Pool 2 Report (2019)

Out for 1 1/2 hours this morning before the storm out of Hidden Falls. Could not find them with cranks. Found Walleye and sauger on bottom of breaks with light current flow. Crawlers and spinners was the ticket.

How’s everybody doing on p2? Pulled cranks for a couple hours the other night and only found 2 dinky walleyes.

Have been doing great on shallow current seems 3-12 feet. Jig and half a crawler has been working well for me. PM me for more info.

Anyone out this week?

Going to give it a go Sunday morning on the upper end. Probably troll, drag some crawlers and maybe target some smallies.

Got out a couple times this week. Did OK trolling current seams. Lots of small fish with a few nice ones once in awhile. Amazing how those little fish attack those crank baits.

Was out last night from 7-10. Similar experience as walleye wizard but nothing big really.

Jointed rap worked well last night. Decent hatch in progress and lots of fishing busting surface to snap em up.

Great day trolling out there today. Nothing to speak of dragging crawlers but the trolling bit was good. Couple in the low 20’s so nothing big but numbers were good.

Saw @Daveb out there putting a hurtin’ on them. Between our 2 boats I think we caught every walleye from the confluence to the dam.

Good to see you out there too. This fat 24” was our biggest eye. Nice bonus 7lb pike was fun too.

Beautiful morning and a solid bite

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I haven’t spend much time up on that end during the summer. Maybe I’ll need to expand my horizons.

Did find this 27.5” Saturday morning on the lower end

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It’s a numbers game and more multi species up there this time of year. Mid 20’s fish is big for the upper end.

We also stuck a few pike and a couple of cats. Tried pitching and even had the fly rod out for smallies but didn’t get any. They were chasing bait fish but couldn’t get on any of them.

I agree with Dave….beautiful day to be out there.

Matt Moen wrote:

It’s a numbers game and more multi species up there this time of year. Mid 20’s fish is big for the upper end.

We also stuck a few <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>pike and a couple of cats. Tried pitching and even had the fly rod out for smallies but didn’t get any. They were chasing bait fish but couldn’t get on any of them.

I agree with Dave….beautiful day to be out there.

I’ve been expecting to connect with a pike and haven’t yet this year at all. This year has been awfully slow for me up by the dam, which is where I’ve caught them mostly in the past. But other spots down river have been great.

Our largest fish on the upper pool has been 23. It’s always been more of a 16-18 inch fish factory up here above the confluence. I fish it a ton since it’s close to home but really need to up my game on the wing dams further down river.

@Tangler

Up by the dam can be really good but it can also be a desert….the flow is pretty slow up there right now. I wouldn’t really target walleyes up there until the water cools but there are some smallies and pike hanging around the deeper water.

Pitching the dams can be great but will be tough unless you have spot lock….the flow is lower so you could probably anchor if needed. Take a couple hours and scout some to see what’s fishable. Also nice to have SI to see the dam and pick it apart.

Matt Moen wrote:

@tangler

Up by the dam can be really good but it can also be a desert….the flow is pretty slow up there right now. I wouldn’t really target walleyes up there until the water cools but there are some smallies and pike hanging around the deeper water.

Pitching the dams can be great but will be tough unless you have spot lock….the flow is lower so you could probably anchor if needed. Take a couple hours and scout some to see what’s fishable. Also nice to have SI to see the dam and pick it apart.

Pitching can be a major challenge with my setup for sure, but I can usually anchor up if the flow’s not ripping. Otherwise I was thinking of burning some cranks over/past em.

I do have SI, so probably need to spend time scanning around those WD’s.

Now would be a good time….flow is lower. Use SI to pinpoint the dams and then anchor down. It’s pretty easy to see on SI which ones seem ‘fishy’. I know some guys pitch from the back to the front but I’ve never done that.

I’ll let you know if I get down there at all in the next few weeks.

I also fish between 35 e and the dam.(15 minutes from my garage to be launched at Hidden Falls). Current has dropped and the fish are hungry. Current seams with cranks. 19 was largest walleye, but I picked up a monster sheepie that would barely fit in the net. I thought I foul hooked a carp the way it took line.Good Luck and have fun!

mark z wrote:

I also fish between 35 e and the dam.(15 minutes from my garage to be launched at Hidden Falls). Current has dropped and the fish are hungry. Current seams with cranks. 19 was largest walleye, but I picked up a monster sheepie that would barely fit in the net. I thought I foul hooked a carp the way it took line.Good Luck and have fun!

Were you out yesterday? What boat were you in? Always good to connect with folks on the water. We had a few big sheepies and even mouth hooked a carp. Couple crappies on cranks, too.

I’ve got a bronzish Ranger Reata – otherwise I’m in my buddies Crestliner. He’s 6’8″ so tough to miss on the water!

Headed out Wed for first trip of the year. Has the lillydale launch opened yet?

fishdale wrote:

Headed out Wed for first trip of the year. Has the lillydale launch opened yet?

It was closed as of last weekend. Hidden Falls is your best bet right now. Flow is slow but there is still that eddy right at the launch.

Had a solid multi-species night with my kid. Walleye, sauger, pike, one channel cat. All trolling cranks. Me? I caught nothing but small eyes, the kiddo seemed to drag in something different every time!

He got into his biggest walleye yet. Previous pb was 24 caught about 100 yards from this spot. We got it in the net and he was just like WHOA. We were close to shore so pulled up on the beach to handle with care, get a photo and get her swimming again. Well that was the plan anyway, she trampolined right outta the net, shook the hook and that was that. Live and learn. (And buy a deeper net!)

Nothing special about the attached pike photo other than I just love it when they smash a crank with the classic t-bone.

Talked to a nice guy on the water in a white alumacraft with a merc.

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Was out yesterday again but spent more time cruising and picnicing with the family than fishing. I love when the water is this low and you can hang out on the sand shorelines.

Seems like everyone is catching fish but mainly small walleyes – we made a couple of short trolling runs and picked up a handful in the 15″ range.

The pike seem to be picking up. Picked up a handful without trying on cranks – both trolling and pitching. They were all in 3-4′ of water and absolutely crushing baits.

Kinda surprised I haven’t found a smallie bite at all yet. I see a few chasing but haven’t picked any up. Seems like the time of the year for it.

On a side note. Have always done best on noisy firetiger cranks on pool2, but this year a Hot Steel shad rap has been killing everything else. 2nd in line has been a jointed rap. Flicker shads have always been my go-to but it seems like they prefer wobble to rattle right now. Anyone else having a similar/different experience?

tangler wrote:

Seems like everyone is catching fish but mainly small walleyes – we made a couple of short trolling runs and picked up a handful in the 15″ range.

I’m finding some low-20s fish banging bottom in 10-12 fow, and we netted one trophy that used the net as a trampoline. But there are a TON of those 15 inchers to get through.

A number 5 flicker shad is usually my go to for trolling – partially because they are half the price so it doesn’t hurt so bad when you bust them off. My go to’s are orange, green, and purple but when you are burning downstream at 4mph I don’t know if color matters as much.

I like the jointed raps for pitching – they cast a mile and you can work them really slowly over rocks. That’s how I’ve caught my largest fish on the river.

Matt Moen wrote:

A number 5 flicker shad is usually my go to for trolling – partially because they are half the price so it doesn’t hurt so bad when you bust them off.

So you’re still catching ’em on the flickers… So weird. I can’t buy a bite on anything with a rattle right now. Knock on wood, I’m on a good-luck run of not losing cranks.

Smash Shads are turning fish on.

I’ve definitely caught more big fish the last few weeks than under 20″ fish.

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Was out yesterday and caught a good number of smallies pitching! I’ve only caught one pike this year and maybe 6 pike total in 15+ years of fishing P2. The walleyes we caught yesterday were deeper in 10′ or more of water. And I haven’t caught a really big one since the water went down! Just goes to show that anglers can have quite a variety of different experiences on the river simultaneously.

john23 wrote:

Was out yesterday and caught a good number of smallies pitching! I’ve only caught one pike this year and maybe 6 pike total in 15+ years of fishing P2. The walleyes we caught yesterday were deeper in 10′ or more of water. And I haven’t caught a really big one since the water went down! Just goes to show that anglers can have quite a variety of different experiences on the river simultaneously.

John, were in the silver Angler?

@Francis K – you must be fishing the lower end of the pool. Seems to me that when the water warms and drops the upper end fills up with numbers. I think the lower end holds the bigger fish but maybe less on numbers. I plan on being on the lower end later this week hopefully.

Matt Moen wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>john23 wrote:</div>
Was out yesterday and caught a good number of smallies pitching! I’ve only caught one pike this year and maybe 6 pike total in 15+ years of fishing P2. The walleyes we caught yesterday were deeper in 10′ or more of water. And I haven’t caught a really big one since the water went down! Just goes to show that anglers can have quite a variety of different experiences on the river simultaneously.

John, were in the silver Angler?

@francis K – you must be fishing the lower end of the pool. Seems to me that when the water warms and drops the upper end fills up with numbers. I think the lower end holds the bigger fish but maybe less on numbers. I plan on being on the lower end later this week hopefully.

Green 681vs with a blue etec on the back. I’m almost never on the upper end of the pool and agree with your assessment on the fish populations. I’d rather catch one big walleye than 20 sub 20”, but I know that’s not for everyone.

Good deal – there was a guy in a silver Angler working the same trolling run we were.

I’m going to try and get on the lower end Friday and go after some bigger fish. I would generally agree that it’s more fun catching a few bigs than a bunch of littles but the upper end is so much for scenic and better for hanging out. Fishing wingdams isn’t my wife’s idea of a family activity!

Upper end wasn’t as productive for walleyes this morning. Picked up a half dozen in a couple of hours but had a pretty good mixed bag. Caught a handful of smallies that we’re chasing baits shallow. Also picked up a couple nice crappies. If the water cools that bite should start to pick up.

Also got a 33” pike…..that was fun. You know it’s a big fish when you are trolling down stream and then 4’ of line goes slack.

One quick rant…..the city of St. Paul needs to do something about parking at hidden falls. I was there at 0615 so it wasn’t an issue but at 1000 there wasn’t a single trailer spot available. All of them were used by cars. If they need more car spots then mark them. They probably need a dozen trailer spots. Mark then and ticket of people don’t follow the rules.

Beautiful morning out there….here’s my new rig parked at sunrise.

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Pretty rig Matt!

The trailer parking will be addressed, but unlikely to happen until they start the big renovation project. I don’t see why they can’t just put up some dang signs, how hard could that be. Surprisingly hard when dealing with a city that can’t even maintain their streets