Looking for a great way to kill an August or September hot muggy day? Look no further as this is the time of year that the Mississippi river shines above all the rest as the place to be for the scrappiest pound for pound best fighting freshwater fish on the planet….the ol Bronzebacks! If you have kids, family members, relatives, etc… that do not often get a chance to experience the fishing opportunities that this great state of Minnesota has to offer, please take the time to get them on the Mississippi River. For the next 4 weeks, you can experience some of the best smallmouth fishing you may ever have.
This past Monday I had the pleasure of sharing the day in my jon boat with In-Deprthangling.com’s owner and creator, James Holst. James and I have been meaning to get together for a long time to chase these fish together, but timing has always been tough for both of us. Today however was different and the plan for the day was to spend sunup to sundown chasing our favorite species of fish for this time of year. As expected, the morning bite had started things out a little on the slow side until about noon when the entire river dinner bell switch got flipped from “Off” to “On”. Almost like clock work, the fish started to get more and more aggressive and by 2:00pm, we had the sun high in the sky and the heat of the day was upon us. The fish responded in suit quickly with nearly every cast was producing a fish or a strike. James had the winning ticket all day long with a 1/16th and 1/8th oz Super Do weedless jig head slipped in the bottom end of a 4” pumpkinseed colored Yum Garret tube. Because of the 60 degree eye placement on this jig head, it gave the tube a completely different look in the water than the conventional 90 degree exposed jig head that I was using. Needless to say, I was digging through James’ jig box after a while to try to play catch up!
Together we boated easily over 60 smallies (another 50 that missed) that day with the best bite coming on tubes and topwater chug baits from noon all the way up to dark. The size of the fish was respectable running size of 16”-19” with a nice 20”+ fish that James boated! The best depth on this particular outing was 1-3 foot of water. With water clarity getting better as the summer eventually comes to a close, sighting fish has become very easy in some of the shallow areas that we fished throughout the day. Keeping a tube or jig rigged and ready when your buddy sticks a fish is key for taking advantage of these aggressive fish. Thanks James for spending the day with me out there as I enjoyed every minute of it! I find it hard to believe that a day like this can go by so quickly when sharing it with a good friend, nice weather, and most of all hard pulling feeding machines.
Fishing like this is taking place all over the stretches of the Mississippi River from Coon Rapids, Mn north to Brainerd, Mn and beyond. A river smallie is a river smallie no matter what stretch of river he lives. Current breaks are key locations for finding active smallies. The bigger the spot the more fish that spot is capable of holding. 50-100 fish days can be the norm for this time of year if you pay attention and know how to adapt to the fish and how they are relating to the current break.
On a side note, I would like to stress how important it is to release these fish back in the water after a quick photo. They are an incredible resource for everyone to enjoy and keeping a limit of these fish right now could significantly dampen the quality of fishing that exists right now and forever down the road.
Look for pics to follow this report as I can only manage to squeeze 4 photos in a report!
For a guy that’s only been on the river twice in 7 – 8 weeks this little trip north was the ticket! I’ve been on some good smallie bites but the average size and the aggressive nature of these fish blew my mind!
Folks… allow me to describe my favorite moment from this trip. We’re holding off a shallow mid-river current seam and I have a big girl blow up on a chugger the first cast through. DeeZee follows up with a yum Dinger and sticks a solid fish and the practice of the day was for the second guy to follow up a hooked fish by firing a tube jig into the area where the first fish was fighting. Often a hooked fish would bring between 2 – 5 others back to the boat with it is at fought and ran around. And often these ‘other’ fish were a tad larger. My tube gets hammered almost immediately and as Steve gets his fish in the boat he grabs a second rod and drops a hair jig into the water right at boat side… WHAM! Another 18″ fish hooked up and off into the current that fish went. I’m still struggling with my bronze beauty at the back of the boat and I can see 3 or 4 others following with her. My tube had slid up the line as they often do when fishing them on doo heads and one of her followers latches on to the tube and rips it off my line! It was at this point that I turn and mutter something about how a “good guide” would have brought a net… lol
Steve, buddy, I haven’t had that much fun on the water in quite some time! Thanks for having me… and do expect to get sick of having me around before the fall bite peeters out!
Here’s a shot that will give everyone an idea of the size of the old “mighty” Miss where we were. That’s not some side channel. That’s it. The “main” channel. We were in Steve new flat and found our way where ever we wanted to go with some stealthy navigation, a little tolerance for some prop ‘dingage’ (Steve’s comment every time we ‘customized’ he was prop was “you’ll have that.”) and a good pair of sandals so a guy could hop out an push through REAL shallow areas. Long straight stretches in the river held few fish. Every turn was loaded.
We fished top water to find ’em and then slowed down with tubes to take as many as possible in an area before moving on. This fish would likely represent an ‘average’ fish for the day and from some locations we could pull a dozen like this or better before moving on. I’m still surprised at how few small fish we caught or saw for the day.
Hey guys first off Nice fish..
I’m at work with some one over my shoulder and she wants to know what a big girl blowing up on a chugger is ????
She is wondering if this is a porn site…
Nice report
later Reefrunner
GREAT REPORT AS ALWAYS GUYS. GOOD ADVICE ABOUT THE PITCHING TUBES BACK TO THOSE FISH THAT COME TO THE BOAT
WE HAVE DONE THIS ON A NUMBER OF TRIPS AND IT HAS PRODUCED SOME VERY NICE FISH NOT TO MENTION SOME LARGER ONES AS YOU HAD STATED. GREAT JOB 
—B2
I would bet the Zumbro, Root and other small rivers in the area would be on fire as well given the warmer temps of late and the low water levels. This might be the perfect time to get out close to home and do some wading. Anyone fished the Zumbro lately?
Were you guys above or below the Blanchard dam? I’m just wondering becuase you mentionrd using Steve’s flat boat and I have 20′ Champ with a 225merc. How navigable is the water with the bigger boat?
Well… we could have taken Steve’s 620 through about 75% of the water but not all. We ended up doing the ‘push n’ drag’ through a couple skinny areas. But there was plenty of water that could have been fished from a larger rig so I wouldn’t stay off the water on that account. You WILL hit things though. No way around it. But it’s worth it, believe me. Take it easy and you’ll come back with your prop. Or at least most of it!
From the pictures it looks like you were around the Monticello area. One time my cousin took me fishing there and I couldnt believe the smallies. We fished from shore however. Most of the areas look like prop basher central. Definatly not good waters for a stainless prop!
Nice going Steve and James. You guys really know how to find, tune, and fine tune a bite whether it be river or Mille Lacs-smallies or eyes. Congrats!!!Steve, I have a question. In a recent thread you mentioned that there’s a new ramp in Champlin, exactly where is that? How do I drive there from the south?Thanks and Good Fishn to ya!
Jim K,
Thanks for the nice words and glad you find the report enoyable!
The Champlin public ramp is located right off Hwy 169 in Champlin just before you cross over the river to the city of Anoka. Coming from the south…follow Hwy 169 until you see Riverpoint park and follow the sign about a 1/4 mile and you are there. The ramp will be off the east side of the hwy. Very easy to get to. Good luck to you!
JIM K, IF YOU GO ABOVE THE BRIDGE USE EXTRA CAUTION . THERE ARE LOTS OF ROCKS AND IT IS VERY SHALLOW. ANYTHING SOUTH OF THE BRIDGE YOU ARE GOOD TO GO.. WE RUN THAT STRECH WIDE OPEN AND NEVER HAVE ANY PROBLEMS. IF YOU DON’T GET FISH PITCHING TO THE BANKS DON’T RULE OUT RUNNING CRANKS, WE HAVE BEEN DOING WELL RUNNING THEM ON THE BREAK, FIRETIGER,GLASS SHADS, AND ORIGINAL MINNOW HAS PRODUCED BEST FOR US.. GOOD LUCK. MAY EVEN SEE YOU OUT THERE. —B2
Muskies, Thanks for the tips. I’m thinking I may be on the water tomorrow morning (friday). Think I might take my beater boat-14′ Lund with 30hrs Mariner, hip waders, push pole, spare prop, crescent wrench and, Oh yeah, a fishing pole or two. For a first trip, I’ll be happy to just get to know this area a bit, any fish will be considered a bonus, but man I’d love to catch a few. By the way, I’m a catch and release fisherman. If you see me come by and say hello.Good Fishn to ya!
JIM K- I WILL NOT BE ON THE WATER ON FRIDAY MORNING, I AM GOING TO BE AT WORK..I AM SAD TO SAY. I RUN A 18 FT ALUMACRAFT TOURNY PRO WITH A 90HP TILLER ON THE RIVER AS LONG AS I STAY BELOW THE BRIDGE I AM OK. BUT GOOD IDEA RUNNIN THE SMALL BOAT THERE UNTIL YOU GET TO KNOW THE AREA. THERE IS A GOOD LANDING AT THE COON RAPIDS DAM, THAT IS WHERE I GO OUT OF. IF YOU GO THERE I CAN DIRECT YOU TO A FEW AREAS THAT HAVE BEEN HOLDING FISH. SEND ME A PM AND I CAN GIVE YOU A COUPLE OF MY SPOTS TO TRY.
Guys,
Wow, I’ve got to get up there!!!!!!!
John
super fish and super report. WOW. glad to see James out of the Walleye mode for a break. not for long tho. sept and oct moons are around the corner, and we all know where he will be then.
Jack..