i’m planning to head up to visit my buddy in minneapolis in a couple weeks to do some fishing for a weekend. he’s a canoe guy that does a lot of largemouth fishing close to his place, but i’d like to bring my boat and try my hand at some smallmouth fishing. any decent leads for location and presentaitions we could give a try relativly close to the minneapolis area. i’ve never fished minnesota so any input would be much appretiated.
If you do not want to bring your boat and fish out of his canoe: The Mississippi river around the Monticello area is great spot. The Rum river in Anoka should be kicking out smallies also. Look for the depper wintering areas in both rivers.
If you bring your boat, no lake is better than Mille Lacs. Sure it is a farther drive but well worth it.
Remember that all of Minnesota smallmouth is catch and release this time of year. 
The last thing that i would recomend is hiring a guide. I know that Steve DeZurik is on some monster size smallies right now. You can contact him here via a PM. 
Stay in the canoe and float from Elk River to Dayton. They are on the chew right now and should pretty much hit anything you toss at them. Top Water should be going during low light, but during the day Sweet P’s with a pegged weight 12″ – 24″ up work just fine… It’s a nice 2 hour (or more) float. Bring an anchor and anchor up and hit the deep pools (3′ – 7′). 100 fish day between 5 people 3 weekends ago. 12 over 15″ which aren’t huge but darn fun in a canoe!!!!
Silver Fox,
I would also give the moticello area south to Champlin a good nod right now with your canoe. Drop in at Monticello (where Hwy25 crosses the river) or Elk River like Scott mentioned. The river right now is going real good for smallies of all sizes. It would be a great way to burn an afternoon. Topwaters, senkos, spinnerbaits, tubes, etc…. all should put fish in the boat for you right now.
Good luck to you!
wow, thanks for all the great info guys. sure would save on gas too!!! i’ll be sure to post any good luck(knock on wood)when i get back.
wow, thanks for all the great info guys. sure would save on gas too!!! i’ll be sure to post any good luck(knock on wood)when i get back. i’ve developed a soft spot for those brownies after stumbling into some while fishing river largemouth here at home
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