Sounds like you are gonna have some fun. Catch a bunch Ed.
Anyone know anything about this place. I read this on their web site:
"Our village is known around the world as the birthplace of famous children's author Laura Ingalls Wilder whose first book, Little House in the Big Woods, described her time here. Our village is located on Lake Pepin, the widest and, many say, most beautiful spot on the Mississippi River."
And it's a heck of a nice drive up the MS River, along side it. On the way you got these things sticking right up out of the Earth!
I should get lots of cool pictures here, the trees are just barely starting to change.
Sounds like you are gonna have some fun. Catch a bunch Ed.
Aquatic Species Removal Engineer.
May God be with you. Keep CALM and STAY ANCHORED with your faith.
Is the current in the Mississippi River strong up there? Just wondering, tried it once down here. Never again, scared me big time. Have fun, let's see some pictures.
Randy Andres
you will have a good time
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That's Walleye country, although pooi13, south of Pepin has been producing some big crappie now that,, the river is in normal pool. So I hear.
Slab it's beautiful up there....would go that way up to or back from St Paul visiting my sister. Water skiing invented there and lots of great shops...restaurants..have fun. Red Wing to lake City pretty drive.
"Guns have only two enemies rust and politicians."
The press tour meet and greet went well. Got my pic taken with the women travel writers.
Very funny pizza they made with corn in it. They called it Sunshine Pizza. It really was good though, but I like corn a lot.
Supposed to Kayak this morning, and fish this afternoon. I'm thinking the kayaking might be out though. It's in the 40's here right now! And every time I go yaking, I get wet. I always get water on my lap from picking up the paddles. Fishing off a barge this afternoon. Should be fun. I'll get some good pics.
good luck up there boss!
You really look unhappy Slab lol
I have spent most my life fishing........the rest I wasted.
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Hey Slab,
I fish up there every year as my best bud lives in Wabasha, MN (just across the river). Lake Pepin typically has very little current on the WI side, and it increases as you get closer to the main channel along the RR tracks on the MN side. The point where the lake narrows back into the river is commonly known as "the willows" due to the concentration of willows along the WI side in this area. From late April through June, walleye anglers pack this area gunnel to gunnel for pre/spawn/post spawn walleyes as the bottom is generally a large flat with lots of gravel AND zebra mussels (very sharp and hard on the mono). The area is also loaded with drum, moon eyes, sauger, northerns, channel cats, and white bass, and on a good day, drifting through the willows with a piece of a nightcrawler or trolling cranks can produce some fast action.
Fishing for gills, crappies, and perch in this section of the river is most often done off the main channel in the backwaters where there is enough water to navigate, access to deep water, and creek channels coming in to the river. I have also heard guys having some luck on the wing dams and box dams for pan fish when water is at normal pool. If you like smallmouth fishing, this section of river has some giants, and we've caught them along the rocky shorelines and in front of wing dams with current. My personal best is an 18" bronzeback caught on the bottom with a night crawler.
My crew has had very good luck for 8-9" gills just south of Pepin along the RR tracks on the MN side. Find the deep water drop off near the rocks on your electronics and simply drop a slip float and red worm or piece of a crawler on the bank side of the boat . For additional fun, you can toss stink bait on the channel side of the boat for ferocious channel cat action. The bait shops in the area sell a local cheese bait that the cats will take over any other brand, and it is common to be fighting a bull gill in one hand while a cat screams drag in the other hand.
Regardless of what you decide to do, this is an area of the river where one would have to try in order to have a bad time. The views from the WI bluffs are some of the best in the Midwest, and make sure you visit Alma to see the lock and dam system. There is a barge that one can pay to fish from below the dam, and a friend of ours boated a 14# and 16# walleye on the same day two years apart during the walleye spawn. If you are a wine drinker, the Alma winery near the lookout point above Alma is a fantastic spot, and I highly recommend the 100% raspberry wine and the "alma nectar". There is a discount for purchasing a case of wine, and I recommend you go this route!
Enjoy!