Hotspotoutdoors

How has the walleye bite been on pepin have not been out there in about 2 weeks now. Heading out this weekend. Any good locations to try?

I have talked to a couple people that say the walleye bite is actually pretty good right now, around the lake city area, not sure of depths though, I'm going next tuesday and will report back after I;m done.

Walleye bite good. Was out both Sat and Sun 4 keepers each day avg 16" biggest was 21" most caught in 15 to 20 FOW with a Red color hair jig tipped with a fathead.

I've been out about five times this week and plan on going tomorrow. Have done pretty well catching at least 30 fish each day, and I will tell you I never put any hair jig of any sort on. Not saying doesn't work just saying, don't be afraid of trying other things.

I did very well Saturday. Didn't even get to try trolling! They were jumping in the boat. I didn't get on the water till about 11am and they were already in 20-25 FOW. We had 4 people in the boat and there where several times we all had fish on at the same time. Busy day!

Heading out on Saturday,I have only fished Pepin once and had good luck on leadcore.I'M not looking for anybodies hot spots just looking for a good starting point on the lake and what I should use this time of year. Thanks !

Where are you putting in? Right now the wing dams are producing some walleyes. Livebait has been better for me in the morning and have been trolling with a three way to get the lure down to 20 feet in the afternoon. I like to find the spots where there is some undulation on the bottom. The walleyes sink in those slightly deeper holes and come up after the lure when trolling.

I'm heading down from Farmington so I can launch at any of the landings.Are the wing dams more productive north of Pepin,or south this time of year, or does it matter?

Most of the wingdams are on the south end of lake pepin.

Was out on pepin Sunday night for about an hour and a half and boated about 15 walleyes...only 2 over 15. Went out Monday morning and fished from 7-11:30 and caught around 30 small walleyes and sauger.

staying at lake city next week are the wallies or anything else biteing? what are they hitting on ive never fished the river looking foward to it thanks for any help

I have had a chance to get out fishing thursday and friday of this week .Thursday was fantastic,my 20 year son and I fished from 6am-12pm and caught nearly 60 sauger, 2 crappie, 12 and 13 inches and 1 northern.We kept our limit between 17 -21 inches.We were trolling number 5 shad raps on leadcore in 14-20 feet of water near Lake City.Friday I was fishing solo and the bite was slower I caught 10 sauger and 5 walleye I kept 3 for the box and released the rest including a 23 inch walleye .I used shad raps and jigs and leeches friday.Thursday was my sons first trip to Pepin,with work and college we don't get out fishing as much as we used to ,so we really had a great time !

Sweet, last year about this time we drilled the walleyes and saugers out there. Missed out on it this year.

My father in law, 8 year old son, and I were camping at Hok-Si-La from Sunday night to Wednesday morning. It is quite and interesting way they do things to say the least. First time we had ever heard of not parking next to your campsite. We were kind of leary but with it almost dark we decided to stick it out. We were fishing Pepin near Lake City on Monday and Tuesday. We kept 15 sauger in the two days we were there. Two walleye under 15" were released as well as many, many sheephead. Two channel cats in the 5# range put a bend in our rods as well. I felt we did pretty well seeing it was the first time fishing on Pepin.

Wednesday morning I awoke to find the cooler, that was sitting right outside our tent, was empty. A twelve pack of my favorite beverage, a couple sodas, and 10 of our sauger were missing. The only thing left in the cooler was a dozen night crawlers. Things have sure changed over the years. A guy never used to have to worry about stuff like that happening in the past. It also happened a couple of years ago up at LOW. Needless to say we won't leave our coolers outside any longer and that campground will no longer have the honor of having us for guests. It is a very nice place but this could have been avoided if a guy could park at his campsite. Are there other campgrounds in the area that anyone would reccommend?

Indeed it is a nice campground but it can be dicey with the type of crowd moving through the public beach. You get a lot of high school punks passing through there in bunches and you know how they can act when there with thier friends. Sorry I can't really point you in the right direction for as far as campgrounds. Then only other one I've been to is in Maiden rock right on lake Pepin, but if I remember correctly the railroad tracks run along side the campground making for a loud stay.

You get used to the train rather quickly.

i'm taking the girlfriend out on pepin tomorrow evening...i haven't fished out there for a couple years now...where's a few places to start and try to get on some eyes/saugers? nothin to serious with the gf...maybe pitch some hair jigs, slip bobber, and troll some raps with normal line no leadcore...mainly goin just to get out there and have something fun to do on the 4th...but if someone can send me in the right direction i'd appriciate it!!

Found some big fish in 30 FOW on the Minnesota side out from the rip rap. Biggest fish was 27 3/4 inches. Used 2 ounce bottom bouncers and spinner rigs with an 8 foot lead. Silver spinner with four red beads below then red hooks and a crawler. No bites with cranks, but I was having trouble getting them deep enough, no lead core.

What do you mean by rip rap like up by hansons harbor just wondering heading down this weekend. Have spots lined up but always open to a new tip

The big shoreline boulders on the Minnesota side. We trolled from point to point staying in 24 to 32 FOW. Get a fish, go back that point and troll again. After a couple of passes with no fish, go to the next couple. All south of Lake City.

You are the man.... One of the few pieces of useful information I've picked up since joining this forum. Of course, there is no guarantee of fish, but enough for a somewhat educated start.

Thanks.


I was out there 2 weekends ago (I know, pretty useless by now). Pulled saugeyes from 12" to 17" by the minute just barely south of the wingdam thingie in Lake City. All on chartreuse jigs with 1/4 oz. jigheads in pink and hot orange flavor. Red hooks preferred. Also trolled a #9 Rapala Minnow Rap as well in 14' to 16' of water back and forth in the same area while dodging other trollers and picked up the larger fish of the bunch. Can anyone confirm if this bite still happening?

Thanks!!

I have not seen the jig bite as of late. Two weeks ago, the fishing was pretty good with jigs on wing damns. It has slowed down some. They are shallower in the morning, but as soon as the sun started to get higher, the schools were moving into deeper water.

Down to Pepin on Sunday with a buddy for a few hours. Started out pulling cranks in the morning and caught 3 dink eyes in about 10 fow. Tried the cranks a little deeper with no luck. Trolled the shoreline on the Minnesota side and found some new sheepie honey holes. As a matter of fact the entire 2+ mile run seemed to be a honey hole. Don't anybody press me for coordinates because my lips are sealed. Anyhow ended back at the point where we caught the 3 dinks and decided to lindy a crawler and a leech in deeper water (25 fow). Ended up with a double on the last pass of the day, a 28" walleye and an 11# channel cat. Both fish were within 10 feet of each other. Great way to end a day, watching two nice fish swim away from the boat.

Was testing out my kicker motor and first time using lead core. Got down to the river about 11:00 am. trolled the Minnesota side, in 20 minutes I had a sheep head, 10 minutes later, I had a 27 inch walleye. No more the rest of the day, but I didn't hit it too hard and only stayed on the water till 2:00, like I said, I was testing some things. Fished in 25-30 FOW, using the lead core 150 ft behind the boat going about 1.8 mph.

went out to Lake City tonight and the algae is really getting bad. Trolled for about 2 hours in 23-18 feet with 1 hit... Fished the shallow to swirling fish and landed 3 fair sized smallmouth. thats about it