Hi. I’m heading up to Charles Lindbergh this weekend hopefully for cats, smallies, northern, walleye or whatever will bend a rod. I’d like to motor (slooooowly) up to the dam and I hear there’s lots to watch out for. I’m also willing to go downriver, once I’m comfortable with my motor (5.5 hp). Any tips on fish and navigation in this stretch would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Been a long time since I have been up in that part. Motor slowly is right. There are lots of rocks to watch for in that part. Are you planning on going north of the golf course?
I heard that’s where it gets dicey. I’d like to take it all the way up to the dam, or at least that big island and back-water in Little Falls, but if that’s not possible then it’s not possible. I have a guess that where it starts to get dicey might be a good place to find fish, if The River flows from shallow w/rocks to deeper w/sand/gravel or silt. I saw an island downriver, too, that I can check out.
I think that whole stretch to the Dam from the Golf course is pretty dicey. Let us know how you do.
I will. Thanks for the replies.
Reporting back – Fishing was marginal, but the navigation adventure went well. It is very possible (but an adventure) to launch at the Pike Creek public access and make it as far as the Little Falls Dam spillways. I was in a 14′ aluminum boat, stripped down to bare essentials, with the same model 5.5 hp Johnson that Washington used to cross the Delaware. When I sat at the tiller, I drafted about 18″ from waterline to skeg, and about 15″ if I stood amidships and steered with an oar stuck in the carry handle.
Pike Creek access up to the big manicured lawns and the island is a breeze – no problems. Once you get to the manicured lawns STAY TO THE EAST! There’s a big visible boulder in the center, and a smaller visible boulder east of that. Let’s call these lane markers for lanes 1, 2 & 3. The channel is lane #3 – the East side. Lane two is rocky and shallow – 1.5’+’ducer to waterline. Lane #1 is worse. (I should mention that while marking this area was when I discovered I had air getting into my fuel line and the mototr cut out at slow speeds.)This gets ya past the nice lawns, and in sight of the train bridge at the old Hennepin Paper Mill.
The Channel is still on the East side at this point. I saw scary looking areas that looked like shallow riffles on the surface, but my sonar wasn’t sloping up, so I forged ahead, and sure enough – those riffley looking reas were instead DEEP turbulant eddys (marked fish, but didn’t care). The River takes a sharper bend before the train bridge, and the channel is still on the east side – tracking the outside of the bend. Now, as I looked at the bridge I was wondering – “Monty Hall – is it door #1,2,3,4,5 or 6? Left to right, it’s door #2, or #3. My motor kept quitting while I was trying to find the channel again, so I picked the first one that showed a deeper reading and went for it. Got past the bridge. Shallowest read was 2.5’+’ducer to waterline.
I then saw the tip of the peninsula that is created by the diverted flows from the dam. Where these two flows come together, there is a hole – no, a crater – max. 30′ deep. Marked MANY fish in there, but without the ability to hold slow and slip stream in the increased current speed, I wasn’t gonna fish it. West side around the peninsula gets 1.5’+ at the sand/muck beach, east side around the peninsula doesn’t get too shallow until almost to the big slate & concrete culvert.
At this point I beached, threw back my head in maniacal self-satisfied laughter and had a drink.
I explored the peninsula, ate lunch, and sat beached in my boat fishing in the rain. (It was Friday). I caught a small smallie, and an 18″ channel cat (real pretty – silver) both on light tackle in back-current on a drifted crawler.
On the way back I re-traced my steps, except this time I drifted & slip-streamed various crankbaits on 3-ways with my electric motor, and jig/drifted as well. Zero. The places I had marked fish while going upriver were void upon my return.
I was soaked to the bone through my cheap, ripped up rainsuit, and rather than go back to my tent I went & warmed up with the locals at The Westside Bar. The band was good, the pizza wasn’t half bad, and best of all it was dry.
Sounds like an interesting adventure! Reminds me of some of my first trips in the Clearwater/Monticello area about 15 years ago. Things can get a little iffy at times on that unknown water. Lots of big boulders & very shallow riffles to look out for. I hit a few rocks & a big sand bar on my first trip out. But my scariest moment was with a canoe in high water near Clearwater. We shouldn’t have been out there & almost dumped a couple times before I beached it & walked back to the truck. You don’t want to hit those boulders at full speed with a canoe! The more you boat it though, the better you get at reading the river. I hit a few rocks once in a while, but nothing serious over the years. Nice job on your sucessful navigation. By the way, I was up near Clearwater today. The smallies weren’t biting very well, but I switched to cut-bait & picked up some nice cats. The biggest about 10 lbs. Vern
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