Mississippi River Fishing Reports Pools 2 & 3

[blakeb]

call me around eight am and ill have a free minute, seven 1 5 four nine 7 nine three three 8

[Shack]

Sorry blakeb. When I talk about walleyes on Pool 2 and "big", I am talking over 31".

That reminds me. I am going to try and get some data I reviewed at a recent DNR fisheries meeting concerning Pool 2. You would not believe the stats the DNR has on walleyes over 30" per acre on Pool 2. I will see if Joel can forward me his info.

[TUMBLEWEED]

A 25,17 and a few smaller fish were released on

Saturday. Lots of debris on most of the system.

The recent rain also has water temps at 57

degrees. Things will get better in a week or so.

[OLY]

Got into a bunch of decent fish on saturday this was the biggest of the day just under 26

[blakeb]

shack i so wanna see that info, i know its got to be a high population, and there has to be state record size fish present.

[bassfshin24]

Was out on pool 2 last night. found 72° water temps in one back waters area!! caught 5 smallies and 1 pike. Biggest smallie prolly went around 15 inch. caught couple on spinnerbait and the others on wacky rigged senko

[fishn]

bassfishin24 are u catching any largemouths in the backwaters. I was fishing pool 4 backwater redwing area and found same water temps, but could not catch any fish in there. Saw alot of carps though.

[bassfshin24]

fishn--ive been only catchin smallies in the last couple weeks but thats just because ive been fishing the upper part of pool 2 and there arent as many largemouth up there as further down on pool 2...ill be headin out again this week sometime. smallies should be goin nutz!!

[ratherbefishn]

Any fish over 28 is a good fish down there and 30 is pretty realistic for a yearly goal but not too many over 31" IMO. I dont know if it is due to stress through out the spawn but you just dont see them like a guy would think. Especally with the amount of fish that run 28-30 inches!!! I have olny caugth/seen one that hit 32" and I was 14 years old. Almost 16 years ago. In 05 I caught a 31" and that is the olny other one I have ever seen go over 31". Do know one good source that scaled a 32 in November and that went 14.2 lbs and it the biggest I have ever heard of out of P2!!! There has to be bigger ones in there but better have your horseshoe along!! P4 produces 32" fish every for some lucky guys but you rarely hear of them here on 2. There have been a few 30's caught so far this year and they should reach that mark by fall when they are all beefed up.

[blakeb]

joe i got some more jumbo walleye bait is you want some.

[jonboatjunkie]

Is there good shore fishing access just below the Hastings dam?

[FishonTom]

jonboatjunkie, Yes, there are a lot of shore fishing spots. You can start at the boat launch and walk all the way yo the lock. To get there just turn right after you cross the Hastings Bridge and then an immediate right again, then just follow the river upstream till you get to the public parking spots and walk to the river. It's really close. Good luck!

[jonboatjunkie]

Thanks, FishonTom! I appreciate the info!

[OLY]

Got this girl today, biggest of the year so far. 5ft on top of a wing dam casting a crankbait. 28.5 8lbs 10oz

[Larry FlatCaster]

Nice Fish OLY! That's the icing on the cake on a day like today! Heck on any day!

[Larson01]

Dang, I was planning on going out today too!

[River Dan]

Made it down for this evening for some fishing and the high fast water seemed to have no effect on the walleye bite, I set up in the usual spot and it was bobber down bobber down what a good evening, lots of small ones biggest tonight 18" but tuesday was a 26" but a fair amount of 18" to 20s, last sunday was the best night in a month

[chrisonice]

[jwmiller33]

launched out of lions levee the other morning. was by myself and was looking to chase some eyes. did some vertical drift jigging as well as trolled some cranks and did very well on mid size fish. lots of 17-22 inchers... couldnt find any of the bigger fish. also tried using a blade bait for 5 min before i left and had a really nice bite, nicest of the day by far, and fought the fish for about a minute and a half and just as i was getting it close enough to see, it got off. i swore i saw flashed of white on the bottom of its tail and fins but i didnt get a good look at the size... i like fishing the downriver part of pool 2 a lot more then fishing up river. i used to only fish up by the dam and around the confluence and a few bridges down there. going down river there is a lot more structure and wing dams to fish. lots of new area to learn!

[Larson01]

What are the conditions like on pool 2 right now? Im thinking about launching further south this time to fish the wing dams. And how much water is over the wingdams? If I accidentally went over one in a 14 foot boat would I hit anything?

[stickin_skis]

The flow is nice, there's some debris to watch for still but it's starting to clear up nicely. You should be fine with your boat going over most of the wing dams, but as always use caution as there could always be a tree/log held up on one. Unless i'm fishing or scouting new spots I personally like sticking to the channel when moving with any speed.

[Larry FlatCaster]

Water levels have started to come down and the velocity is decreasing gradually. You always want to be careful going over wingdams. You probably would be okay drifting over... I would use caution motoring over until you confirmed the depth... even then I get a little nervous, but then again the water level is down a little more.

Good luck

[Larson01]

Thanks a lot for the report guys. Ive only fished the north part a few times and still no big ones. It seems like most of the big ones are caught on the southern part of pool 2 to me, is this kind of how it is or a seasonal trend or something?

[Larry FlatCaster]

Thanks a lot for the report guys. Ive only fished the north part a few times and still no big ones. It seems like most of the big ones are caught on the southern part of pool 2 to me, is this kind of how it is or a seasonal trend or something?

You have a bigger area in the southern part. I think the fish are spread out equally... I've heard of nice fish coming from all parts.

The only factor I would think that would make it a seasonal is the top of the pool at LD 1 in the early season when the fish are looking to spawn... That's just my thoughts with no real basis.

[Larson01]

So your saying the walleyes spawn up near the lock and dam area? I spend most of my time fishing Lake of the Woods so I'm very dialed into fish movements throughout the year so i guess im having trouble grasping the concept of being able to find fish in the same areas throughout the year haha.

[jwmiller33]

yes the fish definitely make their way up towards the ford dam to spawn in the early spring on p2, and that is your best chance of catching a hog walleye out of p2 IMHO, but i know for a fact you can pull eyes out of that same spot year round

[Larson01]

Oh nice maybe I will just keep fishing up there since its closest. Ive just been catching a bunch of what would be nice keepers, which is fun too.

[mnhunter17]

pool 2 is catch and release for walleyes

[Irish]

Which is why he said "would be keepers".

[Larson01]

Anyone know if shes raging today after the storms last night?