Rum River Newbie

Hey guys!
Its been way too long I know
I have been trying to find more information on the rum river smallies. I would be launching out of the anoka fairgrounds. My boat is small enough to get back there i think (16ft lunker vtd one of the 90s models). I have never had my boat on a river so is current a huge factor on this river? how far upstream or downstream is reasonable? I have heard most of it is no wake which is perfect because i plan on running the trolling motor quite a bit. Any other ideas or things to consider?
Thanks!

From the fair grounds you can go 5-6 miles upriver before you will start to have issues with rock or depth. The dam is only a mile down river. The no wake goes from the Mississippi up to 5.4 miles to the carry in access in Andover. It is not unusual to see some big boats around Anoka.

watch your depth finder, she come up shallow not far up river.

Way too long on this update but i finally had a chance to dump the boat in the Rum and man was is great. i spent more time cruising around than fishing but when i found some good corners or bridges with some depth under them the smallies were there! Ended up with 4 fish in the boat lost a handful more. 2 of them were over 3 pounds. cant wait to get back out and find the beasts in there

Another little update on this. have had the chance to get out a few more times and have not been disappointed! brought a buddy out with me that has never caught a smallie before his biggest ended up a hair over 5 pounds. The go tos have been walk the dog topwaters and jerkbaits. cant wait to get out again this weekend

what stretch did you fish? did you put in at the fairgrounds?

That river has surprisingly good smallmouth fishing. The section around the dam and Anoka fairgrounds is deeper with less current so you can launch a larger boat. If you really want some fast action, head WAY north with a canoe to the headwaters in northern Mille Lacs County.

I put in at the fair grounds. pretty much running north as far as i can even past the where the no wake ends.

gim wrote:

That river has surprisingly good smallmouth fishing. The section around the dam and Anoka fairgrounds is deeper with less current so you can launch a larger boat. If you really want some fast action, head WAY north with a canoe to the headwaters in northern Mille Lacs County.

I will for sure try this. maybe this fall or next summer. would be a great trip!

If you decide to try a trip on the upper parts of the rum. The deer flies can make a trip miserable some years. This year has been decent but the past two have been rough.

Millelacs down to prineton is PRIME smally waters.
From princeton to Cambridgedown to st Francis is more walleye/ large pike waters with a smallie here and there…
St francis down to the ol’ miss is everything type water !

Offcoarse you can get smallies everywhere but some stretches are more produvtive than others!

Interesting. I now live in Saint Francis and the Rum (river) is only a stones throw away. I’d like more info on where and how to catch some walleye.

Thers is or was a 13 lb eye on the wall in the bowling alley that was caugjt under the bridge……

I usually fish edges of the river. Any small dip or contour, under trees
Fishing the outside bends can be good. Our go to for eyes are rapalas or plastics.smallies will hammer almost anything.they really love spinner baits. I would suggest a easy casting braid since you’ll be chucking a lot of hooks into cover. Domt be afraid to go super shallow or deep.usually shallower the lower the sun gets. Some stretches are better than others but it dont take to long to learn that stretch.(bridge st south.) Careful that river will get addicting.

I grew up on the Rum and have caught lots of walleye. Jig and minnow is all you need. Fish the current seams and slack water below rapids. My Bro in law pulled a 30″ walleye casting a shad rap. My biggest from the Rum a 31″ walleye on jig and fathead minnow.

Forget walleyes in the Rum. The smallmouth bass fishing is world class and there’s almost no pressure on them. I almost exclusively use topwaters in July and August out there with great success.

Tipups can be fun in turns for gamefish as well. Walleye and pike mostly although we did get a 30″ musky as well one year! As far as smallie fishing – seem to get lots of them “walleye” fishing anyway I feel they go hand in hand. Still want to learn the Coon Rapids dam to 169 bridge area better – there has to be quality Walleye around there!

I just moved near that stretch of the Rum as well. I’ve got to spend a year or so fishing it and think it’s pretty neat. The smallmouth fishing is a hoot, some decent fish in there as well. My best luck with walleyes has been either with jig/plastics or jig/minnow while floating in a canoe. It is fairly quiet river, aside from the mid-summer tubing crowd.

I have an alumacraft t-pro 175 I was wondering if I could use that near Anoka in the rum river or if it’s to big for that river

Im guessing it would be ok. most of the river is about 8 ft. dont go crazy far north though because there are some pretty shallow areas. I will for sure be out there this summer again! was a blast. didnt get to fish fall as much as I hoped.

How is the river looking? Are the water level and flow reasonable? I’m thinking of going out Sunday and trying to decide where to put in. I’m open to fishing anything but chasing some smallies and maybe a walleye or two wouldn’t be a bad way to spend the day.

Guessing its going to be high and dirty with all the rain.

dbright wrote:

If you decide to try a trip on the upper parts of the rum. The deer flies can make a trip miserable some years. This year has been decent but the past two have been rough.

Worst bug experience in my life! 20 layers of 100% deet directly on skin barely even slowed them down. Luckily it only happened once out of about 10 trips on the same stretch around Cambridge/Isanti. They would leave you bleeding! Tackle box lid got half melted from all the deet overspray. Increasing speed only increased their aggression, it was a toss up between just floating down or max trolling motor speed. We usually did one way trips with little to no motor..

This will be the highest its been for me trying to launch. My guess is the fair grounds area wont be too bad most flow i have ever fished it in was about 1400 latest reading was 1960 so i will report back tomorrow about the current.

mike e wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>dbright wrote:</div>
If you decide to try a trip on the upper parts of the rum. The deer flies can make a trip miserable some years. This year has been decent but the past two have been rough.

Worst bug experience in my life! 20 layers of 100% deet directly on skin barely even slowed them down. Luckily it only happened once out of about 10 trips on the same stretch around Cambridge/Isanti. They would leave you bleeding! Tackle box lid got half melted from all the deet overspray. Increasing speed only increased their aggression, it was a toss up between just floating down or max trolling motor speed. We usually did one way trips with little to no motor..

Deer flies are a plague on this earth. They can be absolutely merciless on that river at times. Heck, you can swat them and they’ll still fly away! I’ve had to quit early a few times over the years even when I was catching smallies pretty regularly because I couldn’t tolerate them anymore. Bug spray is completely useless too, even 100% deet.

Went out today only caught one nice fish. The river has changed a lot it looks like the high water washed out more of the bottom to be deeper in some areas so banks underwater last year are out of water even with it being high. The boat launch wasnt terrible. For sure fishable but very different from last year. beauty of being new to rivers i guess!

Looking to get out fishing on rum river. Have a 18 ft crestliner and a kayak. Where do you recommend I launch. Also heard there is a dock in town under the dam that has good fishing early.
Hoping to get out this week end.

Water is still way up but it’s slowly falling. It has been out of the banks since before opener around me. If you are not confident in your paddling skills I would stay off tell the water drops and slows down.

Yeah the river is still pretty high. not sure on how manageable it will be if you launch from below the dam. Latest reading says around 2460 which is doable for myself at the fair grounds area.