Flathead Range in the Minni

Every spring I pull out Google maps and Virtual Earth scanning the Minnesota looking for accessible shore fishing. I was thinking this year I might get a few people and do a camp out maybe, especially if I m driving 45 minutes to an hour to a spot.

Exactly how far up the Minnesota does the flathead population extend, more importantly, how far up until a fishable population ends?

I have got them all the way up to about 15 miles past Redwood Falls. There is an access and campground there.. I have no idea what its called(something landing?).

I know some people get them in the Granite Falls area also. I have done some scouting in that area, but the water was very low at the time and there wasnt a whole lot of river.

Lots of farm land, you may need to get permission to do much scouting other than maps.

Yeah, I see a lot of private land butting up to it. I wouldn’t mind asking, as most people are pretty cool about it. I have have investigated a little about the Minnesota Valley Refuge land. But that only goes so far up river and there is a lot of walking, which I should expect no matter where I would go. The thing that stinks the most about using those maps is that you really can’t tell much about the roads and area. You could get there and realize the road is actually a driveway. Or maybe an area looks like you could walk to get to the river ends up being a swamp or flooded.

I suppose it’s best to stick to refuge land or verifiable public land like a park. It’s not like I don’t have the time.

So Dave, you want to go cast lines on top of the ice and pretend to fish? It has finally really hit me. I have the urge to get the tackle sorted, the reels respooled and lubed, buy some odds and ends, read my magazines….

Pug.. I would be willing to take off some weekend and do some scouting this summer if you want. A map can tell you a lot, a plat book can tell you more(who owns it).. and odds are pretty good if you can get near any substantial bend in the river. Some scouting and hoof work I have no doubt a person could obtain some permission if needed and find a couple spots to fish.

We will have to do that this summer.

That’s part of what fascinates me with the river up stream is there are a lot more bends. I wonder about some of those oxbow lakes too, if they would hold any fish I would guess that they are probably too shallow and the fish were killed off in them, which is too bad. It might be fun trying some flathead fishing in a lake with no current, perhaps with a bobber.

I’ve spent a few hours upstream of the Mankato area. Theres a whole lot of water to cover from there up to Granite Falls! If I had to choose a Flathead stretch tho, it would be from Mankato down…or maybe New Ulm down. I find new spots (to me) every year…some get pretty close to home too!

You guys see the new Mapquest “air photo” option yet?…Nice!

Yep.. I know that option well… only thing that sucks about it is some of the photos were taken during floods. It does help locate the creeks though(when they are swelling).

Note: Some of the modern day super cell phones(Treo/Blackberry type) can bring up the air photos any time.

I just got a phone that runs Windows mobile. They gave me a month free broadband access which is nice, but I don’t plan on keeping it. I think I know and application that lets you download and store maps though from Yahoo or Google.

Like I said (I think) it just kind of bites because not only are private and public roads hard to distinguish, but also it is hard to tell a paved road from a dirt path.