Walleye fishing on pool 2 has been pretty consistent for the last few weeks. Several different presentation are working for connecting with good sized river walleyes, saugers and other fish. The over all size of the walleye we are finding has been great with 24" to 26"s making up most of the catch. Numbers havent been to bad either with 2 fish a hour being about average. Some days are better. Some a little slower. Throw in some great weather the last few weeks and its been some great fishing.
26" Mississippi River walleye.
Long line trolling crank baits has still made up the majority of our presentation lately. Most of this has been done on rock structures with good current on it. Depths have ranged from 3 to 15'. IF the fish are not feeding on top of the structures we move a little deeper until we find them. Shad raps and flicker shads in #5 and #7s have worked well for this presentation. Color preference has been all over the place the last few weeks. Reds, browns, fire tiger, blues. Make sure to show them some variety.
Night crawler walleye.
Pitching jigs and crank baits to rock piles and wingdams has also been a good approach to getting the walleyes to bite. Pitching jigs is by far my favorite way to catch these fish. Black and parrot hair jigs have been working well along with purple/white or chartreuse ring worm and paddle tails. The last few trips H2O jigs tipped with a 1/3 night crawler has been the top producer. The wire bait keepers on these jigs is not only great for plastics but works really well for holding night crawlers. Live bait will stay on cast after cast.
26" pool 2 wingdam walleye.
Water levels on pool 2 are getting to there normal summer time low stage. Looking for areas with good flow on it means we have been target the main channel. Out side bends in the river and 1st wingdams in a series have been good. Water temps are hitting the mid 70s. Clarity is a little better than a few weeks ago. I would guess you may be able to see a foot deep. There are plenty of other fish bitting right along with the walleyes. A few saugers show up each trip. Its not uncommon to find them real shallow this time of year. Plenty of white bass and a few small mouth are being caught on the rocks. As usual there is always a few sheep heads to keep you guessing to. These fish thrown in with the good sized walleyes has made for some very good fishing trips this summer. If you havent been out lately grab some jigs and crawlers or a trolling rod and give pool 2 a try.
Here are a few more photos from the last few weeks. The one photos is of a sauger that was caught and came in with a stick in it mouth. Ouch. Hope that guy was all right.
Bob and I also had a nice 26"er that hit both of our jigs. Mine 1st with a crawler on it. Then a second later a hair jig Bob was fishing. It came to the surface with both hooks in its mouth. Bob jig fell out before it when in the landing net. That means Bob lost his fish but I caught mine.
Excellent report Mike!!! I'm finally going to get on P2 after a month-long absence. I feel like I've missed the best bite of the year...probably because I did!!!
plungepool
Member
Reged: 12/13/03
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Loc: Hudson, WI
Hope to see you guys out there. I should be out early in the mornings over the weekend. Been launching out of Lions Levey lately. That sure is a nice landing to launch out of.
I didn't catch any walleyes worth picturing. I did catch a few though. That smallmouth was sitting right in a spot that should have had a 30" walleye sitting there. You know? Like that one you caught with DeeZee and me.
dd
Steve DeZurik
IDA Pro Staff
Reged: 06/11/01
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Loc: Champlin, Mn
Great report guys! Good to see a solid dam bite down there finally. Its been such a bumpy spring. I remember those days when we would have a actual normal spring and the May dam bite used to be real good! I sure miss those days. I wish I had the time to get down there!
There is some good info there that I have to give a shot on p3! I haven't been trolling at all as of late, but from the looks of it I'll have to bust the big sticks out again.
Jami
*Nick*
Site Guardian - Gold
Reged: 07/10/03
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Loc: Lakeville, MN
I got out for a couple hours today, seen a couple other boats, one appeard to have a Moore's bait sticker and the other was grey tuffy, there was also a nice blue lund out and about, Not sure if you guys post on here.
I pretty much did what you said Mike, found a nice wingdam with some current on it, anchored up stream, tossed ringworms for about 5 minutes, with nothing to show, switched to half a crawler and jig, had a sauger (about 12 inches ) on the first cast, caught a white bass, and a sheepie, and the a 20" walleye all fish came pretty much off the front of the wingdam, maybe 10' of water.
Went for a boat ride down river trolled a short stretch, hooked up with a big ole crankbait eating sheepie. I was about to start trolling again, as I looked up I could see the Sky getting a bit darker, and knowing the storm predictions for the day, a quick check of the radar, and I decided to call it a day and hualed butt back the the launch, and loaded up, I was able to beat the storm, and get everything put away about 10 mintues before the wind and hail set in here at home.
Mike W
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Reged: 04/01/02
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Loc: MN/Anoka/Ham lake
Good to hear you got out Nick. I would bet that was Bob Johnston with the Moores Bait and Tackle sticker on his boat. Most of the fish we have been finding on jigs have been deeper on the dam. Targeting areas where the edge of the channel meets the wingdams or areas with current breaks on them. I think some time those fish will move off the dams and onto the channel edge in front of the dam. Ill be looking for more of these spots on saturday. Cant wait to get back out there.
Hi all, First time posting to IDO, I was in the Tuffy on 7-10-08 and we just got off before the storm hit. Second time fishing pool 2, normally fish out of Wabasha. Whe caught 4 nice walleye with two around 25 inches. We droped in at the Lillydale landing. I have dropped in South Saint Paul. I saw that some one mentioned the Lions Levey. Is that a public launch and where is it? Also we fished a few wingdams down from the South St. Paul launch. We only made it down to the before the coke refinary. Are there more good wing dams down along and below the refinary? Thanks for your time.
Brad Juaire
IDA Field Staff
Reged: 03/18/05
Posts: 1068
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Loc: Maple Grove, MN
Lions Levey is located just south of the refinery in South Saint Paul Park. You can take the Summit exit off of 61 to get there. Its on 7th st. Yes it is a free public landing.
There are lots of wingdams south of the refinery. All the way to Hastings. The 07 Lake Master chip shows a lot of them and is a big help with getting set up on them. You can also get maps of them from the army corp of engineers web site. There is also lots of submerged riprap along the channel that can be good fishing to.
Thank you very much for the information on the landing. I used it with a friend on Sunday. We had good trip and caught about 10 walleye, with the biggest bein almost 27 inches and it looked like a football it was so wide. Thank you again for the info, it was greatly appreciated.
Pool 2 mississippi walleye report
Re: Pool 2 mississippi walleye report
I gotta get out, looks like i'll be able to get out a little tomorrow morning.
That smallmouth was sitting right in a spot that should have had a 30" walleye sitting there. You know? Like that one you caught with DeeZee and me. 
) on the first cast, caught a white bass, and a sheepie, and the a 20" walleye all fish came pretty much off the front of the wingdam, maybe 10' of water. 
