I’m getting the itch to put the waders on and fish some moving water for Smallies this weekend. I’ve fished the Mississippi above Monticelo out of Montisippi Park. Are there any other access points to a wade-able section of the river I could try? The other thought would be to fish the Snake or the Kettle.
TIA….Steve
Not sure how far you want to drive, but south of the dam in Sartell is wadeable and pretty solid. Or Clearwater should be manageable also.
The water is still pretty high on the upper Mississippi. I just checked the gauges last night trying to decide where I want to fish this weekend.
Rum river north on the rum but you would have to wait for the water to come down to around 3.5′ on the gauge in St Francis.
Rum river north on the rum but you would have to wait for the water to come down to around 3.5′ on the gauge in St Francis.
That’s a pretty cool park!
Thanks for the input guys. I’m thinking maybe the Snake below the Cross Lake dam. Dbright have you decided where you’re going this weekend?
If you hit the Snake, let me know how you do. I always wanted to fish that.
The Snake over towards Mora has some nice spots to. The park on the west side of town Has a lot of rock and gravel in that area. Have caught a few nice smallies there. Lot of access points on the snake north of mora to.
Just some comments of places I’ve fished or had ideas to fish…
Mississippi:
I’ve only waded from the power plant to Monticello but based on some floats: The section from Clearwater to Snuffie’s landing had a lot of sections of sand. Snuffie’s to Monti had better looking water. Downtown St. Cloud has sections to wade but I experienced high water when I was there that limited what I could fish. The middle between Elk River and Dayton has some good water but not sure what the foot access is like. There may be some water just downstream of Dayton.
Kettle:
The word on the Kettle is the smallmouth water is in the upper reaches (Moose Lake and north) and the lower reaches (below Sandstone to St Croix). I always drive by it heading north and have ideas to but have yet to explore west of Moose Lake and north of the town of Kettle River. That would be a 2+ hr drive from the cities. I’ve been on a couple floats from Willow River to Sandstone and if anything it’s walleye water. Never scored on smallies in that section.
St Croix:
Been there once but the State Park east of Hinkley has some interesting water to explore. I believe there are a few access points in the park to leap frog around a bit. I think one can also access the Kettle here. One could also stray a little north to where the Namekagon enters (access might be Wi though). Hwy 70 also has some areas to wade. I’ve bushwacked into a section from a hiking trailhead south of the Wi access (Raspberry Landing? maybe 5 miles south of Hwy 70) into a section that was good.
Anyway, a little intel…
My plan was cats and sturgeon Fri night then off to the upper St Croix north of 70 but the forecast might keep me closer to home. Rum will be my closer to home choice if they are still calling for thunderstorms Saturday.
Just grilling some burgers on a island south of elk river then looking for some smallies tonight.
IMG_20150618_175840_202.jpg
Just grilling some burgers on a island south of elk river then looking for some smallies tonight.
That looks sweet! 
-J.
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