where’s the “headwaters”?? oh yeah, that came a little later. then, then it was legit!!

thx for the flashback mr catfishr

Out of retirement to add another flavor to this post…back about 9 years ago there were a few other fishing sites around.

FTR had a unique look and was definitely not a copy cat site. Rivers can be a challenge to fish for anyone, newbie fishermen or experienced lake guy. The site was setup this way…ask a question and three, four or more guys would help you out. That continues today. The layout and ease of finding what you were looking for, getting up to date information along with some new methods of fishing. That level of detail was driven by mr h2o himself and still exists today. And oh yeah, we had some characters back then too but nothing as original as the catfisherman himself bk. I still say I can catch those things on a cow pie. Or berkley gulp, both of which are never allowed in my boat.
aka…JonN

yes

Even on the river its real cool to watch that faint green signal turn bright red and then comes that “rap”. I spent some time playing around with comparing my humminbird 787c2i and Marcum flasher on Winni in October. The crappies in cutfoot like to hang around the deeper holes, as in 40′. I wish I still had the picture of my 787 and the flasher showing the differences between what a school of fish on the graph versus a flasher looks like. Real flat long line on the graph where as the flasher shows a series of broken lines in green one minute and occasional red flashes. It’s hard to paint a picture in words to describe the differences between the two units, but it was definitely easier to stay with the school using just the flasher, especially in that deep water.

White bear lake? James you inchin’ your way north?

I’m using one of the Marcum units Steil was selling last year. It’s getting dual useage, on my blazer jet and ice fishing. That unit shoots through an aluminum hull without any signal loss. It helped me “stumble” on to a decent fall river crappie bite by showing schools of fish suspended 5′ to 7′ off the bottom.

Mud motor Haywood? I’ve seen them in action up here on the Mississippi and they are loud (louder than an OB jet) plus the guy hit a rock and looked to be having some real fun trying to straighten everything out. They are way better than a jet around weeds.

I’m positive James and gang will enjoy your company, I know I always have! Too some great additions.

I’m going on 30 years of fishing that gem Chris. August has been very good to me for reef fishing the bigger walleyes.

Pete,
Say hi to Dave for me, I’ll be up this summer. Nav

The 1st one was a 20″ and this one was a 19″…I guess enough said.

Okay okay we need at least one pic from the “skinny” headwaters area…sorry about resurrecting this thread BUT 2004 is right around the corner! A dozen or so just like this fish were stacked on a flat on an outside river bend, about 2′ of water…talk about bass attack

There are a couple of accesses I use..the only problem is I don’t remember the county road #’s Anyway, the Minnesota atlas shows most of the them. I was fishing within sight of Sartell, but there are access points in St Cloud and at the town of Clearwater. Hope this helps. Jon

For me, Perch colored in the sizes James mentioned. Jon

Walleyes…smallies….crappies, you name it! Rainy lake is great all year long, but really shines in the fall. As well as Winni for perch, walleyes, northerns and crappies. Lot’s of choices…Jon

Nice article Sean. I’ll be there the last weekend of September…save a few walleyes for me! Jon

Yep Scott! Some of the lakes around Annandale are green too! Don’t put the rods away yet or until a frost hits…go to the river and I guarantee you will be HOOKED I’ll be fishing it tomorrow Jon

ps. Koronis WAS pretty green also last week so I would imagine Rice was too.

Mike,

That very same presentation and location that you are talking about WAS producing for me before the tourny. Along with skipping under docks….we couldn’t buy a fish doing either the day of the Extream Bass tourny!! AGAIN….

My mistake on location …..AND yep couldn’t agree more on the hot weather. Did anyone in your family enter the Lion’s club bass tourny on the river? (At least that’s who was running it.) I was “thiiisss” close to doing it, but I have been swamped with work and couldn’t justify the time. AND with my luck lately with tourny’s it’s best I stick with recreational fishing (and guiding).

Besides the later is more fun!

Recent outing on Cedar produced bass like this all day long for Steve Renter of Big lake. We worked weedy flats with 1/2 oz spinnerbaits and top waters. Again, the top waters won over the spinnerbaits…..

Nice report Steve. It’s good to see someone is fishing the Sartell area. Pics from my last guide trip….which was a few weeks ago. The water was higher back then and I found the bigger fish holding around deeper holes. Most of my fish hit spoonplugs.

Like Mike, I fished the tourny too. We managed to catch our fish on topwaters…all day long. NOW, Dan and I did managed to catch a lot of fish throughout the day, just not enough of the 18+ inchers. We lost two at the boat that would have put us closer to 18#’s instead of a measely 13.6#’s.

Lately, all of the lakes in the Annandale area have been producing on top water lures. Top’s on my list are: Cedar, Maple, Clearwater, Pleasant & Sylvia. AND this type of fishing will hold strong throughout the rest of August and September.

I have attached a pic from a few years ago…my biggest bass ever caught on Clearwater using top water baits.

I call it time to have fun…because top water bassin’ for me is the BEST!! Jon

Mike,
Nearly topwater walleye action on the Mississippi river!! Jon

Mike,
Sorry for the delay on the reply. The water is on the rise around Monti, but you can still get smallies using a fly rod. I use hair frogs & poppers when the fish are tight to cover such as rocks and logs. Calls for some accurate casting which I’m NOT able to alway’s do. Try it now because the fish are in the prime locations. Also, usually top water action is a low-light thing on the river, I would fish early morning or evening and if you see an area where there are baitfish….hit it!

Here’s a recent trip photo to the Miss where I was skipping a BIG tube on the surface and making it dart just under the surface for bass. The walleyes were chasing it too that day!!

Jon

Gimpy,
The Zumbro river at Pine Island is excellent for numbers of smallies. It’s strictly a stream that you will wade…sorry no boats. Now if you want to try a relatively local lake that has smallies then give lake Zumbro a shot. BUT go upstream from the access and pitch jigs & plastics and rattle traps to the shoreline cover. Good luck. Oh, yeah the Cannon river has smallies too. Jon

It’s a big shallow lake Jack and it has smallies…not quite in the numbers we experienced last fall, if you remember. So look for the smallies mixed in with the largemouths. The bass in the Dassel to Annandale area are shallow right now, but in a couple of weeks that could change. In terms of Washington, the water clarity is low so utilize bright baits. Spinnerbaits have worked great as well as rattle traps and tubes. I’ve caught BIG bass out of inches of water on Washington. Good luck. Jon

Me to! Me to! I will be up there Friday AM until Saturday. I’ll post our happening’s.

Sean….anything happening in front of the dishes? We are staying at Sunset View, if you are out either day look for a Skeeter/Yamaha tiller working that north end. Thanks for the report. Jon

I’m a three way freak!! (I’m talkin’ fishing guys.) When it comes to rivers, three ways are my go-to selection spring, summer and fall for numbers of fish and its been a rare occasion that I catch fish pulling them down-stream. Also, like james I use alot of weight to keep the lure close to the boat, but I take this a step further by using wire line. Here’s why: 1. I can control the lure more precisely. 2. I can feel what is going on with the lure, especially when pulling plugs. They tend to foul with whatever is floating in the river. 3. Positive hook set, wire doesn’t stretch. 4. Wire transmits bottom content. You can feel when the bottom is gravel, sand, muck, clams ect.

Three ways also allow you to cover water more efficiently, which helps you find the active “biters”. Jon

Steve,
You might want to give Bruces outboards (Sauk Rapids) a call and see what he says about the unit. If it’s a total loss or too costly a fix he might take it in on trade-in?? Not sure, but it’s worth a call and he sells MinnKota. I have jumped back and forth from the cable driven pedals to the motor driven units and it’s a real toss up on which is better. The cable units respond quickly, but they bounce (turn) side to side in big waves. The “power pedal” units turn slow, but hold a course in rough water and you can drag the pedal around the boat, which I like when I have customers bass fishing. I steer the boat from the back and give my customers the front of the boat for casting. Just my thoughts and things to consider. Jon

An hour and a half!! Holy smoke-screen Batman!! That might be a stretch.

Lawrence,
The high bridge at Clearwater is an okay place to start for bank fishing. I would go upstream fishing the west bank. You will run into the a spot where the Clearwater river dumps into the Miss., work this area. You can walk up-stream on the Clearwater river as well as the Miss. Smallies, cat’s, northerns and walleyes are present. Good luck and send me a PM when you are coming up this way. It’s possible we could hook up and fish that stretch out my boat. Jon

Approximately 3 hours, maybe a little less.