Matt, if weather/winds are in favor for Mille Lacs I would not change your plans. There is high potential up there. The river will only get better. Not a special bite right now that will not be here when it is windy and foul conditions for the big lake. Just my two cents. the levee should remain open now. The water will start to drop good by the end of the week so this weekend will be ok as far as that goes. I hope so anyway.
Lions is open, but only barely. You sort of launch from the area where you’d normally be unhooking the straps and putting the plug in. But we used it yesterday. If the river doesn’t rise any further I’d expect it to stay open, and if not you can always pay to launch next door at Willie’s.
Joe, you forgot to put up the picture of your small fish! Thanks for letting Arthur hold it, and for putting up with a 5 year old!!
Fantastic photo.
lions was closed yesterday.
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The did get moved to the side yesterday by someone… 
However they were moved back…
Well the river is on its way back down this week and finally looks like some decent weather for the weekend. Got a fresh batch of hair jigs showing up Im excited to show to the walleyes. Sure wish I could find more time to get out there than just the weekends.
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If someone has ramp reports can you post them? I’ll probably just plan to launch at Willie’s unless 494 or Lions is open.
I’m looking forward to getting out there Friday and Saturday!
I wish I could get out there this weekend too, but I’ll be out of town. I’ve seen that people say the bite gets better for a while in the fall. Is there something (like a water temp etc.) that kind of signals when that bite might slow down? I imagine that at some point they move into their winter patterns and fishing generally gets slower.
Thanks,
Cody, there are guys on this board that have alot more experience than I do on the river but I’ve had some of my best fishing when the water is sub 40 degrees.
As the water gets colder I generally move deeper, go slower, and rely more on live bait.
I’ve caught my biggest fish in water temps in the low 40’s to mid 50’s in the spring and fall.
Muddy water in the spring will slow the bite down. Other than that the fish bite all winter.
New batch of hair jigs showed up yesterday. Can’t wait to show them to the walleyes this weekend. One more day to go.
Gander has a bunch of the VMC hair jigs on clearance so I grabbed some of those yesterday. I’ll be out there in 3 hours!
Anyone know if lions is open?
I’m too much of a rule follower to move the barriers.
Cop was down at lions making sure people don’t use the launch. Just a heads up.
Those VMC hair jigs are decent to. Used a few of them last weekend as they where the only ones that thorne brothers had in the bigger sizes. Ordering from Trumar its nice to pick the size you want and color.
So what was Ganders clearance price? and you suck getting to fish today. Dont give them all sore lips.
All 40% off at gander. Think that makes about $3 bucks for a pair. I do prefer Trumars or the b fish n versions.
Did ok today. Boated a dozen with the biggest being 27”. Couple of really nice saugers too. Most came on jointed raps casted on seams in pretty shallow water.
Best part was almost all fish came On spots I’d never fished before.
Less wind tomorrow will be nice. Casting downstream into the wind sucked.
Be careful out there.
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The wind was ridiculous today. It seemed like everywhere we went it was blowing right at us. But my son landed a nice one which makes for a great trip.
P.S. I should mention that he wears his life jacket under the parka.
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Not trying to start an argument here. I’ve thought about that and wondered if a person wears the life jacket under a coat would inflate properly? Nice fish!
Good day again today. Nothing big but a nice average and a couple big saugers again. All fish on cranks….couldn’t buy a bite on anything else.
@buschman that was me coming towards you on that point when your dog decided to go for a swim. I was gonna throw you a beer but you took off. Next time I’ll get you covered.
Caught this little guy cruising across the water, too.
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Not trying to start an argument here. I’ve thought about that and wondered if a person wears the life jacket under a coat would inflate properly? Nice fish!
Kids usually wear standard PFD’s and don’t fit proper over heavy jackets. Pretty sure it is safer and more comfortable to wear a standard PFD under your cold gear in his case. I would assume you would want an inflatable over your jacket.
Sorry for missing you there Matt. I wasn’t positive what boat you have but now I know. I will keep N eye out there for you.
I just hit the river and that was the 1st spot I stopped at. My dog is a numb skull till I let here out to run and swim. Then she is Little better. She jumped out 5 times yesterday. Three times were after fish. Needs some work. Haha
So where is your report Jason?
That either means he caught nothing or he murdered them…..
Mike, how did those hair jigs work out?
Was only able to get out Sunday. Cant remember the last time Ive fished without rain, sleet or snow. The bite was a little slower than last weekend. Fish had moved with the dropping water levels so had to spend a fair amount of time looking for them again. The few active current breaks we found had a number of fish on them. Hair jigs worked well. So did jig with plastics. Cranks on other spots.
Lions was open on Sunday. That might be short lived with this week’s river forecast.
Should add that after a long week of work and having to work Saturday I enjoyed every bit of being on the river Sunday from sun up to sun down.
Seems like the only time the forecast is right is when I’m gonna go fishing. Couldn’t believe the rain again on Saturday morning. The wind on Friday was a real PIA, too. At least the fish cooperated a bit.
Back up to over 11 ft in a few days so my guess is it’ll shut them down for a few days again. The handful of fall spots from the last couple years are just unfishable until it gets down to about 9′. Hopefully this is the last deluge and we get a few nice weekends in November.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JasonP wrote:</div>
So where is your report Jason?
I was thinking crickets would have been a better emoji there because I was thinking “wow – where are all the smackdown reports after such a beautiful weekend.” I figured a lot of guys would have gotten out – but we only saw one other boat all wknd. Must be doing yard work.
The bite was tough for us as well. I did see some fish starting to bulk up though for winter. Looks like this weekend might be another chance to get out.
Its was good running into you and Patrick out there. Great boat to. After leaving you guys we spent a fair amount of time jumping spots before finding fish again. 7 spots before we finely landed on a couple holding fish. In these higher flow conditions it sure would be nice to have a number of days in a row to search out the spots and put a good milk run together. Tough to put it together in a day and then start over the following weekend.
I saw a few boats on Saturday after the rain let up. One guy bass fishing decided to share my spot and was uncomfortably close. 20 miles of river to fish, not another boat in sight and he gets right on top of me. Oh well.
Fishing Friday and Saturday allowed me to get a bit of pattern together. Too bad that’s all gonna change again this week.
I’m with you, though Mike. I’d get 1 or 2 off a spot and that was it. I thought they’d be stacked up a bit more. Missed quite a few fish on crankbaits, too. They weren’t smashing them by any means.
Probably 2 weeks until I get out again. Might skip this weekend with the rising water.
Wouldn’t happen to of been a bass guy in a red ranger would it? I would give him about as much room as he gives you. He jumped in on me a few weeks back. The guy spends a ton of time out there to. Not going to change how he fishes so he gets treated the way he treats everyone else.
Wouldn’t happen to of been a <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>bass guy in a red ranger would it? I would give him about as much room as he gives you. He jumped in on me a few weeks back. The guy spends a ton of time out there to. Not going to change how he fishes so he gets treated the way he treats everyone else.
Yep, that was him. Good to know. Next time he decides to pepper the bow of my boat with spinner baits I’ll lob something back his direction.
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