BB/BS river info needed…

I am in the process of gathering river info for the upcoming BBBS event. I am looking for information on some of the ‘hot spots’ you guys/gals have discovered. Not only where the hot spots are, but also why they are hot spots. Info such as…the structure of this spot; the flow in this spot; the ecosystem/environment of this spot; the type of fish in this spot…basically, any info that makes your place, “the spot”.
This info is going to be shared with both the fishermen and the Bigs and Littles. We want to be able to make these two days as fruitful, as educational and most of all, as fun as possible for the Bigs and Littles. Anything that you can share, will be great…doesn’t matter what type of species it is; just some good, solid info will be valued by all.
Thanks in advance to everyone who ‘shares’!
Brittny Sanders

All right. A little river info.

The Mississippi is a fabulous system of rivers and streams that starts north of St. Cloud and runs all the way to New Orleans where it dumps into the Gulf of Mexico. It is a huge river that supports a lot of the industry and you can travel all the way from Coon Rapids to New Orleans. A lot of barges and big boats do just that during the year.

The river is pretty amazing. It rises and falls with the snow and rain and right now is extremely low due to the lack of rainfall this past month. Sometimes, with enough rain, it can flood very quickly. That happens quite often during the year.

Right now, with the low water,the current is very slow. It is still there, though and makes navigation very tricky. Driving a boat is difficult at times because you always have to aim at points a little bit upstream from where you’re actually headed. otherwise, you wind up missing your spot. Docking is always a challenge.

Wing dams control the water flow in much of the upper Mississippi. They are rock dams that are usually under water and are located in spots where the water can be forced into deeper channels and away from places that might erode. They’re all man made and are designed to keep channels open without needing to have them dredged.

Fish tend to like the wing dams a lot, particular when the water flows fairly quickly. Walleyes and bass and other predator fish like to sit on the upstream side and wait for food to be carried to the wingdams, where it is forced up and then falls straight back down. Makes it a lot easier for the predator fish to catch it and they have a constant supply that way.

Okay, gang. Help me out here.

Mike

Hi Brittny, great idea gathering stuff to share. I don’t really know much about the rivers but maybe theres some eagles nests close by that some one can tell us about or how to get to it. Maybe some of the locals have some fun facts about the local area like I believe water skieing was invented in Lake City. Don’t forget Mike Little ate his first sheepie somewhere on the Mississippi. Where is that photo?? Steve

Hey, Brittny,

I looks like folks don’t know anything about the river. Hey guys! Help us out here.

Mike

I suppose I could give my ‘expertise’ (haha!)

Seriously though…Come on, guys…you’ve all been so gracious in donating your time, money, poles, etc…a donation of information can’t be too difficult! There had to be one or two fish caught somewhere in the past few weeks. We’re not looking for your secret spot, just a good, general spot for catching fish. The info that you guys/gals share is critical to the success of this weekend.
Thanks again!

Pool 2 has been real good on the wingdams….but that is one long cruise!!

I’ll be down all day Friday and will report what I find then.

Thanks,
Jon J.

I was out last night on Pool 2, and had a great bite going on sand “dunes” in 9-11′. There were 2 keys to last evenings bite:
1) you HAD to be pounding the bottom. The “dunes” term I used above occurs when the current creates a dune, or hump. Just think of winter, and how blowing snow drifts in open areas sometimes. You will notice on your LCD the “bottom waves” below you. I would make contact on the top of the dune, and when it tapered off… WHAM. The ‘eyes were sitting in the “valley” part of the dunes.
2) Speed was the other key. I hooked 95% of my fish trolling downstream, with the current.

For sheer numbers, this was a great pattern. The size was lacking in some regrads, so I opted to try the same technique on the deepers edges of wingdams that came right out to the main channel. I nailed bigger fish this way. Same keys: trolling with the current, and making bottom contact on the rocks.

Hope this helps!

I will have plenty of info for the helpers that are going to guide on the outing. I will share the areas with the guides for the day prior to our launch on Sat morning.

The fishing was good for me on Sunday.No worries mate! Plenty of fish out there to be caught.

Here is a post from this Forum (General Discussion) Re: ARM … Details, from Mike Huppert

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Hey Waterfowler, I went looking for good fishing spots to take the kids (catch fish/less snags) for the upcoming Arms event. I was on the back channel today, midafternoon to dark and the fishing was super! I caught at least a dozen kittys, a few of Mike Little’s woolys, a couple of Mooneyes, one 20″ walleye and a few that were short. Find the deeper holes with current running through them and bring lots of bait! O’ya, I was Lindy rigging/crawler on one pole and verticle jigging a 1/8 jig/ leech on the other. Hope to see ya there!

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