Had a chance to float a few small rivers in the past week, and water is much lower than I expected. Not that it’s out of the usual for late-July, but it seems like the lack of rain in southeastern MN has things down quite a bit from all the rain we had in May/June.
This is the time of year I switch to fishing these small water-bodies, as fish tend to be cooperative, and wading and getting a bit wet keeps you cool during the heat of August. Not to mention, it’s something that takes me back to my roots a bit more. Dragging a canoe or small johnboat around rocks/sand, ditching it to fish certain breaks in old tennis shoes, something about it appeals to me.
The smallmouth have been everywhere, and eating everything from tube jigs to smaller size 8 Husky Jerks. Small fish are common in heavier current areas and mid-river seams, but most of our larger fish lately have come from small chunks of isolated shoreline cover. Good timber or big boulders that shield current have the bigger smallies in the system holding just downstream, and these spots really stick out like a sore thumb. Make sure to slow down your drift, paddle back, motor up, whatever you have to do to make sure you hit these spots!
Eyes have been in the deep/slow stretches, and also in eddies below and off to the sides of riffles/runs. I found one spot that kicked out half a dozen smaller fish on jigs/plastics which was on a small sand spit in the center of the river, just below some fast water. The quick current scoured out a good hole on the seam of the current, and that pushed up against the tip of the sand, creating a quick break off of one edge of the downstream side of the sand spit. It was as easy as getting out of the canoe, dropping a jig in their face and setting the hook. I’m catching a good handful of the walleyes on Size 4 Shad Raps too, esp. in red-craw. River fish love crayfish patterns! In one of the rivers I fished, even the size 4 was diving too deep, so I had better success pulling a Husky Jerk behind the jon-boat than a Shad Rap.
Big stretches fish small this time of year, so keep experimenting to find areas that hold fish, then eliminate the 75%+ of water that doesn’t hold much of anything. It’s amazing what a good full-day on a small river can teach you about where fish hold. Especially if you keep coming back to those stretches, you’ll find fish there or in similar spots year after year.
Good luck and have fun!
Joel
