This past weekend was definitely a "HOT" one on the Upper Mississippi River. The heat of the day certainly seems to put the smallies into a better feeding mode than mornings on the section of river that I had visited all weekend long. The bass appear to be moving into their summer haunts and reacting in way that we would expect for this time of year, spreading themselves out a bit along the shorelines taking advantage of some of the subtle current breaks down the banks. Certainly there is much better bite is the very near future. This time of year is typically a bit slower overall than the later July into August bite that us river anglers all come to love.
Friday morning Tom Wallrich and I got on the water about 6:00am and witnessed a good top water bite take place for the first couple of hours of the morning and then the fish got a bit sluggish and plenty of coaxing was needed to get a few bites. I sat and pitched tubes, Jimmy D’s Riverbugs and a drop shot on a small spot and finally got a fish to go after about 15 minutes of casting a very small area where I knew fish should be holding. As the day rolled on the heat got cranked up and so did the fish. We started to witness fish starting to chase more and more as we got into the afternoon. Recognizing this, we switched over from the slightly finesse approach and started covering water and saw immediate results. One fish here and one there was the norm however for the rest of the day. Not a fast and furious bite, but covering enough water resulted in a decent day’s catch.
Sunday I was joined by John Vaught and his son Joe. Sunday was a similar slow start to the morning and by noon we anticipated a better bite to take place and it never amounted. Instead we opted to returning to high percentage spots and keep coaxing a few biters. On this particular day, the only bites we got were from Rebel Pop-R’s pitched to some of the more predominant current breaks along the shorelines. This approach did show some awfully big smallies only to either come unbuttoned or a complete miss on the smallmouth’s behalf. Overall it was a pretty slow bite but some nice fish did make their way to the boat. By days end we made double digits but the bites were few and far between unfortunately. Before the end of the day, I did however promise Joe a RiverPro "360". This is where you get going ¾ throttle and throw the boat into a 360 degree of rotation and keep on heading in the forward direction.
Monday Paul Roth and his son Danny joined me for a short abbreviated day on the upper Miss. Based on Sunday’s results we opted to target those high percentage spots from the day prior and see what we could produce. This proved to be a btter approach and our numbers were of better results with a couple decent 18"-19" class of fish showing up.
I had higher anticipations for this particular weekend for the fish to be on the move and more and more active, however the section of river that I was fishing did not seem to be the case, however I do anticipate the bite to get "much" better in the coming days. From what I saw late in the day on Monday, the bite looked to be rebounding nicely and the fish appeared to chasing more and locations appeared to be more of what we see for our mid summer patterns. So all in all, the bite should rebound nicely and I think the next week will tell a lot on where we are headed. Our typical bite from mid July up to about mid September is typically lots of fish spread out and many presentations working to boot.
Lastly, I want to thank Tom Wallrich, John Vaught and his son Joe and Paul Roth and his son Danny for a fun several days on the Upper Miss. I look forward to fishing with you next time we can share a boat again! The scenery up here is always worth visiting as we averaged seeing about 40 deer per day including wild turkeys, Bald Eagles, raccoons, Sandhill cranes, etc…. The river is a beautiful thing!
Nice to see you are a little human. A slower time there still would be a blast.
Nice report Steve, are you seeing anymore Lunge with the water temps up now?
Does not take much to make this guy a happy angler…getting on the water each morning is a blessing in itself. I get giddy just thinking about it. BTW…We owe a trip swap. You let me know when your schedule lightens up a bit and we need to get out again together.
Bob,
We are starting to see a musky just about every trip up there nowdays. This weekend was perfect example. Biggest that we have seen so far has been a fish about the low 40″ class. I would imagine it might start to become a more and more common occurence up here from now through Sept/October. Looks like you need to come on up and visit me again!
Bob,
We are starting to see a musky just about every trip up there nowdays. This weekend was perfect example. Biggest that we have seen so far has been a fish about the low 40″ class. I would imagine it might start to become a more and more common occurence up here from now through Sept/October. Looks like you need to come on up and visit me again!
Have cold beer, will travel.
You do realize that all that muskie gear will be staying at home again 
Yes, I did just say that 
WHAAAAAAAAAT!
Did I hear what I thought I heard 
I really hope your not being serious about leaving the Muskie gear at home 
I suppose though, for safety reasons it is really tough to be slamming a cold one when you got both hands on you muskie rod
Heaven forbid you spill your beer 
Great report Steve, Nothing more frustrating then watching a quality smallie pop the topwater and then dissapear
Happens alot. The river IS a regular zoo, you never know whats going to be in the sky, water or shore. Sure makes for an interesting day. Hoping the Anoka fish cooperate for you and your bro this w-end. 
Danny and I had a great time even though they weren’t jumping in the boat. Between the musky that swung and missed at my popper, the wildlife, the solitude, and the roar of a 240 hp RiverPro flying through six inches of water it was a very memorable morning that I look forward to repeating.
Nice report Steve! Smallie fishing is awesome!! I look forward to catching some of these brutes with you this fall. Jack and I have a trip planned with you towards the end of the season for some really big fat smallies! Keep up the great work but save a few for us!
Looks like a little hard work and the day heating up made an awesome weekend of smallie fishing.
Hard to beat good river smallie fishing. Sounds like a blast!
Nice Bass Steve
hey steve do you ever stay out late enough to fish the may fly hatch if so how do you do
smalliecrazy,
ITs been a little while since I have stayed out later than when the mayflies come out. LAst summer I was out for two evenings until about 11:00pm and we were threw spinnerbaits at a pretty good sized current break and sporadically caught fish all the way until we left. Personally I have never had a banner night fishing on the Miss for smallies after dark, but then again I have not spent alotof time pursueing it either. There certainly are fish to be caught, just not sure how consistent it would be.
Good luck to you if you give a go. I would be interested in hearing your results!
I live north of Sartell on the Mississippi. I’ve had the fortune of being out a couple of nights over the past years when smallie magic takes place. The flys come out soon after the sun sets and the fish tend start engagaing near dark. These periods can be the absolute best fishing you can imagine, a fish on nearly every cast. The best method I’ve found is to wait for a fish to pop the surface and aim for the break with a light tube. If you haven’t seen this action take place before, it’s amaizing. There isn’t just a fish here and there, there are literally hundreds of fish popping the surface at a time. However I’ve seen nights where the flys come out and the fish don’t. Good Luck.
07-22-07 around 9:00 PM Mississippe River: Subject: smallies/mayflies
Blazer, thanks for the input. Have you had any luck into the wee hours of the night or just at dark?
hey guys great to hear from you i have actually been fishing the mayfly hatch for the past few weeks and we have had some awesome nights. the reason i was asking was like blazer said is because one night you hammer the fish and the next you cant hardly get a bite so i was kind of puzzled by this. we have an amazing fishery on the river i hope everyone has a chance to get on it sometime.
This sounds real intriguing. Thanks for input. Like I mentioned before, I have not spent that much time pursueing smallies on the river well after dark. Have had some awesome nights right at dark to about 1/2 after, but the few times I have spent well into the night, has been poor. Again this is years ago, but interesting none the less. I used to night fish Mille Lacs at night for smallies years ago and between the hits or muskies and smallies at the boat side, it was very exciting. Seemed the hotter and muggier of nights were the best back then.
Reality is for me, is by the time the sun is down…..so is this guy after a long hard day on the water! Might have to reserve a little juice this weekend to try it out!
steve im not sure where on the river you fish but im sure there are may flies so it should be good.
good luck
Steve,
Just at dark. I’m not setup to fish after dark so I’m not sure how long the bite continues. Here is a link to a video from the other night. Can use “QuickTime Player” or = to view.
http://www.infinity-homes-inc.com/misc/Video_072207_004.3g2
Steve,
Randy and I will be getting ahold of you this week.
Jack.
Sounds good Jack.
Fall dates are getting swallowed up as we speak.