Great day on the upper Miss. Mike W. and I have been getting up there at least once a year for the past 3-4 years. With the wind kicking up 15-20, Saturday was a perfect day to skip over Mille Lacs and head up the road just north of Aitkin. Once on the water there were plenty of areas to tuck in and get out of the wind. Actually, the wind we did have was welcome as it kept the bugs away and made for cool comfortable day in the boat.
The water level was just about perfect. About 6-8 inches up over the last couple of August trips. Water clarity was good at just over a foot. We had the ramp and the river to ourselves only seeing one other boat on the water all day! This section of river has an average depth of 3-4 feet with areas as deep as 6-7 feet. This is classic jon boat water. Going slow in most areas is the norm as there are scattered boulders that top out just under the surface. We found fish both the shallow and deep areas.
Spent a good deal of time trolling shallow cranks like #5 flicker shads and #5 rapalas and rattle traps. Trolling both up and down stream keying in of “fishy looking” areas with concentrations of wood and rock. We would also stop and pitch jigs/plastic and jig/crawler or leech to these spots. Trolling and pitching put both smallies, walleyes and an occasional northern in the boat. We had steady action all day with things slowing down around 6pm.
The average size of the smallies was in that 14-15 inch range with a couple hitting the 20 inch mark. Very nice fish for this stretch of the river. The walleyes were not real picture worthy, but in that 16-18 inch range and tasty!! Nothing better than fresh fish straight from the water and into the fryer for lunch!
Looking forward to hitting this stretch of the Miss at least one more time this year. Can you believe its already August???
-J.
