. non of us have ever been on pool 2 that far up before, heck only 2 of us had ever been on pool 2 and that was last weekend when we launched from down in st paul park area. only fished the mississippi one other time and that was may on pool 4

.we launched at hidden falls and we went up kinda by the ford dam and we did some jigging as well as bobber fishing.. we ended up boating 5 different species including walleye, sauger, smallies, northern, and crappies. we were out for maybe 3 hours and each guy caught some fish.. 2 other boats were out there today..

chaff--was that you we saw at the boat launch with the dog around 2pm? three guys in a 16ft lund mid 80s style...

[GotOne]

Pretty nice day on pool 2. Three of us started down stream from the 494 bridge-nothing going. Moved up stream between Lilydale and Watergate and managed 12 very nice sized Saugers and a few Walleyes. Wish we would have made the move up stream earlier, we only had about 3 hours of light and were on fish till dark-missed several. Jig and minnow. Slow, cold, long ride back to 494 launch in the dark dodging ice chucks.

[DREZLER]

Was down on pool 2 on saturday. Caught a lot of fish, only a few though around 20" and the rest smaller. Nothing bigger. The current was realllly sloooowwww. A few of the other anglers we talked to said the bigger ones had been biting good during the week last week.

I would also like to thank the guy from Cottage Grove that sold us 10 mich goldens for ten bucks. Thats not a bad price when your out on a river.

[Slam-n-um]

I'm going out saturday cant wait. Got back from lake of the woods thursday it was a real slow bite so im ready for open water.