Pool 2 Report (2019)

Got out this morning after the storm rolled through and fished shore near Ft Snelling. Caught a couple decent sauger with some really nice colors, a couple of tiny 10-12 inch walleye and my personal best wal……….drum…… put up a helluva fight. Though it was going to be a trophy walleye….oh well. Good fight. Everything hit on a 1/2 oz mooneye jig with a moxie or puls-r in white or purple chartreuse tail. Had a few hits on the lipless crank as well but didn’t stick them.

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Nice going Mahto. You’re not the first person to get excited by a wal-drum. Those buggers are fun!

Little slower on the upper end. Water has warmed back to 70 and is up another couple feet since Monday. The Minnesota is pushing a lot of mud right now.

Picked up about a dozen trolling and pitching live bait at seams. No size….biggest was about a 17” sauger.

Looks like the water should start to stabilize and fall in the next couple days. I’d expect the bite to pickup quickly.

Matt Moen wrote:

Little slower on the upper end. Water has warmed back to 70 and is up another couple feet since Monday. The Minnesota is pushing a lot of mud right now.

Picked up about a dozen trolling and pitching live bait at seams. No size….biggest was about a 17” sauger.

Looks like the water should start to stabilize and fall in the next couple days. I’d expect the bite to pickup quickly.

Nice to meet you out there Matt!
I was throwing plastics from shore in the same area as Matt for a bit and had limited success, live bait seemed to be key. As a river newbie can’t wait for it to pick up and see what the fall bite is all about.

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You too Ben!

That’s a money spot. If the water was a little lower and clearer the plastics would’ve been great. Crankbaits will be another option for awhile….try throwing them and slow roll them across the bottom, especially in the dirty water.

Don’t be afraid to throw parallel to shore, too. They’ll be up tight sometimes and that parallel action mimics the way the bait is moving, too.

Sure I’ll see you down there this fall.

Sounds like you guys had similar results as I did. I’ll be back out there Wednesday morning. Hoping it’ll be a little less muddy and maybe a little cooler.

Made it out of 494 for a little while this morning. Headed south to check a few spots and ger some more break in time on my motor. Found a few walleyes. No real pattern. Plastics, jig and crawler, hair jigs and cranks all caught fish. Nothing big for me today.

I had similar luck yesterday morning also. Caught about 10 or so, most fish came on a hair jig tipped with a crawler on current seams. I also caught a few fish on blades, but it seemed like the live bait was doing better.

Does anybody every use jigging raps on the river here, or does the water stay a little too dirty for them to really be effective?

Mike W wrote:

Made it out of 494 for a little while this morning. Headed south to check a few spots and ger some more break in time on my motor. Found a few walleyes. No real pattern. Plastics, jig and crawler, hair jigs and cranks all caught fish. Nothing big for me today.

Mike, you were loading up as I was pulling out. I was pulling the Reata with the black ram.

We got absolutely schooled yesterday. Haven’t been skunked on the river in a very long time but yesterday was the day. Probably hit a dozen spots with cranks, plastics, live bait, hair.

Should have gone downstream and looked for some cleaner water I guess. Really surprised the water is still 70 degrees. A little cooler and cleaner would be good.

Cleaner water is exactly why I went done river. Only hit a couple spots for fish as I still dont have electronics in the boat. Once the water starts to level off the bite should get better. Think a bright day would help to.

Pool 2 contest is only a couple weeks out. Hope somebody is finding some better fish. I predict its going to take atleast a 25″ average to win.

Mike W wrote:

Pool 2 contest is only a couple weeks out. Hope somebody is finding some better fish. I predict its going to take atleast a 25″ average to win.

Last year it took almost 26″ avg to win. The big ones were hungry that day.

kwp wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Mike W wrote:</div>
Pool 2 contest is only a couple weeks out. Hope somebody is finding some better fish. I predict its going to take atleast a 25″ average to win.

Last year it took almost 26″ avg to win. The big ones were hungry that day.

2 weeks ago before the water rose the average size was good – not quite 26″ but still good. I had a couple days by myself where I could’ve posted an average of about 23″ on 5 fish.

Looks like the water will come down quickly over next few days so the water should clear. I’ll bet the big ones will be available and hungry.

Matt Moen wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>kwp wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Mike W wrote:</div>
Pool 2 contest is only a couple weeks out. Hope somebody is finding some better fish. I predict its going to take atleast a 25″ average to win.

Last year it took almost 26″ avg to win. The big ones were hungry that day.

2 weeks ago before the water rose the average size was good – not quite 26″ but still good. I had a couple days by myself where I could’ve posted an average of about 23″ on 5 fish.

Looks like the water will come down quickly over next few days so the water should clear. I’ll bet the big ones will be available and hungry.

I wont be hungry. Starting the day with White Castles.

High water falls typically show the best results for the contest. Low water falls its been below a 24 to 25″ average with 27″ ers taking big fish.

I am thinking of going out and trying Pool 2. Never been out there and have been a little hesitant to try fishing it in a boat. I fish the sippi’ in otsego often but always from shore. any tips or info on helping a newbie out would be appreciated!

Upper end was good tonight. Wasn’t out for long and got chased off by the lightning. Decided to find cleaner water above the confluence and that was the ticket. The slowest water off the main channel always held fish. Felt like bass fishing moving downstream pitching to the shorelines. Pick 1 up and then spot lock and pitch. Most spots seemed to hold a few fish.

Live bait on light jigs held in the seams produced a lot of fish. Picked up a bonus 13” crappie. No real size to the walleye or sauger.

Water is still 70 and it’s high and still ripping. Hardly an area to beach the boat at Hidden Falls. I was able to jump from the bow to the retaining wall. Looks like it will start to come down fast now.

Matt Moen wrote:

Upper end was good tonight. Wasn’t out for long and got chased off by the lightning. Decided to find cleaner water above the confluence and that was the ticket. The slowest water off the main channel always held fish. Felt like bass fishing moving downstream pitching to the shorelines. Pick 1 up and then spot lock and pitch. Most spots seemed to hold a few fish.

Live bait on light jigs held in the seams produced a lot of fish. Picked up a bonus 13” crappie. No real size to the <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleye or sauger.

Water is still 70 and it’s high and still ripping. Hardly an area to beach the boat at Hidden Falls. I was able to jump from the bow to the retaining wall. Looks like it will start to come down fast now.

Going out in the morning. Was hoping to hear it had come down or at least cleared up a little. Oh well. Hoping I run into some size tomorrow at least.

Out again with the same results. A 7 or 8 walleye all around the 12 inch mark and one sheepshead. Normal size this time. Did have one new species show up today though……Fell out of a tree and landed in the river about a foot from my buddy. Scared the crap out of him. Can’t say I’ve ever seen that before.

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Ah crap. Sorry for the doubles.

It was good to help the little bugger out. Bats are getting more and more rare every day. I know the MN population is DRASTICALLY down in the past 5 years.

I’ll be out Saturday morning to chase walters while a buddy chucks for smallies. looks like the water level bell curve starts to head back down in the next few days.

Cody Meyers wrote:

It was good to help the little bugger out. Bats are getting more and more rare every day. I know the MN population is DRASTICALLY down in the past 5 years.

I’ll be out Saturday morning to chase walters while a buddy chucks for smallies. looks like the water level bell curve starts to head back down in the next few days.

It was up a few more feet since I was out last Thursday and they must’ve opened a lock at the damn or something because all of a sudden there were full trees and logs and an amazing amount of garbage flowing through for about 20 minutes. Couldn’t believe it.

I was amazed how variable the flow was last night. I’d be sitting in a spot with a consistent seam or even back flow and it would change completely to ripping downstream. Either had to move or wait and it would change again.

Matt Moen wrote:

I was amazed how variable the flow was last night. I’d be sitting in a spot with a consistent seam or even back flow and it would change completely to ripping downstream. Either had to move or wait and it would change again.

Exactly how it was today.

The bite seems to be picking up! That or I just got lucky on my spot yesterday afternoon. Only fished for a couple of hours and caught about 10 12-14inchers and a nice 17” as well. Of course lost a big one that peeled a bunch of drag and ripped my plastic off.

I’m getting back into river fishing this fall. Got a new rig this week and the maiden voyage is tonight. Sounds like great fall conditions setting up with high flows and the river falling now.

Good luck Jason. What did you get for a boat? Fishing the pool 2 contest again?

Great bite tonight upper portion. A lot of 12-14” fish, 4-17-20”.
Found a current break and camped out. 50/50 on minnows or blade baits. Next few days should be great!

@ Mike – I got a used Lowe 16′ jon (roughneck) with a 40hp Yamaha. Last night I was mostly just getting to know the boat. I was pretty happy overall. Only thing I couldn’t figure out is I don’t think the VTS on the tiller handle is working.

Anyway I did fish a bit from the pigs eye barge channel down to just below Lions. Lots of flow, water still kinda dirty but not too bad. Some nice seams setting up along shorelines. I’ll be out this weekend again trying to put together a milk run. Don’t think I’ll fish the tourny this year – I’m pretty rusty. But ya never know. I sure did miss the smell of the rendering plant!

I put in a LIons and needed waders. The dock is still a foot under water. Noticed 494 was under as well. See ya out there!

PS – I got shamed by the AIS attendant for putting my plug in the boat up in the parking lot above the landing where i prepped the boat instead of down at the landing where he could see me. :/

JasonP wrote:

@ Mike – I got a used Lowe 16′ jon (roughneck) with a 40hp Yamaha. Last night I was mostly just getting to know the boat. I was pretty happy overall. Only thing I couldn’t figure out is I don’t think the VTS on the tiller handle is working.

I’ve got a 25 with it and that needs to be fully warmed up before it will work.

If you don’t have one, it might be good to get something like a Tinytac to monitor and adjust the rpm setting.

I just picked up a 18′ Lowe jon boat a few weeks back. Been a fantastic boat so far. Hope to get a depth finder on it this weekend or Ill be fish the contest blind. Hope to see you there.