The Mn bass opener came and went with a blink of an eye…but boy was it fun while it lasted. My recent purchase a couple of months ago was a new River Pro jet boat made by Kevin Turner, has given me the opportunities to go places that I have only dreamed about and this past weekend was worth the wait. How about catching 80+ smallmouth bass in areas that you will most likely not see another angler all summer long? And having 18”-20” smallies be the norm for the day? What a treat and I feel like I am being spoiled already.
My brother Tony and I hooked up early Saturday morning to one of our favorite smallmouth bass pools on the upper Mississippi River. With water temps up higher than I expected, we started throwing traditional warmer water (summer) patterned lures like spinnerbaits and topwaters to some of our usual spring spots. We got bit right away but it was not a smallie, a nice 45” musky played “JAWS” before it inhaled Tony’s Booyah spinnerbait in about 9 inches of water. What a fish! We got to see the fish come from about 10 feet away from the spinnerbait and crush it like she wanted it! Nice fish Tony……for a musky! LOL!
After another 15-20 minutes of throwing the traditional stuff, I decided that we needed to shift gears a bit and run upriver to try some skinnier and quicker water! Within the first cast, we both realized that we found the mother load of female post spawn smallmouth bass!
Because of the shallow 1-3 foot of water that we were in, we opted to go light on our offerings and switched tactics with one guy throwing Jimmy D’s 1/16th oz black Riverbugs and the other guy throwing a 4” Smoke and chartreuse YUM Dinger rigged wacky style. Both setups had there lime light throughout the day, but they were both the best two presentations going for us. These fish were tucked in so tight to the shoreline that if you missed the spot by a foot, they would pass it right up. Small current breaks were the na,e of the game here all day long for us. As the sun got higher and higher in the sky the fish buried deeper and deeper into the shade of the over hangs of branches and grass mats, so accurate casts had to become more and more critical. Tony and I proceeded to catch the bulk of our fish in the 17.5”-20” range all day long. From the looks of all the females we caught, it was clear that all the fish were done spawning and in the midst of starting their feeding aggressiveness like smallies are known to do! Most of the fish were pretty thin from the recent spawn but any wounds from spawning rituals were barely evident.
As I have mentioned before in a previous report, I am strictly a smallie fisherman the rest of the summer and I could not be happier! The change of pace sparks new enthusiasm and motivation to find the next best bite! I am excited to be able to offer up guide trips to some of these haunts that offer up some higher than average caliber of fishing in these new (for me) merely untapped sections of river. With the help of the new River Pro jet boat, it has made getting to these fish that much easier and makes me more efficient. This is truly what this boat was made to do and it shows! I ran through 8”-2 feet of water all day long without ever a worry of hitting bottom. The best part about it was we never saw a bass fisherman all day long!
Look for more pics to follow.
Here is a neat shot of Tony with a release of the nice musky that he caught.
Great report Steve! I hope to schedule a tour of that River Pro sometime in the next few months.
Here is a shot of some of the terrain that we were fishing most of the day. I had the shade in my face command from the photographer here.
A shot of Tony with another nice smallie.
Another that have a smallie and Jake in a stare down!
Tony with a nice black one.
Great report Steve! That river pro sure sounds/looks like a sweet ride!! No more worrying about dinging the glass huh?
Have you ever fished the dingers weighted when fishing them wacky?
This last pic is of one that had the most evident of spawning scars down the side of the fish.
Nice report Steve. Hey-when does the musky season open? I would love to get a mess of musky steaks and make some musky cheek chowder.
Do you clean those for your customers?
You bet!
Once we start seeing fish hanging out in to the current a bit more, it seems to work very well there.
It seemed the fish wanted the slower drop..plus the fish were sitting in only a foot to maybe 16 inches of water.
I will let you and Gary work out those details!
Personally, I try to stay as far away from those critters as I can.
You want to talk about grass carp? JK!
Awesome report Steve. It looks like your putting that new girl of yours to the test.
Aday catching those brutes with no one in sight. Now that is what you call gettin’ back in the nasty stuff. 
SOunds liek you and your brother had a ball. 
Great lookin fish Steve, have you found yourself finding any new areas that you couldn’t venture too before in your old rig?
Wow! Some great looking smallies, it’s nice to catching those again. That was a beautiful bonus fish too.
Sweet report Steve!!! Growing up in the shadows of the mighty Miss, it makes a guy wonder what he is really missing out on!!!
Steve,
I’ll be up there this sat or sunday. I’ll be in the Tracker 17TX. I’ll try not to invade too much of your water. I can’t go that fast or far with the 50 merc anyway.
Great report Steve! And to think, it will get even better!
Beautiful Smallies Steve!
I fished with Chris Beeksma on Chequamegon last week for my first experience with YumDingers…WOW…what a deadly bait!
Keep the good pics coming!
Steve,
great day, great report, and another whole June ahead for you.
Does it get any better????
think NOT. super pics.
Jack..
Steve
have you ever tied on a fly to fish for those smallies? Now that you have the river pro, it looks like you have the perfect platform to cast a fly rod from and i’m imagining it would be a trip to catch a few of those bruisers on a fly…i’m planning on giving it a whirl with an 8wt 10ft i built this winter.
Very nice Steve!
Cal,
I can see how that would happen. We grew up on the river in Sartell (my parents are still there) and we spent just about every waking moment on the water chasing one species or another 12 months a year. Unfortunately when I was growing up I took this for granted. After about a years after I moved away from home and started fishing many local lakes, I realized what a powerful fishery the river really was. I wish I knew then what I know now!!
Ken,
Come on up! Swing by and say hi if you see me. Not sure what section I will be fishing on Saturday. Kind of depends on my tomorrow’s outing..
Micah,
I have spent zero time fishing these fish with a fly rod. My Dad is an fairly avid fly fisherman for these smallies. HE loves it when he has time!
Here is one last pic I had off the camera that I forgot about. Just another nice smallie from the day. What a great day!
Awesome report!
Great Pictures
Nice report Steve. I am going to try the stretch of the river between St. Cloud and Brainerd more than once this summer. My oldest daughter lives in St. Cloud and I plan on making several trips to the area this year. I’m headed that direction in 3 weeks for my grandson’s 1st birthday party and I’m leaning towards pulling the boat up and staying a couple extra days.
Eyehunter
Eyehunter,
I sense a double whammy coming on for you that weekend!
Good luck and YES…I would highly reccomend bringing the boat along!
Nice fish Steve
Looks like one heck of a fun day!!
Steve,great report as always.Man it sure is fun to read your adventures on the water.I see in a few of the pics the labs look a little wet.Were they chasing baits or fish? Sure hope I can get one of the boys up there late summer to fish with you.
Ryan Hale
Great report & dandy fish! Glad to hear the boat is doing well…
I’m still trapped in MO
but, hope to head that way soon!
Great report Steve!
What size hook would one use to wacky rig a dinger if one was so inclined to go after…..oh, say….carp? And if one may snag into a smallie 
. What hook would work best? 
Not that I would ever target smallies intenionally. 
Tuck
Hey Steve, I bought a bunch of crankbaits from you last winter with my 5 year old son. Since I am a teacher and my last day was today
, I have some time on my hands. If you ever need someone to jump in, I live in Big Lake, about 2 miles from the sippi in Monticello. I have never fished for smallies, but am willing to learn 
. Later.
I have spent a couple years fishing on the St. Louis. My two best spots were small reseviors (<500 acres) that you could only access by canoe. But now I am moving down to the cities and need a new honey hole. Are there any canoe freindly waters on your stretch of the river? Are there any landings or reseviors that you would recomend fishing? Thanks,
ty
p.s. Great pics, those are some good looking fish.
The Rum River would be an excellent opportunity for a canoe. The Rum runs into the Miss in Anoka. There is a ramp just north on Hwy 47 in the Anoka county fairgrounds. Here you can paddle up as far as your arms will allow you to.
THe current is pretty mild here…as you get further north it picks up a bit, but still doable.
As for the Mighty Miss, there are lots of opportunities to drop your canoe along the river and fish within the landings and have some great smallie fishing. Take a look at the Mn DNR website for more info.
The St. Croix also offers some fun river fishing. You may want to consider rigging your canoe with a trolling motor so you an slow down when you come to those nice looking spots..
Steve, which River Pro did you purchase and why?
Thank you,
Kristine
Nive Job Steve I really hope I can get on the water with you sometime. My dad said were coming up there and trying for some night walleyes.
kczech,
Kevin Turner built me a 196 Lo Pro model with a 240hp Mercury sport jet. The boat purchase was actually a longtime thought, but getting rid of my Ranger 620 was something that I was not expecting to do until right before I bought the River Pro.
I bought the boat for several reasons, one of which that I made a decision to stay away from the big water for awhile and stick to the river. I have been on the river since day one and I really miss spending all season on it. Second reason is that there is so much fishable waters on my favorite haunts that I have until now been unable to get to. This opens the door to so many more opportunities. Do I miss my Ranger? OF course I do for certain situations, but I knew that coming into it and I have adapted to it. I told my self that I would like to try this boat for a year or two and see what I thought of it and then make a conscious decision then on what I do next.
Thanks buddy! Looking forward to it! Your Dad and I have been playing a bit of phone tag lately and I owe him a call to get some dates set up! Looking forward to fishing with you later this summer!!!