What to fish for?

[PDXFisher]

Fellow Fly Peeps,

I'm making one of my summer trips to MN in June, but I'm staying a month this time. Normally I just fish conventional gear for Muskies (I gave up on the fly for them until I find the right situation, which I haven't yet). Since I'm staying so long, I'll definitely bring my 9wt with me to give me more options (and maybe a few more rods if I think it useful). I had one of the greatest times of my life fishing Pike on the fly in Alberta, and would love to find a place I could sight fish for them in MN.

Being from the NW, I'm used to walking a river bank for miles and reading water to find fish. Does that opportunity exist in MN, and where? Everything seems so geared to lakes I have a hard time finding information on rivers, where I think I would be more successful for many reasons.

I'm not interested in trout at all, I've got plenty of those in Oregon. Bass could be interesting, but I have those here as well. I like big fish, and am not all that picky what species they are. I don't know anything about Redhorse and Buffalo. I know a little about carp as people target them out here as well (saw many groups well in excess of 20lbs on Lobster Lake last year). I've read a little through the posts on here and see people are excited about things other than Northerns and Muskies. Those two things make me very excited, but I'm ready to be convinced to target other things as long as they put a bend in a 9wt.

I would be very grateful if y'all could lay out my options for fun fly times given my interests. I plan on being there for the whole month of June and just purchased a Lund Pro V for the occasion. My home base will be Watertown, but I plan on hitting Bemidji and LOTW and will drive anywhere in the state or even Wisconsin (have access to a cabin on Shell Lake). If someone wants some company on a fly fishing adventure, I'll buy dinner and beers

Thanks!

[turiprap]

Hope you have a great time this summer. In addition to pike and muskies, the rocky portions of both small and large warmwater rivers in MN and WI have excellent populations of smallmouth bass - a somewhat rare fish in your part of the country, as I understand. They're tremendous sport on a fly rod, but a nine weight may be one or two line weights too heavy to let the average bass show off much. If you're married to the nine weight, you'd have to be a pretty jaded fellow not to enjoy fishing for Esoxids with it. I'm most leery of naming streams on the internet, but I'm telling no secrets when I suggest that the upper Mississippi and the upper St. Croix are both great places to pursue warmwater gamefish. Good luck.

[Nate McVey]

If you can narrow down where in MN you will be that will help a lot! Like turiprap said, there are excellent smallie opportunities up here on the St. Louis (which is no secret) and there are also excellent muskie chances not too far from here. I have fished for northerns on some area lakes, but have never targeted them in the rivers although they are around.

[PDXFisher]

 Originally Posted By: turiprap

Hope you have a great time this summer. In addition to pike and muskies, the rocky portions of both small and large warmwater rivers in MN and WI have excellent populations of smallmouth bass - a somewhat rare fish in your part of the country, as I understand.

Thanks, Turiprap! Actually, we have too many Smallmouth Bass in my part of the country. Bucket biologists have introduced them to a few of our trophy trout lakes, effectively ruining them. The Columbia River is a world-class Smallie fishery as well. You can have 100-fish days on the John Day river and Umpqua river. What we don't have nearly as many of is Largemouth, actually. I am actually a member of B.A.S.S.

 Originally Posted By: turiprap

If you're married to the nine weight, you'd have to be a pretty jaded fellow not to enjoy fishing for Esoxids with it. I'm most leery of naming streams on the internet, but I'm telling no secrets when I suggest that the upper Mississippi and the upper St. Croix are both great places to pursue warmwater gamefish. Good luck.

Yeah, as I said, the most fun I've ever had on a fly rod was catching Pike. That's my imagined number one target on a fly rod during my stay. What I'm trying to allow is for someone to open my mind to some other amazing species that MN has to offer so I'm not limiting myself. Smallmouth bass are great fun, I'm sure (I went out with Troy Anderson last year and he talked it up quite a bit), but it doesn't excite me like the prospect of catching something bigger that Oregon doesn't have. I'm 100% barbless, don't kill fish ever, and am good at keeping secrets.

Basically, I saw DEADhead say this in another thread: "Better yet, in a month or so when the rivers start to open up, come down with me and fish for carp, buffalo, redhorse and suckers. After you hook into one of those badboys, you'll forget about those stinky pike and bass ;\)"

That piqued my interest and I want to know more

 Originally Posted By: shiner2367

If you can narrow down where in MN you will be that will help a lot

Metro area and Bemidji area for sure. I may spend some time in Northome (what's the Upper Red like?).

If anyone wants to tell me something they don't want the world to see derek(at)skylab(dot)org works for email.

Thanks guys!

[turiprap]

Oops! I guess I'm guilty of snobbery in that I hadn't thought about carp, redhorse, etc. They'll put a bend in your 9 weight! The upper Miss, especially, has a large population of carp. There has been a fair amount of discussion on this board about fly fishing for carp. My personal conclustion is that they're a tough quarry. They are wary for one thing, but I think you first have to find them actively feeding before they'll express much interest in a fly. I think big nymphs or small crayfish patterns might be good choices.

[PDXFisher]

Would the Brainerd to Sartell stretch be considered "upper"? I've been thinking about it for Muskies, if there are other big beasties in there, all the better!

How would a fly fisherman approach fishing this section?

[turiprap]

Hereabouts the river above the Twin Cities is considered the "upper," so, yes. I wish I knew more about the stretch you mention. There's a special regulation in effect on muskies for the upper river. From what I hear, those regs have more to do with the potential for fishing above St. Cloud.

As to tactics, a boat would sure be a help. This site discourages posting linkes, but the MN DNR site has a "canoeing" section on their web site that has detailed PDF maps of many of the rivers under discussion here. Boat ramps are clearly indicated, as are rapidss, dams, etc. There are also summaries of the state of the fisheries, too. You might find that site useful.

[PDXFisher]

Yes, that information is very helpful. I wish I could see depths, though. A canoe can go into water I wouldn't want to in a Lund

Does anyone walk n wade any of the upper Miss?

[DEADhead]

PDX, a river to consider is the Otter Tail River near Fergus Falls. It is a multi-species delight down there. Besides being a fantastic smallmouth bass fishery, there are good populations of non-gamefish species to target, like suckers, carp, redhorse, buffalo, drum, etc. You can fish the river, or explore the backwater sloughs of Orwell reservoir for bruiser carp. It is almost entirely federal land surrounding the reservoir so you do not need to worry about access. There are several good spots on the Otter Tail to fish from shore, including the entire reservior.

You never know what you're gonna catch there; you can easily catch over a dozen species of fish in a day without trying, including a chance at some trophy sized fish. Last summer I caught a 38" pike in the Otter Tail. That was fun, but the carp and buffalo put up a much better fight fight

[Ice-9]

Nine is fine for small river muskies. Check the Rainy drainage; some serious empty nowhere up there. I like to float those creeks in a two-man raft (canoes are for suckers). Easy muskying on the fly.

ice

[turiprap]

 Quote:

Does anyone walk n wade any of the upper Miss?

Yes. One sees anglers on foot near all the access points from St. Cloud down. The river above there seems to have a different character and I think wading may be less practical, but I'm speaking from observation, not experience.

[traveler]

PDX; I grew up in Little falls (1/2 way between St cloud and Brainerd) and in my youth we fished the stretch above LF a lot; good backwaters with really big carp (did our best in mid summer after the weed beds develop) and further up by camp ripley the river shallows ( some good wading areas) and we fished eyes, smallies, and pike from a 12 ft jon boat. Drifting the stretch from Camp riply to LF in a small boat and stopping to wade fish occasionally might be to your liking.

[FXDI35er]

What about any "secret spots" in the Duluth area. I am familiar and most interested in stream fishing for Trout but have had little success. I am very new to fly fishing compared to most people on this site and want to learn the best way to find out what flies to use, what weight rod to use and most importantly, how to tie a tipit, and how to (dont laugh) tie a yarn fly. If anyone would be so kind as to show a few pics of these two this would be very much appreciated. And any pointers as to area to fish in the duluth area , not in a boat, for any typw of fish would be even more apreciated. If you dont want to share on here let me know and I will leave my email. I am a tight lipped person.