Upper Mississippi river smallie report

The smallie fishing continues to be strong…today I was on a mission to use only plastics and try diferent areas of the river. Call it a fishing challenge, find the fish without trolling.

I fished from 9:00am until 1:00pm and found the smallies hanging on the channel edges in 4′ to 9′ of water. The presentation was cast…jig…cast…jig ect. Mainly I caught fish on Kick-N craws and Monster Doos with a jig head. The two biggest fish were at 19″ & 20″ with the bulk of the fish at 14″ to 16″. Look for this type of fishing to heat up. Right now the water temperature is 66 degrees and is dropping, along with the water level

Fun day and I would highly recommend giving it a whirl, especially if you live in the St. Cloud area. Jon

Sounds like a ton of fun. I have really been wanting to try it over there but just haven’t got out there yet. I am from the twin cities and going to Bethel college. where is the best place to put in over there?

Eric Ahlstrom

There are a couple of accesses I use..the only problem is I don’t remember the county road #’s Anyway, the Minnesota atlas shows most of the them. I was fishing within sight of Sartell, but there are access points in St Cloud and at the town of Clearwater. Hope this helps. Jon

Thanks for the info on the landings I am sure I will find them. How safe is the water on that part of the river. If I take my Ranger fishermen up there will I bee ok or is there alot of stuff to look out for and unsafe water?

Eric Ahlstrom