Tell me about the river

Whats the fishing like on the Mississippi above the dam? How far North can a guy get?

You can run a long ways up river from the dam it just depends on water levels and what type of boat you are in. Have fished a couple of landings over towards Crosby and have seen ranger’s that have made it up that far. There is a little bit of everything in the river there. I mostly targeted walleyes. Plenty of small mouth and pike. Good population of panfish to.

Thanks Mike, how would you say water clarity is? Lots of floating weeds, junk in the water or fairly clean? I haven’t been on that stretch so I don’t know the currant or depths up that way either.

The river up that way has a fair amount of bog stain. In higher levels it can get muddy but nothing like the Mis. down here. Seem to remember more weeds as you got closer to Brainerd. More boulders, sand and gravel towards Crosby. Closer to Brainerd is more like a lake and up towards Crosby its a river again. There are even some small rapids in that area. Looked like a lot of pontoons on the docks towards Brainerd.

There’s lot of weeds in the shallower areas in the stretches near Little Falls, Brainerd, etc. but they don’t really pose any issues to the angler until late summer when they begin to die off and float away. There’s a 2 – 3 week period August and early September when the floating weeds can be a pain. Outside of that… it is a gorgeous area with some first rate fishing. Particularly on the smallies. That said, it is a rare smallie trip when I don’t catch a walleye or two on baits intended for the bass.

Oh yeah… the muskie fishing isn’t bad either.

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Oh yeah… the muskie fishing isn’t bad either.

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May give it a first try this year myself. Wish me luck, sounds like a fishing paradise!

Thanks guys. Do either of you fish it regularly? James, I’m assuming since you all but get your mail on Rainy that’s it’s been a few years?