Many small bass and one big beaver

Dad and I made it out last night on a new stretch of river from 5-8. All of the bass we caught were small. All under 12″.

The entertainment of the night was me getting chased out of the stream by a monster beaver. I was standing in the middle of the stream right above a ledge that dropped into about 4 feet of water. Next thing I know there’s a loud splash, I look down and see one of the biggest beavers ever. Turns out the thing was going upstream, coming out of the deep water, saw me, splashed, and went back downstream with me high tailing it out of the water. Of course dad just stood there and laughed at me for the next 10 minutes.

This year the number of big fish caught (15-18″) has gone down considerably. Last year we could catch them on a regular basis almost every time out. This year we have only caught 4. Are other people noticing this lack of bigger fish too?

F.S.

Did you fish much after the flood in September?

I didn’t fish after the flood. My last few trips out were in the later part of August.

Do you think that it could have wiped out many of the bigger smallmouth? I’m curious to hear what other people have to say about this.

F.S.

Thanks for the report. Catch and release is so important in bodies of waters like this. We can’t control what mother nature does to waters like this but we can controll what we do to it. Please feel free to share and post all you guys want. This is how we ALL learn. THANK YOU.
Thanks, Bill

There were spring floods in 2003 and 2004 that seemed worse than the September flood last year so I would be surprised if that was the cause of a dramtic drop. F.S and I caught a lot of big fish over the last 2 years, but this year has been a different story. Over the last 2 years we routinely caught 15-18, even a couple 19″ fish. This year we have struggled to catch 14″ fish. I “think” most people release all their smallmouth bass so I would be surprised if there was a large change in the size structure of the fish based on that factor. At least not a sudden change.

I know this last winter was hard on the trout populations because of low water flows and anchor ice etc. I would think that would be a more likely cause. Of course it’s possible it’s just the weather this year, or maybe we just haven’t been as good of fisherman.

We were just curious if it’s just us, or if other people think there has been a drop in the population of large smallmouth. That question would relate to the root and zumbro since those are the 2 river systems that we fish.

My Theory: All the big smallmouth migrated up to the Plunge Pool where nobody can get at them anymore

Here’s an honest response…..

How far up are you guys going? Are you staying right there next to the green bridge or trecking up river aways? I haven’t fished that strech of river this year, but I had a buddy tell me he SAW quite a few larger smallmouth holding up river aways a couple weeks ago (he’s a good fisherman and knows what a bigger smallmouth is ). He did say he had trouble catching anything very big.

We have been fishing both the Root and the Zumbro. We have tried many different stretches of both and haven’t had a good size day yet. The numbers of fish caught overall hasn’t changed, just that the big ones are missing.

As for the green bridge…haven’t been there in 3 or 4 years.

I’m sure the bigger fish are there but just aren’t really going now. That seemes to be what I’m seeing in other places too.

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As for the green bridge…haven’t been there in 3 or 4 years.

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For some reason I had it in my mind you said you were fishing the green bridge ? My mistake

I had mentioned in a different thread that my wife and I had fished around the green bridge with no luck. That’s probably what you remembered reading.

There hasn’t been much of a response from others about their impressions of the number of large smallmouth this year compared to years past. Must not be too many smallmouth fishermen around SE MN that frequent this board.

I think alot of are smallmouth fisherman, but maybe just in different places than you. On the Mississippi there are plenty of good sized smallies to be had. Same on Lake Zumbro.

yes, I am talking basically about the branches of the zumbro river and the branches of the root. I would be curious about the cannon river too, but I’ve never personally fished it. The numbers of larger samllmouth (14+”) that we have caught has been so significantly different this year than the last few that I figured it couldn’t just be FishinSmallies and I that are having this problem. Haven’t seen anyone else say much of anything so I was just curious.