Just moved to MN and I need some Mississippi river smallie hot spots.

[Coach Dog]

I fished the Old Man last night just north of Elk River. All we did was wade and cast into holes above rocks and also fished where current and slack water meet. The part of the Miss. that we fished, you can actually walk across the entire river! I also cannot believe how clear the water is! Maximum depth where I found was about 4'. Fishing was pretty darn good. A friend and I caught 10 smallies and 4 cats in about 2 hours. Great Fun! Biggest smallie was 19", a couple 17", and the rest 12-14". 2 of the cats were about 5#. The smallies seemed to be schooled up so you kind of got to move around to find them. They really put up a fight when you have to bring them up through the current. We were using a jig w/ a garlic scented grub. My friend tipped his w/ a crawler and seemed to out-fish me.

Coach Dog

[Coach Dog]

Cast above AND BELOW rocks is what I meant

[HawgTide]

BigLake,
I thought my handle would give it away? I guess the folks up here don't know (or care)about my beloved Crimson Tide . That would be Alabama, although I haven't lived there since '81.

Going to try to float from Monti to Elk River this Monday. I'll post the results.

[Mark Christianson]

dan2957

Ok, where are you from prior to moving up here?

Looking forward to the report Hawgtide.

[Doonbuggy]

Hey Hawgtide, I became a Tide fan a few years back when I saw a 70-year old Tide fan say the following to ESPN:

"Hell, if Auburn had to play Russia, I'd have to root for Russia. Roll Tide Roll!"

[Kevin Turner]

Got some good smallie fishing in 'Bama. I try to fish Florence every spring. That TN river's got some real big'uns. My Mammy's side of the family lives in Birmingham, So I get to visit & catch some early spring smalljaws....

[HawgTide]

Doonbuggy, yep there ain't much we hate more than aubrun. (we're not allowed to spell it right)

I had never caught a smallmouth until I moved up here. I had heard that the Tenn River was great for smallies, but that's Northern Alabama. I grew up in the West Central part of the state (Tombigbee and Black Warrior rivers). Nothing but Largemouths and Catfish there! My Dad still lives there and he had been the president of the Local BASS chapter for years. He recently resigned to build a new house. He's coming up here in two weeks, so this will be his first Smallie action also. He's gonna freak when (hopefully)he hangs into one of those 3lb bronzebacks in the current. At least he'll visit more often after that.

[HawgTide]

Kevin,
Do you fish LM Bass tourneys in 'Bama? If so and you need some local info, let me know. My Dad fishes all the State Federation tournaments and knows most of the larger reservoirs wells.

He would be happy to show you around down there.

[Kevin Turner]

Don,t fish largies much, but I'll sure give him a call if I hit some of the 'Bama big water.
You might want to think twice about hookin' your'e Pappy into some MN Smallies, Tuff to go back to them lake greenies after tusselin' with Mr River Smalljaws.

[HawgTide]

BigLake,
We ended up trying the Clearwater to Becker section instead. Several good areas, but a lot of stretches where we didn't get anything for awhile. They must be schooled up. We ended up with 18 smallies, most on Cranks, but a few on Spinnerbait and Buzzbaits. 2 nice walleye on spinnerbait and 1 big catfish.
We need some rain badly! My boat can't take much more of this pounding and I'm too stubborn to quit fishing the Miss.