Not a lot has changed since last week’s report, other than the fish are getting fatter by the day. About every fourth or fifth fish will be stuffed to the gills. When you hook into one of these fish you can usually tell, because they’ll have a trail of purged minnows behind them. Those bait fish never go to waste because the 4-5 smallies that were following that one will quickly take any free lunch offered to them.
Even with the warm water temps, still 70+ deg, the smallies are grouping up and going on their annual terror. The water also seems to be getting clearer by the day, with clarity being an easy 4+ feet right now. This makes fishing for these guys twice as fun! On a calm sunny day you get to see about half of your fish slam your bait!
Being we were fishing midday, the fish were hanging right on the edge of the faster water. We would simply cast a 6-8inch minnow bait up river and let the current bring the bait back to the boat. More often than not, as soon as the bait neared the bottom it would get in hailed. I had 7 consecutive casts that resulted in a chunky / spunky smallmouth. We boated 40+ smallmouth in this short afternoon, with many being very fat fish. Over the next few weeks these fish are going to continue to have the feed bag on, so get out and enjoy some spectacular smallie action!!
I’d like to take this time to remind you that when venturing out on the river to take it slow if you’re unfamiliar with the stretch of river you plan to fish. I’ve fished from South of St. Cloud all the way North of Little Falls and there are many treacherous stretches of river and there’s no shame in taking your time.
Over the years I’ve seen dozens of people head up river at full speed and float back down with their busted up motor tipped up in the air. In fact it just happened this weekend. I was fishing a shallow rocky area sitting in maybe 2 ½ feet of water, when I hear a boat motoring up river at full speed. He didn’t slow down for a second and ran his shiny 50hp Johnson right into a huge rock reef about a foot under the water. I’m not trying to scare you guys away. I’m just warning you, that if you plan to head out after these monster smallies, to either go with someone that knows the river or go slow until you learn a safe route on your own. Good luck fishing!
Great Report Joe! Thanks for sharing
Awesome looking smallies
Boy does that look like fun!
Those are some great looking smallies Joe.
Nice job Joe!
I grew up fishing smallies in that same stretch of water. Your report brings back a lot of good memories! 
Thanks Guys!
Brad, I heard through the grapevine you might be headed out there soon
Good luck, I hope you guys 
em!
Joe or anyone else, this is exactly what I don’t want to do. I like my boat… and its motors. Last September I took a float/paddle trip from Clearwater down to Monticello in a 14 foot jon and had a good time but the this year we’re thinking we’d like to take my Lund Explorer 1700. There is no way we could take this boat down that stretch of river. I don’t even know how the guys in the RiverPros get through some of those shallow stretches.
Are there any stretches of river where one could be reasonably safe running the bigger boat? I’ve looked on Google Earth and there appears to be dams at St. Cloud and Sartell. Can you run bigger boats up stream of these dams very far? And if so, are these stretches pretty decent for smallies?
Thanks,
Boone
Boone, you have the right idea. The closer you start to the upstream side of the dam the safer you should be. There are many pleasure boats that run those two stretches and there are many places where the water is 20′ deep. These stretches are very navigatable but I think people just get over confident. There are places to watch out for on every body of water. I’ve seen plenty of people smack up their props on MilleLacs too. Like I said just take your time and you’ll be just fine. Oh and smallie fishing on these sections is very good.
Great read and beauty Bronze fish Joe
Awesome pants too
Thanks Bret! You don’t even want to know how many PM’s I’ve gotten about those shorts. Thanks to everyone for the compliments
Hey, all I can say is my wife bought them 