Mississippi River

We opted for a little quiet river fishing in Aitkin county over the weekend. Most of my time on the river up there is spent in the late fall. So we where not sure of what we where in for.
Water levels are still low on the river. About a 1′ higher then last fall. Watch those motors.
The walleyes where a little slow for us. We did manage to pick up about a dozen in the 2 trips we made. The northerns where a little slower than that. The smallies made up most of the action.
We started out trolling crank baits thrue some of the bends on the river. After the 3 fish we stuck it out with blue cranks the rest of the day. Blue seems to be the color on this strech of river when fishing a tough bite.
Slow trolling these baits up stream was the only way to get a bite. .5 to 1 mph and slowly dragging the cranks on the bottom. Lots of pumping action on the rods would trigger the fish.
By Sunday afternoon and to many hours of listening to my old 2 stroke motor it was time to anchor up and pull out the crawlers. Jigs and slip rigs sitting on the bottom managed my last 3 eyes for the weekend.
I would think this area of the river should heat up for fishing in the next few weeks. A little warmer water temp and higher flow should get things going. For now take it slow.

I own a place on Farm island lake just south of Aitkin and have been wanting to fish the river in that area in my canoe. What suggestions do you have for me.

Big. If you are looking for a place to put the canoe in just find a county map. High light the river and then start looking for where ever a road comes near the river. A little road tripping and you should be able to find all the public landigs and a few hidden areas that you can slip a canoe in. Just to list a couple of landings. Aitkin, north side of town. 169 landing. Palisade. There are many more. And alot of them are just far anough apart to make day and half day trips very easy.

A few of the areas that I target eyes at are where creeks and other rivers enter into the main river. Some are good. Others are not so good.
Sharp bends in the river are anouther good place to look for eyes. Both of these types of areas you should be able to find on the county map.
Northerns should be fairly easy to find on the river and I would think trolling shallow running baits should find you a few. Watch out. There is a good number of 10# plus pike in the river.
If you are looking for smallies try the streach of river from palisade to 169 and a little south of there. There is alot of rock and gravel on this area of river. It seems to be a very different river than around Aitkin. As far as what they will take. It might just be easyer for me to list what they wont take.
You might also want to try a search on this sight for Aitkin. I have posted a few reports that might give you a little more info.
Good luck if you get out and make sure you post your results. Also welcome to the site. Looking forward to hearing more reports from the Aitkin area.

i grew up in Kimberly. a small communith between aitkin and Mcgregor. I graduated from Aitkin in 90

Shane. Our place was on long lake road near where the old fire tower was. Graduated year of 87. We must of crossed paths up there somewhere but your name just doesn’t ring a bell.
Did you ever go fishing the northerns in the rice river there in Kimberly?
Drinking warm beer from the Mini 47 and fishing northerns in the rice river. The good old days.

Woooooooo talking about the Mini 47 !!!!I remember the bath tub in the rest room! And how about them ther bands they had in that joint!

Mike, Thanks for the reply I just got the canoe all rigged for fishing and can’t wait to give the river a try, unfortunately I won’t get at it for another 10 days. I’ll let you know who it turns out. Tight Lines!

i got to aitkin school in the year of 88-89, my eleventh grade year. Do you remember a this name, Setzer?? that was my mother and step fathers last name. graduated in 90. I am hopefully going to be heading back up there one of these days for some fishing. I usually head up there and get after the birds.

shane

I left Aitkin right after school in 87. We must have just missed each other.
Most of my time up there is in the fall chasing deer. Have not hunted birds since high school. Now that I have a boat that stays up there there will be a few more summer trips in the works for me.

Go Gobblers

Headed up to my cabin this weekend and planning on hitting the river near Aitkin for a while on Saturday. Anyone been out in the last week or so?

I should be heading back up there either this weekend or the next. Hope to get out on the river for a little while. I would think the northerns should be on the tear on the river by now.
Good luck if you get out.

Anyone been on the river lately. Looks like this weekend I will make it back up there.

well maybe we could get you out on the birds one day during the day and get some fishing in as well. Then we can share some secret spot on the lakes. I used to live out in kimberly while i lived there. the house that i lived in burnt down i guess. the people that bought it from us decided to trash it. bummer, it was a really nice home. anyway, it would be fun to share memories of being a turkey, oops i mean a gobbler!

shane

We will have to talk about it this weekend in redwing. Hopefully I have a few brews under my belt before we start. Then it will all make sence.