We fished the river between the Red Wing dam and Lake Pepin pretty intensively starting this early spring and through late spring. Been fishing the lake pretty intensively through the summer. Decided to do that to really learn the spots, techniques, and fish movements/patterns. It paid off - we had good action throughout this time. Had to take a month off due to surgery, but in the last week or so, have been back at it again. Seems to be the August walleye slow down that happens in most lakes during the "dog days" - couldn't be operator error, of course! With a little more moderate weather just starting, can't wait for the cooler weather and cooler water temps to turn those walleyes on fire again. My question is this - is there a fall walleye run up to the Red Wing dam, similar to the spring run, but maybe to a little lesser extent?? Never fished Pepin or the river by Red Wing in the fall, so that's why I'm asking. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Lake Pepin, Pepin County
Waxing Crescent
Cloudy
81° - 88° F
Got out a couple weeks ago, water was dirty (maybe that way all the time). We just pulled cranks (bright colors, different depths) primarily in 8-14' of water. Water was high but also first time on the lake/river. Marked a lot of fish and found some lumber in the water that appeared to be holding panfish (maybe). Just an exploratory trip, fished the west end of the lake along the north side and along the three points on the south side where the river came in. Looking to go back this weekend or next. Still trying to figure out my electronics but lot of fish like the one screen shot scattered in 12ish feet of water and most of the lumber piles/sticks we found in 10-12' of water appeared to be holding fish. First time on Pepin so just feeling it out. Any tips would be appreciated; from what I've seen bright colors? I'm not sure I could see even a foot down, is that typical or just typical of high water?
First Quarter
Report from last week....
Major mayfly hatch prior to our arrival made things very tough to say the least. Pulled cranks Thursday on the Maiden Rock flats, marked tons of bait and fish in all depths but no takers. Clouds of flys showing up on the Helix. Friday pulled cranks from Pepin to Bogus Creek from 9-14 ft of water with the same results. Surface covered with mayfly bodies, again marked tons of fish but with all the food falling and floating our baits were ignored. We did manage to get into some GIANT gills and some really nice perch. Fished small flies under bobbers with a piece of crawler or leaf worm. Fish were feeding on the surface all day even when the winds started to whip up the lake. 2 perfect days out there weather wise and I learned alot as far as trolling. I will return and hopefully no hatch to deal with. All the gills we caught looked like the were spawning due to their bellies being full of those darn mayflies. Great times on the mighty Mississippi like always.
Good luck to all of you who venture out in the near future, looking forward to seeing some more posts here so next time I can get some of the walleyes that are out there !!
Looking to make a foray to Lake Pepin. I live about an hour away and bought a boat this summer. Wondering about putting in at Bay City, any issues traveling east towards the main lake, anything to look out for.
Also, looking to target walleyes between there and the Root River with the kids in a couple weeks; generally does pulling raps work? Spinners with crawler harnesses or jigs? Also was thinking on an evening or given it's the river are they active all day.
Heard the east end can be really rough and harder to fish?
Any help would be appreciated, PM me or respond. Thanks
