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Mississippi River Fishing Reports Pools 2 & 3


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I'd like to get out in Hastings and try for some cats (or what ever hits) near the dam. Are there any spots in particular that I can hit from shore that are better than others?

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  • 1 month later...

anybody been out walleye fishing pool 2 lately? thinking about getting out there soon... have caught numbers of nice eyes the past 2 falls out there fishing by the ford da m

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Was out today for a couple of hours been a month since my last trip. Tried cranks and jigs/crawlers. Couple of Walleyes but no size a few smallies mixed in as well. The smallmouth buffalo's were out and hitting cranks. Fun to reel in but a little disapointing when you think you have a nice Eye on. Also tailed hook a big carp now thats a fight

I never made it up to the dam so not sure how the bite is up there.

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The bite has been fantastic for both numbers and size but is starting to slow again with the lower water levels. Was out the last few days and caught 15 to 20 walleyes each day. plenty of 18 to 20"ers and a good number of those 24 to 26" walleye. Big fish of the day was a 27.5".

We had our best fishing a couple of weeks ago when the river was just dropping out of flood stage. Had a half dozen the one day in the 8 to 10# range. Sure hope we get some rain again to bring those water levels back up.

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I finally made it out last night for a couple of hours. We fished 2 hrs and ended up with 6 walleyes, a couple bass and sheephead. Walleyes were 26,26,25,22 and 2 smaller ones, all fish caught on jig and various plastics. The bite was really aggressive, in fast moving shallow water. All fish were caught in less than 5ft.

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Fished the confluences last evening. 1-northern pike, 3 sheephead, 9 striped bass, 16 walleyes and 2 saugers. Biting like crazy. all caught between 3-8 foot of water. Northern was a couple lbs, the bass were 12-18 inchers and all the eyes and saugers were keeper size 14-17inchers.

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i dont know what you consider keeper sized walleye. i prefer to eat the 14-17 inchers. I pretty much don't keep any smaller or bigger for the pan. What do you consider "keeper sized" 18 - 30 inchers? i believe those should all go back in the water. By the way, no fish were kept as pool 2 is all catch and release. keeper size is an adjective to describe the fish as saying "dinks" or "pigs" etc...

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Made it out yesterday with my dad from 11 untill 5. We ended up with 45 fish. 23 bass, an even mix of largemouth and smallmouth, 15 crappies mostly white with a couple black mixed in, 5 walleyes, and 2 saugers. Biggest walleye was 27 in 7lbs 12oz caught on a crankbait shallow rocks, heavy current was key for the bass and eyes crappies came from trees in the backwaters.

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for you guys that are trolling cranks out there, what speed do you troll (i.e. downriver and upriver)... i typically troll 1.9-2.1 on lakes this time of year when trolling lead.... i usually stick to jigging live bait or plastics on pool 2 but would like to start trolling cranks... how do i take the current into the equation when trolling cranks out there? do you have to go like 4 mph (gps speed) when trolling down river to get the right action on the lure?

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Nope, Loon 18 was at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. Pool 2, fishing has been awesome. Bigger fish up by the dam, (Ford Dam)

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Vertical Jigging, with fatheads or green ring worms. they have been very aggresive. Minnows seam to work a little better.

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thanks for the report Loon. I have had a lot of success vertical jigging with fatheads and mister twisters and other plastics in the fall on Pool 2. The last 2 years I fished pool 2 (up by the ford dam) a bunch in the fall when I was in college. There is a pretty good evening bite out there and the good thing is you usually dont see many other boats. I often times saw more people shore fishing than I did other boats. I am hitting Mille Lacs again this weekend for one last hurray, but will be getting on pool 2 again on Sunday or Monday. I will report back with how i do.

Good luck to all fall fisherman and hunters this weekend! Should be a great weekend to be outside and enjoying the outdoors

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Very nice. What was the length on that fish? We got a nice 28.5 there about a week ago with a sick gut on it. Had a couple over 10 that day.

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Got out this morning until about 1 or so. One little 14" to show for it. Missed a few but the bite was pretty tough for me. Many of my traditional fall locations were very challenging to fish with the current rippin' through there. Couple floaters here and there. Hopefully this high water will flush out most of the leaves from slack areas. Temps 40-42 degrees.

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Made it out on Pool 2 tonight from about 3pm-6. I couldn't believe how fast and high the water was! I think it was the highest/fastest it's ever been when I have had my boat out there! All my normal spots to fish that were current seams and eddys in normal water levels were non existent today because the water was so much higher. I fished the St Paul side of "the island" up by the Form Dam in 5-10ft of water and that is where we caught out only fish of the night. I was using a 1/2-3/4 oz long shank gold jigs with various mister twisters and other plastics. For any other guys going out to pool 2, bring the big/heavy river jigs that you would use in the early spring melt/run off time if your going to be jigging.

We were only using plastics and didnt have any live bait in the boat. We had several missed bites throughout the night, but we only managed to boat one small walleye. Also fished over by the lock, as well as the big yellow pillar/rock pile on the end of the lock. Was marking some fish on the graph in several different depths, but couldnt get them to bite. The current was so fast, it made it hard to keep contact with the bottom for jigging.

The high water definitely muddy'ed up the water quite a bit, and as a result, I think it is KEY to have some BRIGHT colors on your jigs for these conditions! It would have been nice to have some good minnows in the boat tonight, but I don't regret it at all. I think all a guy needs is plastics this time of year to put nice walleyes in the boat! The walleyes are putting on the pre winter feed bags, and they should be gorging themselves all the until local lakes ice up.

heres a pic of the dam from the east side of the island

full-27725-3240-sspx0702.jpg

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jwmiller - Thanks for the report.

I was out there the day before on Wed 11/10 from 8am-1pm and found the same conditions. I did manage 3 eyes by the dam, all caught with a jig and fathead. The key was to get vertical, which was difficult with the current. Tried some plastics with no luck. Lost another 4-5 fish half way to the boat. They were just mouthing the tail of the minnow and were not aggressive. Tried a few other spots down river with not much luck either.

The biggest fish of the day was 20" but skinny. Makes me wonder if these fish have yet to begin their fall feeding. Maybe the best bite is yet to come on P2?

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that very well could be. certainly would be nice if the water level/current came down a little bit. i agree, getting vertical for jigging is key, and pretty much impossible with that current and boat control. im sure there will be walleyes feeding up the dam for quite a long time, at least another few weeks

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I just found pool 2 last year. Never really river fished until then. Joined this site and finally found a thread about it. What a great fishery pool 2 is. I will have to start at the beginning of this thread and read all the posts.

Was out Sunday afternoon and saw the same conditions. Water roaring over the dam and currents at high speeds. Backwaters full of leaves.

It was my first trip with a new boat, and the last trip of the year. Gave up on fishing after a couple hours and went for a ride downtown and back to Hidden Valley.

My best luck seems to be in slower water, usually later in the year but this year hasn't happened. Reading the last few of posts I have a lot to learn.

The boat was winterized on Monday so I'm done for the season but look forward to reading everyone's experiences and possibly seeing some on the water next year.

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Wasnt able to make it out over the weekend but the bite last week was pretty good. Caught around 25 walleyes on Wednesday. All on plastics and 1/4 ounce jigs. Just a couple under 20"s and the biggest 2 close to 28"s. Most of the fish we are seeing over 23"s are real fat. The ones we caught between 27 and 28"s where in if not over the 10# mark. The best is yet to come and with this high water we should be able to keep fishing maybe even into January.

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  • 2 months later...

Goodbye short pole, time to pick up the big stick.

Choice sections of river now open! I'd tell you where, but I don't want you to take my parking spot.

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Yup, that's right. I drive over the river everyday on the 610 bridge and the river had been completely locked up last week. I drove over the bridge today and it was pretty much completely open in the middle of the channel as far as I could see in both directions. With the warm temperatures forecasted in the next week, we are going to see a lot more of the river open up. Hellllllooo open water.

It will be interesting to see the rate of the thaw for this spring, especially considering the massive floods we had on the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers last year. Time to get the boat out of the storage and start getting it ready for gameday, because it won't be long.

Spring... My favorite time of the year.

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Not quite as open as I had hoped, but should be good by the end of the week- might even have a launch for the weekend.

Let's hope for a slow melt through the spring (after this week).

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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
      20 ga has become a real popular deer round in the last 5 or so years.  The rifled barrels are zinging those sabot slugs with rifle like accuracy out to 100 yards easily.  Some go so far as dialing in for a 200 yard shot but really, by 150 they’re falling off pretty low.   I have a single shot Ultraslug in 20 ga that shoots really well at 100 yards.  Most everyone I know that has bought a slug gun lately has gotten the Savage 220 in 20ga.  Problem can be finding the shells you want.
    • leech~~
      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
      Kinda depends on if you want magnification or quick target acquisition.   More magnification options and better accuracy with a scope.  You get what you pay for too so get comfortable with a budget for one.  Tasco and Bushnell work but I find they lose their zero easier, have low contrast and don’t gather light well in low light conditions.  That said, I’m still using one I haven’t replaced yet.  Vortex has been the hot brand for the past several years for bang for the buck.  Good products.  Nothing beats Swarovski though.  Huge dough for those.  Burris is another decent option.   There are some specific models for shotgun/slug hunting in the economy brands and bullet drop compensation (BDC) reticles.  Based on experience I’d recommend not falling for that marketing ploy.   Red dots are usually lower magnification and easier to get on target.  Reasonably accurate but don’t do well with definition, like searching the brush for your target.  I put a HAWKE red dot on a .22 for squirrels and it’s been good.  For turkey, that’s probably the route I’d go.     If your slug shots are normally not too far and too brushy, I’d think a red dot could work there too if you’re only buying 1 scope.  You’ll be better off dimming the reticle to the lowest setting you can easily use to not over shine the target and get a finer aim point.   If you don’t have a slug barrel, you might appreciate one of those.  I had a browning with a smoothbore slug barrel that shot Brenneke 2-3/4 inch well.  The 11-87 would well fitted with a cantelever rifled barrel. 
    • 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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