Crow Wing River

[Bassman55]

I canoe this river a few days every summer. I catch northerns and rock bass like crazy, but I have also caught several smallies, walleyes, and 1 muskie 34 inches long. Has anyone ever ran into more smallies or muskies?

[MidCoast]

I have not caught a musky in there yet... I do catch a lot of smallies, suckers, some catfish here and there, a carp here and there, pikes, and saugers....

[Bassman55]

Can you tell me what part of the river you fish? i have my own canoes but we go as a large group out of Gleoge's outfitters by Nimrod MN. Fished anywhere near there?

[fischer69]

My buddies and I used to have a boys weekend up there every year. Havent made it up there for a couple of years though. We pick where we want to camp and place a vehicle there and float to it, so we dont have to carry everything with us. We normally start on the Shell river or Blueberry Lake.

What we found that works out great is staying at the township campgrounds (you can party a little more with no problems, we've even had a couple of beers with the local C.O.). We take the wood planks they have and find 2 relatively flat ones (2 per canoe) and either tie them with rope or use some Wisconsin Chrome (duct tape) at the front and back bars and you've got yourself a helluva pontoon. You can stand up and fish without a problem and take a leak without worrying about tipping.

On the fishing note definatly tons of rock bass & northerns an occational wally and some largemouths. Impressive about the Muskie. We went in June last time and we did 12 miles in 8hrs without having to paddle except to steer and had the best fishing I have had there.

Don't know if that was any help but I figured I'd throw out some my experiences. Love to talk about it somemore if anyone wants to [PoorWordUsage].

P.S. Hey bassman are you a firefighter? I remember partying with a large group from Fargo quite a few years ago and most of em were firefighters. Played 30pt buck over & over...

[Bassman55]

No I am from Wahpeton, but live in Fargo now. We go with a large group of people from Wahpeton and my dad and I are the only ones that fish.

[Carp-fisher]

I think that muskies are natural to the Crow Wing river.