pool 2 report

[OLY]

Well I made it out to the river today and all I can say is wow!! The fishing was unreal. I was out from 4-8 and I caught 7 walleyes between 23 and 27 inches, 5 smallmouth 2@ 15 inches 2@ 13 inches and one dink, 4 largemouth 2@ 15 in and 2 dinks. All the fish were caught between 5 and 730. the walleyes were caught between 5:15 and 5:45. The walleyes were all caught on rocks in heavy current on a blue and chrome normans deep little N. Some of the bass were on the same crankbait and some were on a spinnerbait. The bass were on a main channel stretch of rip rap and some were in a backwater bay. I was fishing alone of course, but I took a ton of pictures, here are some of the best ones.

I will be back out ther tommorrow with my dad, hopefully some of the fish will still be in the same spots. All I can say is that the mississippi river is the BEST place to be fishing in the spring, and I cant wait to get back out there!

[bassfishingnerd]

All I want to know is were you above or below 494? I plan on making the drive down one afternoon this week.

[Fishing_High]

Nice pic was out at pool two yesterday and caught 3 eyes and 3 smallies on a mistertwister 3" grub and jig head.

[OLY]

I was south of the bridge. I do 95% of my fishing south of the bridge, I really only have two spots north of the bridge. I usually launch out of st paul park. If you see a 16ft red lund with a johnson tiller motor on it stop and say hi.

[bassfishingnerd]

I will have to stop by. I'm not sure where we will launch. The ford dam launch is a pain due to the eddy.

[Shack]

Lillydale was great last weekend. Nice and clean and not to bad of current. We came in at night with trolling motor from up river. We did this, because we were graffing spots on the way down.

[OLY]

Well all I will say is this, i just had two of the best days of fishing on pool 2 that I have ever had, here are some pics from today

28 in 8lb 10oz

skinny 26 incher

My dad with big fish of the day 28.75in 9lb 6oz

26.5in 7lb 13oz

We also caught a 24, a 22 and, a 21 incher, as well as 1 smb and 2lmb. All walleyes were caught on rocks in heavy current on crankbaits.

[Fishing_High]

wow great day love the pics. I really need to fish outta of a boat on the river im addicted just from shore fishing these last weekends waiting for opener. It looks like im going to have to get my buddy to take me out on the water.

[bassin]

Hey, whose that guy with you??? didnt know he was around still

We hitting Mille lacs again for opener or do you have a tourney?

[OLY]

I have a tournament down on washington on sunday, but I could still do friday/saturday or maybe drive up sunday night and fish monday. If you are going to go up there alone let me know and I will figure something out for sure. If you want to hit the river give me a call, their biting like crazy and Im headed out now I'll report how I do later

[ratherbefishn]

Olson, leave my fish alone Thought you just chased them silly bass anyways.... Busch!!

I thought you lost that lucky glass rap last year????? Ill keep and eye out for ya. I run a grey 16' Lund with a 25 merc and from the looks of it I am down in the same area!! We have been getting them up to 24"-25" the last few times now but not the big girls yet. Shoot me an email [email protected]. I was getting quite a few bass last week and know you like those things

[OLY]

made it out today from 3-7, 3 walleyes between 21.5-23in, 3lmb, 2smb, and my first white bass of the year.

Hey joe I got a box full off them crankbaits now, its the only one that I throw down there. We need to hook up down there between your spots and mine I think we could really fill the boat with some fish As far as the bass go about anywhere I try Ive been getting them they are really aggressive right now

[bassfishingnerd]

I was down there tonight and could only manage 1 cat on a jerkbait, and a white bass on a spinnerbait. I would love to know what it takes to catch smallies or largemouth below 494.

[ratherbefishn]

OLY, I wont be back down that way till sunday. Heading to the pond with the guys! Should be fun. I havnt caught much for eyes where we were last year.... Been more in the same areas you have been I think! Give me a shout sometime. I am usually down there 3+ times a week and you will see my truck at the lauch.. Black dodge dakota

[heartbeat]

After I read your post I tried my first river fishing experience. I am new to the river and it was a challenge. I tried to find the wing dams. found a few. any tips on how to fish the river. I put in at St. Paul Park and fished around there mostly. any help is appreciated.

[OLY]

The first thing I would say is that you cant just go out and expect to catch fish. You have to be willing to put in the time and learn the area. The river can be very frustrating and intimidating. I have been fishing the river all my life. I have lived within 5 miles of pool 2 all my life and so has my dad. So I definetly have the advantage of almost 50 years of experience on this stretch of river. That being said anyone willing to put in the time can catch fish. The first thing I would suggest is to try and find wing dams that top out in 5-7 ft, and try to find the areas on the dam that are different, for example a wide spot, a high or low spot, and dont be afraid to cast to these areas over and over. Thats another tip I can give you is to cast, and not to troll. I know some guys do well trolling, but I feel if you can pinpoint an area and keep presenting your bait in those high percentage areas you will do better. It really comes down to being able to find that current break that the fish are using to feed, you might have to fish 10 or 20 spots that look good to you untill you actually find one that fish are using and that can be frustrating but it definetly pays off if you hit the right place at the right time with the right bait. You also have to experiment with casting angles sometimes they will only hit it at certain directions, most of the time you have to reel with the current but not always. My preffered bait is a crankbait, i catch most my fish year round on a crankbait. You want something that is going to be in contact with the rocks for most of the cast. You really want that bait hitting and deflecting off the rocks, it takes a little practice to not get hung up but once you get it down it is fairly easy. I think I have only lost 2 or 3 cranks the last couple of seasons. Hopefully this will help you out, keep at it and good luck! I will be out tommorrow or wednesday and I will report how it goes

[Shack]

Oly,

You know anyone fron the westside from years back?

[serpent]

sluggo--- I have a hard time catching any bass

out of my boat down there but from shore I catch

smb all the time. Biggest one this years been about

4lbs. When I go in my boat I usually try new spots

so that might be half the battle. I also caught my

first walleye of the year a couple weeks ago

fishing from shore down there. 28 1/4" and fat.

Good times....

good times

[heartbeat]

Thanks for the feedback. I can see what you mean about the learning curve on the river. I am going to try it some more and see what I can do. I am a fanatic about catching fish on strange waters but this was my toughest chalenge. I will try your advice and let you know how it goes.

[OLY]

made it out today, 430-730, caught 2 walleyes on crankbaits, and a sheephead and white crappie on a spinnerbait

[Lunker]

Fished the creek confluence from shore today for a couple hours. Had no luck fishing artificials(broke off a few and didn't want to lose any more) so I switched to a leech under a float around the current seams and managed a 16" smallie, a 16" largemouth, one smaller largemouth, and a bluegill. Not amazing, but fun.

[OLY]

Made it out yesterday for a few hours, couldn't find any walleyes but had some decent luck bass fishing. We ended up with 8 lmb and 3 smb. All the smallies were nice 16-17 inch fish. The water was down almost a foot since I was out last and the flow was really slow, hopefully we will get some rain to bring the water and current back up.

[Lunker]

Fished live bait at the creek confluence this afternoon in the blowing wind and drizzle. Also fished a few pools up into the creek. Caught 2 smallies(biggest 15") and a sheepie in the river, then 2 small smallies, a half dozen gills, and a carp about 15lb up in the creek. With the current that thing put up a heck of a fight. Leeches.

[macgruber]

i've pulled some good gills outa those pools on the creek with the fly rod...... they grow 'em big down there..... i still haven't managed to land a carp..... i've hooked a few, but once they take off on their run, i inevitably lose 'em...... or come close to breaking a knuckle.....

[OLY]

Made it out today by myself from 3:30-8:00. Started out bass fishing and ended up catching 14 lm between 12.5 and 17 inches. The biggest one weighed 3lbs 1oz. All the bass came from the same backwater channel between 3:30 and 6:00. All but one were caught on spinnerbaits the other came on a bitsy bug jig with a zoom chunk trailer. They were very aggressive today, every one I hooked made it into the boat since they were totally inhaling the bait. I also caught 1 white bass and one black crappie on a spinnerbait. After I left that spot i hit a couple walleye spots and ended up with two fish, a 25 in 5lb 10oz, and a 28.25 in 8lb 5oz pig that looked like it had a softball in its stomach. Both the walleyes were caught on the top of a wing dam in about 5ft of water on a blue and silver flickr shad between 7:30 and 7:50.

here is a picture of the big one

here is a picture of a 24 from last week

[Shack]

Nice fish, as allways Oly. I love your measuring stick. That got to be old. Also love your choice of bevrage.

[SkitterPopper]

Nice fish Oly. I wonder what is in his gut?? I caught a northern once that looked liked it had a hockey puck in his gut. It was only about 2 lbs and foul hooked so we kept it. When we filleted it that night we found a 3/4 pound sunfish in his gut. The sunfish was almost half his size.

[OLY]

Yeah it was really strange, you can kind of tell from the picture that it looked like there was a ball of some sort in its stomach. I wish I could have gotten a better picture of it, never really seen anything quite like it.

[OLY]

I made it out today from 4-8. Fishing was good, I caught a variety of fish today. I got 7 lmb the biggest only being 15in., 2smb, 2 pike as well as 2 missed boatside the biggest was 29in. It was really strange how active the pike were today I usually only catch 2 or 3 a year, but for some reason they were really going today. I also caught a 25 in walleye and a 21 in flathead on cranks on a wing dam, and last a 11.5 in white crappie on a spinnerbait. It was definetly an active day again on pool 2. As far as the bass go I caught most of them pitchin plastics in the trees the spinnerbait bite was almost dead except for the pike.

Think this guy was hungry?

[bgreen82]

oly, i have to wait for you at the launch and follow you around one day. nice reports youve been having so far this year.