mississippi river Mississippi River North Fishing Reports

[Rick G]

If you are looking for a place on the river that is 100% safe you wont find it till north of the Royalton dam. Above the St. Cloud there are a few places where people fish but I wouldnt put a lot of trust in river ice. Just too many bad things can happen when you mix river current and ice fishing.

[Stick in Mud]

I echo the others' comments. If you need more corrobation, just check out the St Cloud Times today--there's a story about a fellow who fell in by Heims Mill. Had to hang onto the ice until the rescue squad got there.

I see guys out all the time around Sartell, and I'm sure the ice above the dam is mostly safe. Not sure where to fish, though....

[HossFisher]

Saw a guy out ice fishing below the SCSU dam Sunday. Seems a little sketchy to me.

[RiverRunner]

Yeah you couldn't catch me any where from Little Falls to the cities ice fishing the river. Even in the spots that look alright, the ice can change over night

[Presco]

Guy the other day at Gander told me there was ice on the river south of Monti. I don't believe that, but thought I would check. I thought I might hit the river for a little smallie action this weekend with a slight warmup expected.

Let me know if anyone has been out (doubtful with the temps), but you never know. I've fished it in Feb on warm days with some success, but never in Jan. Below 30 gets a tad cold for me.

[river rat316]

Elk River has alot of shore ice this time of year, Anoka usually is iced over with flowing ice.

[st cloud fisher]

hey river runner what about the section above the sartell dam to rice thats pretty solid ice arount that section, i now u have sum spots that bad but i fish it alot ands its pretty safe

[RiverRunner]

hey river runner what about the section above the sartell dam to rice thats pretty solid ice arount that section, i now u have sum spots that bad but i fish it alot ands its pretty safe

If you can find an area with not much current you'd probably be alright. I can think of a couple areas but even around those areas it can be kind of shaky. I used to fish a few areas but the river ice just varys so much. On the river if you fall through its gonna be that much harder to get out with the current.

[DuckBlind]

Thinking about heading up to the Miss this weekend. Anybody been up there recently, wondering if I can wade in and do some fly fishing?

Usually go out between Monti and Dayton...

If anybody feels like sharing a few spots that would be swell, I have heard good things about the St. Cloud area. Wondering if there are any good places near Clearwater...seems like there wouldnt be too much traffic, not a lot around that area.

Thanks.

[Stick in Mud]

Clearwater isn't my favorite area...lots of sand and slow current. There are fish there, of course, but I think the Monti stretch or the St Cloud stretch will be more productive. Just my .02.

[OnAFly]

Has anyone been wading up at Montisippi lately? I've been thinking about getting out there some time this weekend.

Are there any other good places to access near there? Is there any fee or anything to park?

[mrklean]

the water on the river is high dont know how much wading you can do, i wouldnt be doing any if it was me the water is really movin

[OnAFly]

Gotcha, I checked the flows out of st cloud, 5.4Kcfs. Looks like I'll be checking back next week.

Thanks

[Danny_boy]

just spent 4 hours south of st. cloud, good for cats and smallies, never had a bite on any but live bait. I work everything i had, plastics, cranks, spinners, just Leeches for smallies and cut sucker for channel cats, good bite below the dam on channels.

[Danny_boy]

current wasn't horrible. pretty shallow and easy. But will wear you out over time if your not in shape.

[e1teen93]

hey have u guys fished at the coon rapids dam lately? hows the bite been there?

[T.O.W]

Not sure about that section. North of the Sartel dam there are plenty of rock bass. Hmmmm...if only all those would have been Walter's... wake up...

[Rick G]

If you are finding the nasty little red eyed rock bass then you should be close to the walleyes. The last couple weeks I have been getting a mixed bag of cats, rockies, smallies, suckers and walleyes above Blanchard. 1/8 or 1/4 oz jig heads and crawlers have worked best for me.

[Danny_boy]

you have caught channels north of blanchard? I have yet to catch one that side of the dam.

Were you bouncing across the bottom, or was it more of a lindy rig setup?

[Rick G]

Just keeping the jig near bottom with short hops every couple seconds. I find better numbers of fish on the down current side of downed submerged trees in the 12-18ft depths. I like the jig and crawler thing because when I try pulling lindys through the woody areas I get hung up alot more often. The channels I get up there are on the small side never one over 5or 6 lbs. but there are a few of them up in that section of river.

[Danny_boy]

nice i will have to give that a try. i fish below the dam a lot, and it has great channel fishing.

[e1teen93]

Have any of you guys fished for carp at the coon rapids dam?

[fishingnoob763]

I fish carp at the dam all the time...what about it?

[Shack]

Wow! Spent Fri. & Sat. night, right after dark till about 11pm trying various tactics for fall walleyes that have produced in the past. This would be the Dayton to Monti stretch. The river is crazy high for this time of year. Just seems to be throwing everything off of what I had become accustom to from years past fishing for walleyes in the fall. Should be back out this week though.

[mrklean]

i was out last week and found a new spot for redhorse for next season for cats and a bunch of smallmouth but no eyes

[e1teen93]

I was just curious, ive heard its pretty good for carp at the cr dam, where do u usually fish there? any luck lately?

[srfishin15]

alright so im fishing on saturday october 9 on the river, above the sartell dam. I got into what i thought was a snag, then the snag started pulling back.. so i get the "snag" into the boat and it was about a 15 inch EELPOUT! ive never ever caught an eelpout in open water, anybody else ever caught one in the river during open water?

[Gordie]

Srfishin10 I have never caught them in the river but caught back to back pout on leech lake two weeks after opener some years ago. one was about 8lbs and the other about 12lbs blew me away

[Rick G]

The colder the water gets the more active they become. I will usaly get one or two a year out of the river just before freeze up. There is a pretty good population of them that winter in the deeper river holes. I have no problem handling my own catfish and the odd bowfin now and again but I turn into a little girl and reach for the pliars when I have to unhook a pout

[Stick in Mud]

I've got a few in open water in the river--mostly in spring and fall. We catch a ton of them in the winter, but that isn't quite as surprising.