This past week of smallie fishing on the Upper Miss was good overall if you adapted to the conditions mother nature threw at you. Friday, Gerald and his son John from Iowa joined me in a day of pursuit looking for some better sized fish. Lately, the sun has played a key role in the mood of the fish later in the morning to throughout the day. The morning started out a bit slow with a heavy overcast. A few fish shown themselves right away, but not quite the reaction I was hoping for right out of the gate. So covering water looking for the biters became the theme for the next couple hours. A fish here and there was all we could muster up, but by days end we had a good day with about 25 smallies and a couple fish over the 19” mark. Here is John with a nice Upper Miss river smallie that tipped the tape at 19-1/4”. Nice fish John! Thanks guys and thanks for spending the day with me. It was a pleasurable day with you guys and look forward to it the next time!
Saturday I was joined by Gary Wellman (aka…Gary) and Ken Knutson. The forecast for the day was hot with winds to blow hard to excess of 30mph+. Well, it was just that, by 10:00am the wind was already reaching 20mph out of the SE which meant right down the river. The early morning topwater bite started out real slow, with only a couple fish to show themselves. As we reached some shallower skinny waters, we used the current to pinpoint a few active schools to keep us busy. We found a small rock pile out of the front of a island point that was getting plenty of current. These fish used these basketball sized rocks to ambush their prey being swept by. Jimmy D’s black Riverbugs in the 1/8oz proved to be the favorable presentation for taking them scrappy fish. A close second was Ken with his black/white skirted spinnerbait.
As the day rolled on, the wind continued to get stronger and stronger. We shifted gears by early afternoon and used the wind to our advantage and treated it just like a lake and fished the windward side of all the shorelines. This presentation immediately proved to be the best thing going for most all species including some really nice smallies. Jimmy D’s Riverbug spinnerbaits and Ken’s black/white spinnerbait pulled fish the rest of the afternoon. Smallies, pike, walleyes, rock bass, perch, and even a small musky was standard fare as we probed the windward banks. Ever so often we would run into a nice school of smallies and score with a double and even a triple which included Gary with a whopping 20-3/4” fish after Ken and I each pulled a smaller fish from the spot ahead of him. Nice fish buddy! We kidded Gary that he made this big smallie look small due to Gary’s physical size. Rest assured the fish was a beauty!
We ended the day with plenty of fish that made it to the boat including Ken with a really nice 20” fish that he stuck just minutes before calling it a day. This fish came screaming out from under a tree hot on the back end of his spinnerbait and completely drilled it. We got to see the entire event take place before our eyes! Way cool! Nice fish Ken!
Not sure how many fish in the 18”-19” we boated on that day, but it was quite a few. One of the few times through the year that I will actually thank the wind! Thank you! For anyone interested in getting in on some of this late summer smallie action, I do still have a couple openings left! The next 3 weeks are about as good as it gets!
See you on the water!
Any tears Shed by those Iowans when they found out later on in the afternoon on Saturday that their beloved Hawkeyes got stomped on?
Nice pics/fish Steve. If it wasn’t for the LM bite down here, the fishing season would be a bust.
BTW I haven’t told the wife we are moving north yet.
She got a little suspicious when for sale sign went up in the front yard. 
Maybe she thought that the sign posted was for services rendered. The Donaldson “Stud” service.
Blue,
Typically, your smallie bite starts up by now?
BTW….I know an island that would be a perfect playground for the kids!
The fall bite down here for Smallies starts near the end of this month and runs into late Oct. We tried for some Smallies yesterday and drew the ‘Golden Sombrero.’
Mack, the Donaldson ”Stud” Service……
Steve,
Thanx again for the trip on Saturday. I (we) had a great time in spite of the wind. Like you say…it actually helped us! Best smallie fishing I’ve had in a long time and my best smallie this year! Just proves….”NEVER GIVE UP!!!
That was an AWESOME trip. Even made me put away the musky gear when I saw you and Ken catch those big brusiers right away!!! I wasn’t going to miss out on this action!!!!!!
WOW again. Never had I experienced any kind of bass fishing like that!!!
By the way, I got to get me some of those hair jigs. Those things are made VERY nice!!!!!!
Kudos to you for the great effort on putting us on fish like that!!!
Thanks again guys for the nice words. It was a fun day and thanks for spending it with me.
Gary,
JK
Yeah, Jimmy D takes special time to make sure every jig is made identical to the last one with all the detail in it. IF he does produce any rejects…I usually get them!
I did not get a chance to show you the real potential of those 1/16th oz jigs in the shallow water due to the lack of fish in the REAL shallow water, but the 1/8th oz jigs were definately the ticket in the faster 3-5 foot of water.
Thanks again guys and glad you had a good time!
Thanks Steve for a great trip. Fishing wasn’t easy, but it was fun to see the guide in true action working to find the fish. My dad and I always enjoy fishing together and we not only had fun but learned a lot that will help our fishing. Thanks again!
man! you are amazing! save some of those fish for the rest of us!
I see that your water temperature is at 69, down here, it has jumped back up to over 78 because of the hot weather. That was yesterday. Today was just as hot. It could even crack 80 by the end of today.
Could that be the reason why the smallies arent turned on like that yet down here??
Steve, what my son John said. It was a great day on the water with you. He was still talking about that 21″ or close Smallie that came up twice and missed his top water lure on our drive home. I also was very impressed with that little black jig and what it can produce. Gotta get me some of them. Anyway thanks again for a great day on the water and we will be fishing together again in the future.
God I thought I posted a great report and fish Steve.
I think I got dusted for ask what was your biggest smallie this year.
Maybe I was dreaming
Any way Steve thanks for the great report.
VERY nice fish Steve. You are definately having way tooooooooo much fun up there. I know, hec of a job but somebodys got to do it it, right?!!!
Thanks for the report and pics. 
Thanks, Bill
Great fish, report and pics as always Steve. I’m going to have to make a better effort to get in the boat with you next Fall for this bite
!
You can guarentee it was a great trip for smallies when I put down the muskie gear to chase those bronze backs!!!!!!!
It isn’t every day that I will chase rubber lips in exchange for toothy critters!!!!!!!!!
Gerald and John,
It was fun to fish with you guys on Friday. I know the fish were not as cooperative as I expected, but anytime you can boat some quality fish as we did, I take that as a productive day. I am glad you guys had a good time, I enjoyed myself thoroughly. As for the bruiser that missed on John’s topwater earlier in the morning, I wished we could have got a picture of that one!
Bigfish, Not sure on your neck of the woods, but up here things are like clock work every year within a week or two. Whether it be the forage cycle and movement patterns or the couple cool nights that get things in order….not sure probably a little of both. One thing is for sure is these fish put the feedbag somedays really hard and somedays you swear they have been buttoned up for the winter already. The biggest thing I have noticed every year is the weather and power of the sun. The same spot hit a few hours later can be a complete surprise with active fish roaming. I set up milk routes and sometimes hit certain spots several times throughout the day for this reason specifically.
Jeff, Not sure I understand?
Were you referring to a previous post?
As some of you know, I plan to take Mille Lacs off my schedule next year and stick to the river to jump on these smallies ALL summer long instead of only August and September….looking forward to it big time!
Gary,
I guess, BIG baits…BIG fish right? Holy Schnikees!
I think that surprised Ken and I as well. What I did get a kick out of was the size of the outboard motor you were throwing out there. Sounded like someone dropped a bathtub in the water when it landed 4 blocks away!
When we got to the first “good muskie spot”, when ken boated that 18 right away, with that 20 incher chasing the 18 incher……..That was all she wrote………..With fish like that, I can chase skis another day!!!!!!!!