Looks like I will get anouther chance to hit the river near Aitkin again this weekend. Any one else been out there lately?Heard last week it was at it yearly lowest. A person could almost jump from boulder to boulder at that point. Hope they got some rain since then.
Even tho it was low I also heard the walleyes where still biting. Those smallies must still be going also.
Any one been out lately.
Mike, I can report that we received almost 2 inches of rain Monday. No reports from the river, sorry!
Just cant waite to get that new ride wet I bet. The DNR had a riverpro up there 2 years ago. Those guys had a blast and scared a few fisher man. Perfect river for that boat. Are you planning on being up that way any time this fall?
Thanks Bob. 2″ must of been very welcomed up there. It was getting pretty dry.
The river was good to me on friday. Was suprised to see that it was the lowest I had seen it this summer. Made me a little worried about running my bigger jon boat up there. With a little caution the boat made it threw with out any dings.
As time was a little short I just headed to my usual honey hole. Wondering if the walleyes where still there it didnt take long for them to show me they where. Didnt even get my rattle trap out to the usual 65′ before the first one hit. A few minutes latter and there was a second coming in to the boat. Managed 6 eyes on the first pass. Got to love fall fishing one the upper mississippi.
After the first pass they slowed down a bit. Anouther boat moved in to work the same area I was and am sure between the 2 of us we sent the fish scattering. A little more stealth might be needed to stay on these shallow water fish. Did end up catching about 15 eyes in the couple hours I had to fish. Kept a few 15″ to 18″ fish for the pan. 20″ seems to be a good size on this streach of river. Did hook into one that Im guessing must of been around 24″
One fish that did not make a appearance on this trip was the small mouth bass. They made up most of the catch on fishing trips earlyer this year. Still have not caught a northern up here yet this year either.
Trolling crankbaits is my favorite for catching eyes on this streach of river. It is not a bad idea to bring along some meat either. Once and a while they just dont want a crankbait. The other boat fishing the area on friday was dunking minnnows and putting a few fish in the boat. Not as fast a crankbaits. We have had a few trips where the minnow guys will just smoke us. Have had some luck on plastics also.
Looks like 2 weeks before getting a chance to get back up there. Any one else been out on the river.
Not much difference going on on the river this weekend. Water is still low. Walleyes are still bitting. The leaves have started falling of the trees so that is making the trolling bite a little more of a chore. With the water clearing up the middle of the day bite seems to be shifting towards the evening also. There are still walleyes to be caught during the day. It just seems like you troll threw a hole and pick off the active ones and then move on. Checking back on these spots towards evening you might find better action.
Finely had some northerns show up this weekend. Have noit caught many this year on the river. Sunday evening the went nuts. Even had one snatch a crank bait that was hanging over the side of the boat on the surface of the water. Not much for size on the northerns but at least they stink and are full of slim. 
Heard the DNR is doing some musky stocking on the river in the area. Couple of questions. Wondering what the musky might do to the fishery up there and second question is how to tell the difference between a musky and northern. caught a few small fish this weekend that I was wondering is they might of been musky.
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