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Lake Pepin Fishing Reports & Conditions


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people do troll the flats up there with success. Many fish the shorlines also.

As far as the 3-ways go 1oz is about the standard It mostly depends on how deep and how fast you are fishing. I sometimes use up to 6oz in the spring time and by August I might only use a 1/4 or 3/8 oz

General rule of thumb is use whatever it takes to keep your line at a 45 degree angle.

For the trolling rods I like the Limit Creek trolling rods. They are sold out at the moment. I would contact Dean at deanstacklebox He will get you all set up and his prices are very competitive.

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A lot of mixed reports on Saturday. Brother and I were out on the water from 7:30 to 2:00 and brought in one man limit and threw the rest back. Caught a tons and tons of short walleye with the biggest being 15 1/2" and all saugers were 16-23". Trolled and ran rigs most of the day. Rigs were working best in about 17'FOW. Even nailed into a bunch of JUMBO perch. All in all it was a great day on the water.

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Got out yesterday with Marty Hahn, Mike Walerek and Andy Louse(hopefully spelled right). We set out to do some trolling with lead and had success just 5 minutes in. The fish we caught seamed to be hanging in 21 to 24 foot of water on our first spot. We had 6 keepers there and some Northers. One of which was around 15 pounds. What a battle it was when it got to the boat. Then we took Andy back and went out for a while to some other spots on the lake. We headed out to do some pitching of cranks. We were fishing shallow at this time with smaller cranks #5's. We caught about 10 small walleyes doing this and a couple bass to boot. All in all the day went pretty good we had a total of 10 keepers. The river should start to receed and the fish we were catching 2 weeks ago should return to those areas they were in. Good luck out there!!!!

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As usual it was a hoot. Too bad Andy missed out on the bass bite. Makes me itching to get out tonight again. I will be on the water off and on over the next 4-5 days. Probably be short trips with the heat they are forcasting.

I should also add that most of the fish came on #7 Lindy Shadlings. Redtail Chub dominated the day.

MW

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Is leadcore absolutely necessary for trolling down there? I've been thinking about starting to fish pepin this summer and I have some cranks I know will get down into 18-20 ft at least. Can I usually find fish this shallow or will I have issues with fish being deeper than I can run baits?

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You will be just fine trolling without leadcore. Most of the walleyes come from 12 feet of water or less. It is generally the saugers that you find out deep.

mw

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I appreciate the help Mike. Came down for the first time yesterday and did ok for my standards. 4 eyes and 2 crappies trolling a jointed shad rap. Kept 1 eye and 1 crappie for dinner. Fish came around 12-15 ft. Figured they might be a little deeper with the high sun. Fillets were cleaner than the ones I had out of lake vermilion last week, that surprised me. Will definately be back!

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Launched out of Bay City on Weds around 5pm and couldn't find a nibble. Was only on the water for 3 hrs and started in the main channel at what I think is the "head of the lake". Had to go around a huge long island to get in there.. Caught a few sheepies in 20 ft of water where there was current. Was I too deep?

Putted around the shallower parts as well with rigged leeches, but NoGo. I tried 9 to 15 ft in the current and off of a little point there in front of someone's really nice backyard on the MN side right next to the channel. NoGo.

Zoomed across that really shallow bay on towards the east where it was a steady 6 to 8 ft and found a drop to about 15 ft on the WI side right up against the train track. Trolled up through that deeper 15 ft part but couldn't find a nibble either.

By this time and within casting range of the shore, there were a gazillion fish busting around us and I was pretty sure they were whitebass so we tried for them. Threw a total of 3 tackle boxes from them and had two all the way up to the boat that became unbuttoned on rooster tails. Didn't see any baitfish so I'm assuming they're busting at bugs(?) It almost seemed like they were hittin the cottonballs comin off of the trees. Even tried for frikkin smallies and still nothing.

Anyhow, putted back to the launch where we had some guys who opted to fish from shore. They had a 20" walleye and several saugers they caught by "the flag" on Mimic Minnows... I'm guessing they were in about 5 ft or less of water. Go figure! But I finally beat the skunk and and an 8 lb channel cat slam my XRap in 2 ft of water no more than 70 yds from the launch prior to trailoring the boat.

Can someone please chime in on how a guy should fish this side of the lake? I'm sure there are tons of walleyes and saugs to be had, but I didn't have enough time to figure them out. Would like to go out there and try again, but with an idea of where to start. Oh yea, I looked for something called "The Can" which a friend told me is supposedly a bunch of buoys tied together in the "head of the lake". Couldn't find that either. Maybe I should've went up river a bit more?

Any subtle help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

1ER

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Can't help you with where to go (I fish pools 5 and 5a) but I'm 99 percent sure your white bass (and probably some smallmouth) were chasing Emerald Shiners (http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2800/4368827712_ac707fbded_z.jpg)

They are about 2" right now...so look for a shallow runner that looks like the picture! They will also blast small chug bugs..I use the silver one with a blue back. I normally pinch the barbs down...I don't plan on keeping the fish...and it makes it a LOT easier to get the hook out of my finger!!

A good ole plain Mepps...will kill em too!

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Mepps174-Plain-Aglia174-Spinners/739532.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch%2F%3FN%3D%26No%3D20%26Ntk%3DAllProducts%26Ntt%3Dmepps%26Ntx%3Dmode%252Bmatchall%26WTz_l%3DHeader%253BSearch-All%2BProducts%26WTz_st%3D%26WTz_stype%3DSP%26form_state%3DsearchForm%26search%3Dmepps&Ntt=mepps&WTz_l=Header%3BSearch-All+Products

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Do you guys eat white bass? Any good?

Whitebass are fantastic if properly prepared. My parents stick to old Southeast Asian recipes and will steam the fish with assorted spices and seasonings. This is either done with the fish wrapped in foil or banana leaves over a grill, oveor stovetop. I deep fry fillets in cajun batter and if they are large older whitebass (15" and up) I cut out the big red lateral line as that part can leave a fishy taste and aroma on the flesh.

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This is alittle late but there's a couple of spots that I know of up by the dam from everts to the dam than there's spots everywhere from south of the lake and all the way down the river. On pepin there spots on the wisconsin side here and there but the railroad tracks arnt to far away so that might suck. Hope that helps yo

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Tried two weekends in a row for smallmouth, can't find them. Any ideas? I was casting clacking minnow & shad on the points. Did catch a couple nice crappie though.

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Same as you, went out on Friday and hit the rocks along the rip rafts and only picked up one. I'm thinking its the high / murky water. My typical hot spots were lifeless...just don't know???

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North of Maiden Rock there is a good stretch of camping beaches, but with the water level being so high, I'm willing to bet they are underwater. Don't go too far north on the Wi side with the kiddies in the boat....beware the nude beach!!!

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Don't go too far north on the Wi side with the kiddies in the boat....beware the nude beach!!!

thanks. i know where i'll be trollin on my next trip to p4. cool

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thanks. i know where i'll be trollin on my next trip to p4. cool

Trust me it's not like the beaches of Europe or the ones you see in movies. sick

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I am coming down with a group of guys this coming weekend and was wondering with the flow likely crazy fast if it will even be worth trying to fish Lake Pepin. Anyone have any suggestions for a novice river/current fisherman on what techniques to use? I was planning on dragging spinners or trolling cranks. Will that be a viable option? Maybe I'll just hit the backwaters for bass. Thanks for any help.

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the fish will bite during high water too, as long as ramps are open i would be fishing it. i would be focusing on using live bait rigs on the points and would also be trolling raps. good luck.

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If you are down on pepin current won't be an issue. I'm hoping to take the family Sunday as this past Saturday we got into a nice rigging bite.

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Thanks for the responses guys.

James-what kind of rigging are you using? I am mostly a bass guy. Are you using a bottom bouncer rig or just a normal lindy rig? What size weights will we need to have?

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Fishing really slowed this week. I went out yesterday, and the fish were not nearly as active as the previeous week. There are still walleyes biting, but you have to work harder for them. I was using bottom bouncers and crawler harnesses. Pulled in a few, switched to cranks and picked up a 22+ right away, but nothing after that. Left them all out there for you. Water was dirty, bright colors will work best. It was tough getting to my normal spots and fishing them well as the wind and current were constantly changing, and it was freakin hot.

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Thanks for the info Trigger. I'm hoping we can luck into a few eyes. Backup plan will be to fish bass since I have spots for that. I'll try to remember to post a report on Monday.

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Crank baits trolled via lead core have been producing fish this week - especially earlier in the a.m. Try a #7 FT or another brite color. I especially like the jointed version, as they seem to dive better.

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yeah, my 22+ came just 10 minutes into fishing with cranks and lead core. I was using a bright clown color lure. Bright is essential. Chartreuse seems to be the color right now. The lure was skipping across the bottom in 15 fow with structure that dropped anywhere from 17 to 20 feet. Fish would hit at the drop offs, wish I could have been able to hit the points and spots better, wind and current made it tough on wednesday, had to use the kicker. Caught fish using crawlers and bottom bouncers early, but that ended by 9:00 am and I switched to cranks and leadcore.

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High water pushes fish to the banks.

Bright colored, noisy cranks baits should work.

Bang the rocks hard.

Work the bait parallel to the bank to keep it in the strike zone longer.

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We were out Friday as well and tried everything to try and catch fish. We threw jigs, cranks, worms and leeches. Had schools of fish under us and anchored with bait but nothing. Noticed the trailers by the marina were black with May flies. Also, saw huge swarms of May flies in the shady areas on shore. So I think there was a three way whammy .... the big heat wave, high,dirty water and the May flies.

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