Upper Miss River Smallmouth Bass report 9-29-04

With the month of October nipping at our finger tips, it closes up my summer/fall smallmouth bass river trips. The bite continues to be smoking hot on just about every section of Miss river here in central Minnesota. The past 9 days or so, I had the opportunity to explore 4 different sections of river from Elk River, Mn to Little Falls, Mn and can honestly say that each section between here and there is in its peak form right now. The fish are feeding heavily in very tight schools. Finding these honey holes can be a bit of a struggle unless you know what to look for to help eliminate water.

All these sections of river all share some common characteristics, current, abundance of smallmouth bass and very little fishing pressure. The spots that I have been finding fish the last 2 weeks now have been in the slack water areas adjacent to deeper water. The last couple outings, small crankbaits have become my best search lures for finding smallies. Once I get bit, I drop my crankbait and pick up my tubes or stickworms and work the area more thoroughly looking for more takers. Usually this approach can be done very quickly. If you do not find a congregation of fish there, you can keep on moving down the way searching again. Eventually, you will find a pile of fish that are very aggressive and willing to hit just about anything well presented to them. I will sit on spots like this for close to an hour at a time to try to catch every available fish in a variety of techniques. Pulling 20+ fish from a spot like this is not uncommon. The neatest thing about this time of year is the fact that several fish will follow another fighting fish all the way back to the boat. That’s when a second angler can take advantage of this and score some additional action beside the boat.

I would expect this aggressive smallie bite to continue well in to October up here on the Upper stretches of the Miss River. Every year however, water temps dip into the low 40’s and the smallies become a little trickier for me to catch. The fish are still there in there fall haunts, but can be a very tedious bite and soft bite. Finesse light plastics and even live bait can be a way to coax these fish into biting. I am not a big fan of using live bait for smallies due to the deep hooking potential, but can be an alternative to catch some of these sluggish bruisers. Some of my favorite presentations when water temps get that cold would be a weightless YUM Houdini Shad or YUM dinger. These stick style plastics can be fished almost motionless to trigger a sluggish on looking cold water smallie. Jimmy D’s small 1/16th oz white river bugs is also an alternative for this time of year.

As a part time (August/September) smallie fisherman, I have learned a few things over the years of what can be helpful somedays and absolute chaos the next….On a positive note, bass fisherman can never have enough rods rigged within arms reach for any given situation. The flip side is eventually all these rods will become a real nuisance while fighting a fish and fending off a couple 60-80lb lab retrievers…..you can use your imagination here on the outcome!

If you have never visited the river bass forum here at IDA, may I suggest a stop over there and take a browse around at the topics of discussion! There are some very talented bass anglers over there to learn new tips and tricks about chasing either Largemouth or Smallmouth Bass!