mississippi river trip

ok, so we have pretty much decided that we’d like to try the mississippi. A couple questions. 1. I have been reading about guys chewing up props, lower water etc…how tough is it going to be to navigate the river without having to get a new prop or lower unir or both? Are there some places that I should avoid with my boat? 2. Is anyone willing to give me some advice on where to start, seems kind of daunting to look at this body of water and try to pick out a place that I can spend a long day on the water. We would like to catch some Smallmouth, with walleye as a secondary target.

I know I am asking a lot, thanks for the help.

THANKS FOR EVERYONE WHO GAVE SOME INPUT ON THIS TRIP. ALTHOUGH I WANT TO GET ON THE RIVER, I THINK THE ADVICE ON GETTING TOGETHER WITH A GUIDE WAS A GOOD IDEA. WE WILL PUT IT ON OUR LIST FOR A SPRING OR EARLY SUMMER TRIP AS WE WILL HAVE MORE TIME (BOTH OF US TEACH SCHOOL) FIGURE IT WOULD BE A GOOD THREE DAY TRIP FOR US. WE ARE GOING TO HIT SOME LAKES AROUND FARIBAULT INSTEAD.

THANKS A BUNCH

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Where are you coming from? What “area” do you plan on staying/fishing?
As far as Chewing up props..I have never chewed one up, then again, I know how to recognize a wing dam, and have alot of years on the river here.
Best bet for eyes and smallies now is the upstream side of wing dams. These are rows of rocks placed in the river perpendicular to the flow to help prevent the sand and sediment in the river from washing downstream. They also help the fish by provinding good cover. As I type the water here around La Crosse is up about 6″ to a foot over “normal” for this time of year. A good bet for you may be the stretch fo river for a mile above and below Blackhawk park. There is a campground there, as well as a bait shop and boat ramp. I believe they have a locally produced map that shows wingdams. Pitching jigs, crank baits and lindy rigs with a crawler should get you some fish. While running above idle, if you stay between the channel bouys you should have no problems. The mouth of DeSoto bay is a good waleye producer this time of year as well and it is about a mile downstream from Blackhawk park. A good place to drift fish lindy rigs.
Hope this helps.

bcon,

Not sure how far north you are referring to?
Give us a general location and someone here would be happy to give you some locations and starting points.
I would be happy to tell you the general locations of where I fish smallies this time of year, but not sure how far you are willing to drive? Day or weekend trip?

A little more info and we could help steer you in the right direction!

BTW….Blackhawk park is about 10 miles north of Lansing Ia (by road) on the Wisconsin side.

This past Sunday, my son and I spend a day with Steve on the upper Mississippi. It seems like you have very clear goals;you want to catch fish, learn some new water and not worry about your boat. If I were you I would consider seeing if Steve has a day on his calandar open, its worth it. I have had the opportunity to fish with Steve twice. Each time I have left with some great fishing stories, new knowleged. What I like the most is that he works hard for his guests. This Sunday our day started out well with some nice fish being caught (as well as several trees), but as the morning went on the bite kept slipping off. Steve kept working and working. We tried multiple patterns, different spots, fished slow and fast. My point is that the best anglers are knowledgeable and adaptive. You want this in a guide as well as a strong committment to working with guests to help them have the best day they can. Despite a slow afternoon bite,we left knowing we had given it our best. By late afternoon I was just plain tired but here is Steve working and working for us. Finally I said it was time to call it a day. All Steve said was, “If you want we can fish tell dark”. I thought that was pretty cool.

I agree with the Professor. If you are new to the River it would be extremely helpful to spend a day on it with someone knowledgeable.