MN River help needed please.

[Rooky]

I've never fished the MN from a boat before. Any advice would be appreciated. Hoping to fish Shakopee/Chaska/Jordan areas. Happy to catch anything including rough fish, and once the season opens, walleye.

I noticed the Navionics app doesn't have contours for the MN River. Is there anywhere online to see a good contour map? Couldn't find anything on the DNR site.

Thanks.

[expl]

Never tried it for walleyes just catfish and used to do o.k but havnt been there in years.Pretty sure you wont find an up to date or accurate map of the Minnesota River.Go slow your first few trips and make your own map by putting down a few waypoints or routes on the gps.I remember there being some deep runs in that stretch but some shallow ones also so keep that in mind.For cats we allways had bullheads or creek chubs,never did great but caught we caught some good fish.

[aanderud]

Rooky,

The river is coming up now that we got a bit of rain.  There are no countour maps, and even if there were they would not be consistent year to year.  Too much silt moves around in the river, spots that are 10 feet deep today could easily be 5 feet deep next year even with the same water level.

In the Shakopee and Jordan areas, even if it's 10 feet deep or more you end up with sticks that are either at the surface or just under it, so go slow.  I've personally ruined one prop downstream from Shakopee, and it was with the wife in the boat.  She was NOT happy with the slow putt-putt back to the ramp.  She hasn't been on the river since then, so maybe it was a good thing, I'm not sure.

Good sites are available to tell you water levels.  Here are a couple:

Statewide:
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/mn/nwis/rt

Jordan:
http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=mpx&gage=jdnm5&hydro_type=0

Savage:
http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=mpx&gage=savm5&prob_type=stage

 

If you stay downstream of the barge terminals in Savage, you're going to be safest all year as they dredge the channel for barge traffic.  It should always be at least 10 feet deep in the middle up to the grain terminals there.  Anything further upstream, you're going to see more wood.