Hotspotoutdoors

im looking to catch some big wallys this wknd.. not looking to keep anything just want pictures. were is my best bet cr dam or pool 2.. and were on these are good spots? never river fished before? will be fishing from shore..

I don't know much about pool 2. But I can tell you if you want to catch some big CARP, go to the CR dam. I havent fished the cr dam much, but never have caught a walleye there...plenty of bass, crappie and carp...but no eyes

Pool 2 is always a good place to catch walters. The last month I have not heard anything big coming out of Pool 2 by those who have been targeting them, but fish are being caught. Up by Coon Rapids dam you can keep walleyes if you wanted after mid-night Friday/Saturday. Pool 2 is catch & release only year round for walleyes.

The thread at the top of the forum marked "everything you need to know" will help you out on spots for fishing Pool 2. Check out the Mississippi north forum for more information on the CR dam.

Good luck!

shack its just the opposite, ive caught nothing BUT big walleye on P2 this year.

blakeb i noticed there is a number of places to park and shore fish.. is there one that you would suggest, and fishing methods? heck i dont even care if i catch big carp.. i just want some pictures!! i have my gps with navionics i dont know if this will help me from shore but i thought i would bring it just in case..

call me around eight am and ill have a free minute, seven 1 5 four nine 7 nine three three 8

Sorry blakeb. When I talk about walleyes on Pool 2 and "big", I am talking over 31".

That reminds me. I am going to try and get some data I reviewed at a recent DNR fisheries meeting concerning Pool 2. You would not believe the stats the DNR has on walleyes over 30" per acre on Pool 2. I will see if Joel can forward me his info.

A 25,17 and a few smaller fish were released on
Saturday. Lots of debris on most of the system.
The recent rain also has water temps at 57
degrees. Things will get better in a week or so.

Got into a bunch of decent fish on saturday this was the biggest of the day just under 26

shack i so wanna see that info, i know its got to be a high population, and there has to be state record size fish present.

Was out on pool 2 last night. found 72° water temps in one back waters area!! caught 5 smallies and 1 pike. Biggest smallie prolly went around 15 inch. caught couple on spinnerbait and the others on wacky rigged senko

bassfishin24 are u catching any largemouths in the backwaters. I was fishing pool 4 backwater redwing area and found same water temps, but could not catch any fish in there. Saw alot of carps though.

fishn--ive been only catchin smallies in the last couple weeks but thats just because ive been fishing the upper part of pool 2 and there arent as many largemouth up there as further down on pool 2...ill be headin out again this week sometime. smallies should be goin nutz!!

Any fish over 28 is a good fish down there and 30 is pretty realistic for a yearly goal but not too many over 31" IMO. I dont know if it is due to stress through out the spawn but you just dont see them like a guy would think. Especally with the amount of fish that run 28-30 inches!!! I have olny caugth/seen one that hit 32" and I was 14 years old. Almost 16 years ago. In 05 I caught a 31" and that is the olny other one I have ever seen go over 31". Do know one good source that scaled a 32 in November and that went 14.2 lbs and it the biggest I have ever heard of out of P2!!! There has to be bigger ones in there but better have your horseshoe along!! P4 produces 32" fish every for some lucky guys but you rarely hear of them here on 2. There have been a few 30's caught so far this year and they should reach that mark by fall when they are all beefed up.

joe i got some more jumbo walleye bait is you want some.

Is there good shore fishing access just below the Hastings dam?

jonboatjunkie, Yes, there are a lot of shore fishing spots. You can start at the boat launch and walk all the way yo the lock. To get there just turn right after you cross the Hastings Bridge and then an immediate right again, then just follow the river upstream till you get to the public parking spots and walk to the river. It's really close. Good luck!

Thanks, FishonTom! I appreciate the info!

Got this girl today, biggest of the year so far. 5ft on top of a wing dam casting a crankbait. 28.5 8lbs 10oz

Nice Fish OLY! That's the icing on the cake on a day like today! Heck on any day!

Dang, I was planning on going out today too!

Made it down for this evening for some fishing and the high fast water seemed to have no effect on the walleye bite, I set up in the usual spot and it was bobber down bobber down what a good evening, lots of small ones biggest tonight 18" but tuesday was a 26" but a fair amount of 18" to 20s, last sunday was the best night in a month

launched out of lions levee the other morning. was by myself and was looking to chase some eyes. did some vertical drift jigging as well as trolled some cranks and did very well on mid size fish. lots of 17-22 inchers... couldnt find any of the bigger fish. also tried using a blade bait for 5 min before i left and had a really nice bite, nicest of the day by far, and fought the fish for about a minute and a half and just as i was getting it close enough to see, it got off. i swore i saw flashed of white on the bottom of its tail and fins but i didnt get a good look at the size... i like fishing the downriver part of pool 2 a lot more then fishing up river. i used to only fish up by the dam and around the confluence and a few bridges down there. going down river there is a lot more structure and wing dams to fish. lots of new area to learn!

What are the conditions like on pool 2 right now? Im thinking about launching further south this time to fish the wing dams. And how much water is over the wingdams? If I accidentally went over one in a 14 foot boat would I hit anything?