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Mississippi River Fishing Reports Pools 2 & 3


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I am new to fishing the river and wondering how you guys know where the wing dams are. Is there something that gives away where they are? My first day out on the river this spring I hit something and bent a prop over by the bank. When the water went down a few weeks later saw that it was an old steel hull or something. Now i'm gunshy to get anywhere near the banks for fear of hitting wingdams.

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how to tell where wing damns are is kinda easy the ones that are closer to the surface have disturbed water on the surface behind them. they go from shore and end near the main channel usually.

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That's what I thought I would see over the wingdams. I guess I haven't been out on the river yet when the water was low enough to see that disturbance on the surface and since I hit that chunk of steel haven't gotten close enough to see them either. If the water ever goes down will have to go have a gander and do some fishing around them.

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You could also try running the boat in the main channel. The red and green cones are not just river decorations. They are channel markers. Now you want to stay between the red and green cones when traveling up and down the river. Not between the cones and shoreline.

From what I have seen there are not a lot of wingdams on pool 2 that you need to worry about hitting. Most are under water even at low water levels. Now you get down south on the river and many of those stick above water in low water.

Running the shoreline is not a good way to get up and down river. You will find far more logs and other items there to hit. I know its a great way to find the way back to the landing but not a good idea to follow it to close.

If you want to know where the wingdams are get a GPS chip like lake master. The army corp of engineers also has maps in their web site that you can down load and print to show the dams. If you want to fish wing dams the gps is a great tool to help with that.

If you plan to fish the river a lot also get familiar with a good prop repair shop. I have close to 15 years on pool 2 and still get one to two repairs done a year. Guess if Im not dinging a prop every now and again Im not fishing hard enough.

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  • 3 months later...

oly,

awesome catches.i am a bass fisherman, but go down to the deuce for fall walleyes. do you get more smallies north of the 52 bridge? we mostly fish from the airport south.

we were out 2 sundays ago and zero walleyes, but ran into a school of largies.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 5 months later...

Been out a couple times in the last week or so. Fishing has been pretty slow. The water has come up quite a bit.

Fish seem pretty scattered, and we did our best trolling plugs and covering water. Mostly Walleyes, with a couple saugers mixed in and an occasional bass.

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Had a great morning on pool 2. Ended up with around 40 largemouth. A lot of 2.5lbers. Biggest fish of the morning was 3.25lb smallie.

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Is this a saugeye? Had really dark spots on it! Hit a crankbait

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Ok so its a sauger. I was thinking that first but then i saw the dark splotches on it and thought maybe a saugeye after seeing a picture of one. The spots were definitely more noticable when it was in the water.

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  • 1 month later...

Went fishing at Pool 2 yesterday. I caught a nice 4 pound common carp. The other two people there caught a river and golden redhorse. I'm gonna go back there again sometime this week to see if I can get fish that aren't bottom-feeders.

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Went fishing at Pool 2 yesterday. I caught a nice 4 pound common carp. The other two people there caught a river and golden redhorse. I'm gonna go back there again sometime this week to see if I can get fish that aren't bottom-feeders.

I often see carp feeding on the surface and have caught them on poppers and other topwater techniques before *gasp* Also, I once caught a legendary walleye while, you wouldn't believe it, fishing on the bottom. *gasp*

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  • 1 month later...

Made it out today for the first time in a couple months, fishing was pretty good. We were out from 8-2 and ended up with 38 fish. 10 largemouth, 10 smallmouth, 8 white bass, 4 crappie, 2 pike, 2 walleye, 1 channel cat, and 1 sheepshead. Nothing huge but a bunch of nice fish. Most fish were on crankbaits, or dropshot. All fish were caught in areas that had current and rock either on the main channel or very close to it. Water temp was 74. Also I would like to say to the guy that flipped us off for driving by him when he was anchored in the main channel hope you had a great day jack hole!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Still trying to learn P2. I went out with my dad on sunday for 4 hours in the AM. We caught two fish, I caught a walleye and he caught a largie. Both our fish came off wingdams near the main channel. The walleye was from a submerged wingdam and the largie was next to an exposed one. I was lobbing a DT10 and the walleye hit after bumping a rock. We found a "cove" off the main channel that was loaded with shad/shiners jumping, thought for sure I was going to hit the mother load. I threw a shad colored X-rap, a bone colored popper, and a white grub worm and didn't get bit....unbelievable. All in all a fun day even though we didn't slay em, learning the river little by little each time out though grin

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  • 6 months later...

Hidden falls ramp is open! No fish caught at confluence. Little saugers caught in hole upriver from Lilydale ramp.

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What kind of boat were you in? Saw someone out Friday when I was shore fishing near lily dale. Wondered where they put in. Brown and white back troller.

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What's the river looking like right now? Is the Hidden Falls ramp open? How far is the river open to?

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Anyone having or heard of guys having luck out on pool 2 yet? This is my first year fishing the Miss. and I've been out probably a dozen times with not even a bite. Been fishing from shore from the dam down to the hwy 5 bridge.

Is it better to go farther south at this time?

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Weird bite for sure on Pool 2 - poor bite last spring, last fall, and now this spring. Hopefully it picks up soon.

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As far as I know you can get a boat in at all three major launches

Wacouta (494 / S. St Paul) - for sure

Lilydale - likely

Hidden falls - likley

But with a lack of bite, a trip to pool 4 makes more sense.

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Be careful out there. There has to be a ton of icebergs floating downstream.

The Minnesota river was pretty much locked up at the Y not too long ago and I saw big ice shelves at the shore going over the cedar ave bridge this morning. I saw some ice shelves on the sippi going over the 94 bridge up from the dam and it looked like a lot of ice still at the minnehaha confluence a few days ago.

Those big flat ice sheets are tough to spot until it's too late.

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I think I'll wait a few weeks then. Man I need to hit the open water soon!

Scratch the itch. Go out of Everts up to the dam at Red Wing. Catch all the little saugers,(with a few keepers), you want. The water temp on the Miss at the confluence with the Minnesota dropped from 36 to 33 in a week. It will take a bit of melt to get some current and warmer water.

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are you sure you about that temp. or are you scaring people away from st paul for a reason. there has been a lot of melt lately.

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are you sure you about that temp. or are you scaring people away from st paul for a reason. there has been a lot of melt lately.

That was the temp last Sunday. It probably has gone up some. Here is the link to the Corp of Engineers website. http://www.mvp-wc.usace.army.mil/projects/Lock1.shtml. I just checked and the water temp tab doesn't seem to be working correctly.You are most welcome to scout it out and let us all know.Hidden falls is probably closed today because of freezing rain. Good luck.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the South Shore...  The focus for many this week is the ongoing deer hunting season which is a big tradition in these parts, even for avid walleye anglers.  There were some that either already harvested their deer or are more into catching fall walleyes than hunting.     Those that are fishing are taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and excellent walleye and sauger bite that is happening across the lake.  Cold weather is in the forecast in the upcoming days and weeks so that is also getting many excited. The best depths on the south end of LOW are 22-28 feet of water.     Vertical jigging with frozen emerald shiners is catching most of the walleyes, saugers and jumbo perch.  Depending upon where on the lake you are fishing, some slots and big trophies are in the mix as well, but most reports are talking about good numbers of eaters.    Jumbo perch are coming in good numbers this fall which will serve ice anglers well.  Watch out for an occasional pike or even lake sturgeon mixed in with the walleyes.      There are good numbers of walleyes and saugers across the south shore which is setting up nicely for early ice.   On the Rainy River...  There continues to be good numbers of shiners in the river, and consequently, there are good walleyes in the river as well.     Walleyes along with saugers, pike and some sturgeon are coming in up and down the river.  Most walleyes are being caught in 10-25 feet of water in various stretches of the river.   Jigging with live or frozen emerald shiners is the key. Some anglers are also still slow trolling crankbaits upstream to cover more ground and find fish. Both methods are producing solid results. Sturgeon fishing remains strong.  The catch-and-release sturgeon fishing is open into the spring when it changes to the "keep season" on April 24th. Up at the NW Angle...  As temps are getting colder, most are in the woods hunting and not fall fishing, however, for those who bundle up, fishing continues to be excellent.     A nice mixed bag with walleyes, saugers, perch, pike and crappies being caught. Very good muskie fishing with the colder water temps and shorter days.  Some big fish and some good numbers are being caught amongst the islands.  Both casting and trolling is getting it done.  
    • gimruis
      I hunt in the rifle zone so I don't have a need to use a shotgun to hunt deer, but I would be looking at this if there was ever a need to.   There could be state legislation introduced next summer that eliminates the shotgun zone completely.  It has bipartisan support.  Wisconsin removed theirs years ago and MN is usually later to follow.  They've tried to pass it more than once and it came up just short both times.  Probably just a matter of time.
    • Wanderer
      Oh, h e l l no! 
    • leech~~
      Screw that, here's whatch need!  😆   Power-Shok Rifled Slug 10 Gauge 766 Grain Grain Weight: 766 Shotshell Length: 3-1/2in / 89mm Muzzle Velocity: 1280
    • Wanderer
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      My son always bugs me about getting a nice light over-under 20ga for grouse hunting.  I say Heck no, I'm getting a 3 1/2" 10ga so I can put as much lead in the air that I can!!     So, I'm keeping my 12ga.  
    • 11-87
      That’s almost exactly what I was thinking.  Have slug barrels for both   One for turkey and one for deer.      I have a 20ga mosseberg as well. (Combo came with the scope but never used.   I always liked the 12 better
    • leech~~
      Wanderer is right on the money and covered it well.  I was wondering too if you had a slug barrel for one of your guns?  If so you could make that your slug gun with a scope, and the other your turkey gun with the Red dot.  As you can afford it. 
    • Wanderer
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    • 11-87
      Looking for recommendations on scope or red dot    I basically hunt turkey and whitetail, live in southern MN. So it’s all deer/ shotgun    looking to add a scope/ red dot as my eyes don’t work like they used to to with the open sights.    my gun options are 11/87 12. Browning BPS 12    not looking for the most expensive or the cheapest    pros and cons of one over the other
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