mississippi river Mississippi River North Fishing Reports

[Rick G]

That is a great fish for the section of river it came from

LP, I snaged a clown color x rap tonight, know who it belongs to?

[LPCrowRiverFisherman]

First how how did you happen upon that lure? Second how do the hooks look? Third are you fishing tomorrow night so I can have my 8 bucks back?

[Rick G]

First how how did you happen upon that lure? Second how do the hooks look? Third are you fishing tomorrow night so I can have my 8 bucks back?

Well, I was down this morning, lost two raps on that same snag Went to work, made grappling hook while boss wasn't looking Got everything back even the chunk of wire we were getting hung up on. Hooks look good, paint is a lil rough.

I shall be there at some point, show you some pics of the fat old 27in I got this morning

[Nhamm]

If I could pick your guys brains a bit, always curious on what is working for other guys. What kind of depths are you guys fishing at? I really cant find anything from shore deeper than 5-6'. Its up by the dam so my luck is pretty good with walleyes at this time of year usually get at least a couple each outing somewhere between 17 and 20". Couple northerns and smallies mixed in there as well. Always have used jig and minnow, usually fatheads or shiners but since its so cold nowadays it sucks dealing with that so tried some plastics. Couldnt get a bite to save my life, then just about to leave when figured i would throw out a rattlin rap i found the other day and bam 1st cast walleye. caught a couple more after that on same, seems like from previous posts you guys throw raps for the most part? I was there on the full moon last month and i had the jig and minnow and was smokin the eyes and the guy next to me was chucking raps and he didnt catch a one from i saw. Does it seem to be a whatever there mood is kind of thing, or for the most part do they always go for the raps? I always prefer live bait, but the cold nowadays hurts my fingers to much to always be dunking in a minnow pail. Firetiger was hot color the other night, what colors work for you guys? Might try tonight before the cold weather hits will post how well i do or how many times i was struck by lightning.

[Rick G]

Crankbaits are an after dark thing for me. I do better durring the day on grubs, ringworms or Gulp minnows. As for crankbait choices, stick bait are almost always a good choice in the fall. I have had pretty good luck on the Husky Jerks this fall but just about any stick bait will work, the trick is to find what the fish are looking for , be it a bait with a wide side to side wobble or one with a tight wobble that vibrates. You have to let the fish tell you what they want on a given evening Color dosn't seem to be so much of a big deal, action and sound are way more important imo.

[Nhamm]

Do you have much luck during the day with eyes? I only get em at night, but that could be bc its shallow and they only move in then, but was curious if you get em during the daylight at all and what depth bc maybe I need to go find a deeper hole. Ringworms have worked great for me too, the bright orange with a fireball with color to match is about the only artificial on a jig i have gotten them on so far. Plus the fireball is probably the most snagfree jig ive used. Tell ya what too my spinning reel I had 10lb. flouro on but through the summer of snags my reel was almost empty so I refilled it with some leftover microice 6lb i had leftover from last year and it performs fantastic in this cold weather.

[Rick G]

In years past and even this year to some extent ;)I have had pretty good luck with day time November walleyes. Their locations will be close to where they will be in the evening, only a bit deeper. Like I said before ringworms, grubs or live bait are pretty good options when the water gets cooler. I can't say this enough, whatever you are using work it SLOW.

I too like the Northland Fireball, but I tend to use this jig with it's short shank primarly for minnows. I like the Gumball jig, with the long shank for plastics, I seem to get a better hook up rate with the longer shanks.

[Nhamm]

Well I think my spot is dead. Absolutely nothing tonight. Tried everything nice and slow still nothing. Not even a bite. Trip was cut short as well by city police they felt the need to get 2 squads on me. Checked my licenses and said park was closed and made me leave. Annoying a guy minding his own business all legit and they just can't turn the other way and let things be, but I guess rules are rules. Think I will go farther south to try to find some holes that are at least 10' cause where I'm at isn't deeper than 5'. I hear ya on the slow thing, looking over reports from pool 2 earlier and that seems to be the ticket nowadays.

[Nhamm]

Tried again last night for a couple hours before park close;) Nothing, nothing, nothing. That part of river is dead now, too shallow. Very depressing since it will be hard to find some depth easily accessed by shore nowadays. It was awesome to supplement my boat fishing with some on shore river fishing, especially as productive as it was there for awhile, but with all good things, they do come to an end.

[dustybaker]

Made it out this afternoon near Elk River. Fished with crawlers, live suckers, and cut bait. No cats! No hits on the suckers, cut or live. Steady action on the crawlers. Lots of 3-6lb suckers and a 7 lb common carp. Kind of lame, but nice to get out and have some good steady action.

[Stick in Mud]

I made it out this afternoon for a few hours and finally got into a good mess of fish. Got a nice mix of BROWN suckers, some redhorse, and a few carp. I would've stayed fishing, but the three places I went to before heading out were out of crawlers, so I was running low on bait even before I started.

[Rick G]

Got a nice mix of BROWN suckers

It's the new "in" species to fish for

How long before someone sends you a pm wanting to fish for them

[Stick in Mud]

Too late.

[JeremyCampbell]

Tried a few spots and finally found some catfish around 7:30-8ish this evening caught only 3 of them with worms we picked this morning.I'm wondering if I would have caught more with night crawlers from the bait shop.Those are a lot more fatter and wiggley.

[Rick G]

Got a few cats on Liver today, all I could catch is suckers on the crawlers. You still getting them up around Sartell? The ones I got today were nothing to brag about.

[JeremyCampbell]

Yeah,went back to the kitty den today and water seemed to drop a little Caught a red horse @ 6.8 lbs and one cat.I showed a local guy the den and let him fish it most the time.It's kinda a one man spot because of all the tree surrounding it.Used nightcrawlers,seems I am more productive with those than the yard worms.

[Stick in Mud]

Got out today for about an hour....didn't catch much. One baby walleye and a few rocks. I tried to find some "out of the way places" that also didn't require me to walk a mile of shoreline. Apparently, the "out of the way" places I fished are "out of the way" for a reason.

[Rick G]

Made itout today for a while too, I was lazy, didn't go too far from pavment, and sat in almost the same spot for 3hrs. Didn't do bad for numbers, but size was small. All I caught was juvenile or small male walleyes, a couple snakes, couple buffalo and one big brown bass.

[pushbutton]

................... ^^^^^^^^ my night was basically what he said ^^^^^^^^^.................

The bite is starting to pick up, would think by the weekend or early next week, we should be good to go. While I did not see a lot of bugs, the suckers were starting to roll, and saw a LOT more activity than a week or so ago. Still not an aggressive bite, but a least something was biting.

[JeremyCampbell]

Rick,How's the fish movement in the st cloud miss lately?

[Rick G]

Just about everything that swims in the river is active right now, my only complaint is the larger female walleyes have been hiding from me

I give a very detailed report of the river in the HSO insider forum

[Rick G]

Made it up to Blanchard for a couple hours this evening. Bite is going strong for walleyes and the occasional northern. Find something that breaks the current and you should get a few fish.

[TunaCan]

Cats were cooperative yesterday with a lot of good size fish taken on cut sucker in about 3 feet of water on gravel flats. Biggest was 11.5 lbs which is my personal best. Several more in the 8-9 lb range.

[dustybaker]

I had good luck catfishing last night as well. Only caught four, but the smallest was 26 inches. Chicken liver outfished cutbait 3:1. Caught a few bullhead also. but that was it. Bite was best from 9pm to 1030pm.

[JeremyCampbell]

Good deal sounds like fishing is on.went to a new spot ended up with some bass and northern.Good sizes.Happy to catch northern in the sippi.

[JeremyCampbell]

My job cancelled tomorrow so I'm takeing the whole day fishing by shore on the Mississippi from sartell to st cloud dam.Bought some plastic minnows to try out and some new jigs.Hopeing to get a few walleye and fry em up this weekend

[Rick G]

I might be lurking around the dam at some point tomorrow, maybe I will see you down there.

[JeremyCampbell]

Yeah,I plan on working that area along the park where Carmike took us.

[Rick G]

Yeah,I plan on working that area along the park where Carmike took us.

Mr LS's secret spot I still laugh when I think of that poor guy

[JeremyCampbell]

TheTweaker guy! Wish I would have grouped closer with all you .I missed most of it.