Mississippi River Pool 2
September 28, 2020
The Mississippi River Pool 2 offers a very unique fishing experience to those who live in the Twin Cities. Being right in the heart of the Twin Cities is surprisingly a great fishery. The Mississippi offers year-round fishing for game species, although there is a trade off that all walleye and bass must be catch-and-release only.
The Mississippi River offers a different fishing experience compared to the lakes in the area. The river offers species like channel catfish, white bass, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, northern pike, muskie, walleye, sauger, yellow perch, black crappie, white crappie, bluegill, sheepshead, common carp, and sturgeon. With all these species in the river it allows for the opportunity to catch all these different species in one spot, you’ll never know what’s on the end of your line.
Often just using a jig tipped with a minnow can catch just about any species of fish in the river and can offer a very fun fishing experience.”
— Charles Hansen
The Mississippi River Pool 2 (Extends from the Ford Dam to the Lock & Dam 2 in Hastings) holds another surprise: a trophy walleye fishery. The restriction of keeping walleye allows for the walleye to grow to very large sizes. Anglers pull 30+inch fish out of this fishery all the time! With walleye 20-27 inches also very common, walleye in this fishery are abundant and known to be caught on jigs with live minnows, lindy rigs, trolling crankbaits, and soft plastic lures like mozies and ring worms.
Channel catfish, sheepshead, smallmouth bass, and crappie are also abundant. Channel catfish are often fished for with a large weight and a circle hook with either worms, chicken liver, or even cut bait. Crappie in the river can either be black crappie or white crappie. Often caught with slip bobbers, jigs with a minnow, on worms or even some walleye rigs can produce some numbers or crappie. Larger sized crappies around 12-15 inch crappies are common in the river as well. Smallmouth bass are often caught with jigs and a minnow, crankbaits, soft plastics, and live bait. Sheepsheads are often caught on accident and usually on a jig and a minnow.
Despite being an odd fishery for most in the Twin Cities, it offers some great fishing. Often just using a jig tipped with a minnow can catch just about any species of fish in the river and can offer a very fun fishing experience. The distinct features the river has and the surprisingly good fishing makes Mississippi River pool 2 a hotspot fishery in the Twin Cities.