mississippi river Mississippi River North Fishing Reports

[eyeguy 54]

found this stuck in gullet of one with about 5 feet of line. 

[mrpike1973]

Yum! that looks tasty!

[eyeguy 54]

it was a good combo. 

[MinnowBuckets]

Eyeguy I took your advice this evening and went with a simple dropshot setup with a split shot sinker and small hook. Pulled off probably a dozen sinkers in the rocks but did not have to retie once! Plus 5 walleyes made it to shore. Most were pretty small though, with one at about 15 inches and the rest being smaller.

[eyeguy 54]

cool, glad to hear it worked.

[DonkeyHodey]

The Sip remains higher than usual for mid June.  (it’s current height is more what I see in early/mid may but there’s plenty of good shore spaces to throw a line.)

Water is warm—70’s.  Water is quite clear for the Sip—lack of rain in past ~2 weeks is limiting runoff (that’ll change apparently this weekend…)

Smallies are getting more active and taking variety of baits—surface/cranks/etc…

Suckers are done running…

Walleyes are moving deeper (...I usually find them tough to target during day until water cools down again in fall)

Panfish have moved into the shallow/flats

 

Daughter and I were fishing yesterday morning and got 3 nice sunnies, 2 smaller wallies, and 1 healthy, feisty smallie—fishing with crawlers.  (bite was nibbly:  We lost quite a few worms compared to the fish we landed…--overall seemed a bit disappointing and less active than we expected… but that’s fishing.  We were hoping the kitties might be active but didn’t find any…  ?Weather change this weekend might change things.)

 

River seems to be settling into its usual summer pattern;  we were pleasantly surprised at how morning fishing from a shady/tree lined shore and neither or us saw a single mosquito!  (there were quite a few small mayflies 2 weeks ago and they’re all but gone.  Wonder if that could be part of the sluggish bite?)

[Rick]

Nice @DonkeyHodey!!

[DonkeyHodey]

River is high again thanks to 3 inches of rain in Sartell last week.

Apparently that was a good thing--I tried the river for the sundown bite; hoping for either walleyes or catfish.  While the sun was still visible over the trees, I only landed one nice smallmouth and hooked a spiny softshell on the front leg--but released safely (for both of us!)

Last night the catfish were on (once the sun was fully down). 

I was fishing with a rather wadded-up ball of nightcrawler/s.   First pic I was convinced was a smallie; breached completely, straight up from the water--tail completely out of the water!  (I've never had channel cats jump before...)  Second is PB channel cat at 28 inches!  (...that one didn't jump.)

...oh, and the mosquitos have now hatched...  Boo.

 

[Wanderer]

Good catches. 

 

The water is looking clearer down that way.  The Little Falls area is still muddy, weedy and mossy.  And High...  I haven’t even bothered to put in my dock yet.  We kayaked on Sunday; I picked one up for my wife to try out.  I didn’t even bother taking a rod with me.

[ANYFISH2]

Took the boy to the river near Little Falls last night.  Slower bite than usual for this time of year.  We did not get a walleye until 9pm.  Over the the last 30 min however we ended up catching 12 with the vast majority being 13" or less.  Did bring home a couple 15-16" for a taste.

Medium leeches on Lindy caught all the fish in under 10ft of water.

[Rick G]

The creek is about as low as I have ever seen it.....That means the fish have less place to hide I guess The bite up and down the river has been very good most days. Evenings still seem to produce better results than the morning bite. 

Weightless senkos or swim baits have produced the bulk of my quality fish in the last few weeks

[gimruis]

14 hours ago, Rick G said:

The creek is about as low as I have ever seen it

 

Its the lowest I've seen it since living here.  I've lived here since 1991, so 30 years.  2012 was bad, but this is worse and we still have more of summer left.  Apparently 1988 was the worst year I've heard.  The Rum River, which I normally fish in midsummer, is also at historic low and isn't even accessible by watercraft.

 

When I drive into Elk River looking to the north over the river, I can see about half the river bed completely dry.  I saw a guy standing in the middle of the river last week and he was literally standing on dry ground.

Edited July 21, 2021 by gimruis

[DonkeyHodey]

The Missi is crazy low!  There are areas in central MN where you can walk across and not even get your feet wet!

 

While the water volume in the river is less, the fish proportions aren’t (same number of fish are packed in less water)  Thus it has made for some really awesome fishing trips!  (You just have to adjust and try different spots because a few of my usual areas are dry…)

… But for all you river rats out there, this is a GREAT time to follow the shores, learn the structures and find good spots for future casts!

 

Princess:  just wants to hold a kitty…  Sugar, spice and everything nice?  (...and hopefully a few barbels.)

 

Sonny Boy:  caught 2 nice catfish using only a landing net in a landlocked pool on the Missi last week… 

 

(they’re great fried, but AWESOME broiled with butter and little cornmeal.)

[Mike89]

they are good eats for sure!!!  way to go!!!