mississippi river Mississippi River North Fishing Reports

[Brad B]

My neighbor swears by the dip bait. He also ties his weight on the line, but he still catches channels. 24.5" is a big cat for that area. What's your biggest? I saw (netted) an 8lb channel yrs ago by the Camden Bridge.

my personal best for a channel cat from this area is 25". the average length range of the channels I catch in the elk river to clearwater area is 20 to 25 inches. I did see a really big one that another person hooked and lost at the pier where we were fishing at the time. I would have guessed that fish to be close to 8lbs+(not so long just really fat and round). baits of choice include cut up suckers, chicken liver, crawlers, dip baits, and even shrimp(even thou I have yet to catch one on it but have heard of others that have).

[Presco]

Any reports? Anyone, anyone...Bueller, Bueller?

I was out for a little bit yesterday with little luck, caught a few but they were as fickle as I've ever seen. Guy at the bait shop said business has been steady, but I got the impression that people aren't having much luck.

[tsande00]

my personal best for a channel cat from this area is 25". the average length range of the channels I catch in the elk river to clearwater area is 20 to 25 inches. I did see a really big one that another person hooked and lost at the pier where we were fishing at the time. I would have guessed that fish to be close to 8lbs+(not so long just really fat and round). baits of choice include cut up suckers, chicken liver, crawlers, dip baits, and even shrimp(even thou I have yet to catch one on it but have heard of others that have).

I've only pulled one channel out of the river but it was 29". Caught it while fishing smallies last November in Monticello. Not sure what it weighed but it was a fun catch. Took about 10 minutes to land.

[Juan Grande]

Yep, my last two times out there we've caught nice channel cats on a live suckers under a bobber while smalie fishing.

[Stick in Mud]

Well I absolutely slaughtered the eel pout last night...Couldn't keep them off the hook, and I used both cutbait and crawlers. I should say that "slaughter" is a relative term. I caught four in as many casts in just a few minutes. After that, I figured I'd find something else to do.

[Rick G]

Catching pout durring open water, what the heck? You must have done something to anger the mighty Miss awful bad for her to send those nasty thing's your way .

[Stick in Mud]

Yeah, I get quite a few of them up here, especially in the early spring when the water is still cold. I always just think of them as flathead catfish, and that makes me feel better.

[Rick G]

I always just think of them as flathead catfish, and that makes me feel better.

What ever works for you buddie ugly catfish for sure If they looked like that I think I might fish for something else.

[pushbutton]

Where is the love? Caught a mid teen pig on LOW less than 3 weeks ago that was the highlight of my ice season....as well as the reason my previous phone/camera is sitting 30 ft under water right now Also cooked up a few straps from some smaller ones that tasted better than any sauger or eye that we brought home

[reinhard1]

i agree, the pout is one of the tastiest fish around. good luck.

[clayton08]

never tried pout but sure the hell would love too!!! I eat catfish all the time its amazing all the times ill be fishing from shore and people see me string a catfish and look at me like im crazy are you joking me catfish is pretty dam good. Had a buddy of mine wouldnt eat it then one day grilled some up and it was delicioius and he tried it and everytime he comes over he asks if I have any in the freezer. If i were to ever catch a pout I would probably keep it and eat it!!

[Brad B]

got a chance to get out today and try for some catfish. let's just say the cats are winning. I didn't get one bit. The river is lower than normal for this time of the year. did see alot of carp up shallow close to shore. the thing that upset me thou was that there was a dead 24 inch channel cat laying on shore. who ever caught it should have put it back if they didn't want it. another thing is some people need to read the regulation book. there was this guy that came after me and he started to throw a spinner bait. I kindly walked over to him and suggested that he might not want to be throwing a spinner bait this time of year. his response was that he tought that if you don't keep them it was okay . I reminded him that fishing for fish out of season is illegal. he ended up just leaving. from now on I plan to carry extra regulation books with me and give them to the clueless.

[Stick in Mud]

Yup, I LOVE eating pout....but the ones I catch in this part of the river are pretty small and not worth cleaning. When I was younger, we'd catch tons of the on Mille Lacs, and we cleaned a few up one weekend and were amazed at how good they taste. Unfortunately, over a few years on the Pond, we've only caught one. The ones on the river are pretty small and not worth cleaning, so they're still swimming.

For what it's worth, I caught two tonight, both about the same size as the photo. Catching them this time of year(well, shortly after ice out...which is usually later than this) is usually pretty easy, but none of them are of any size.

I also did get my first catfish of the year on Friday night (though none tonight), so the pout bite should slow down about now, for whatever reason.

[Rick G]

Carmike, the open water pout slayer lol...

[Stick in Mud]

Yup, I bet I've caught more than almost everyone else fishing the stretch of river between here and Itasca. That takes some skill!

[Stick in Mud]

Well, I caught another northern strain of the barbless flathead catfish.

I did also catch one real (channel) catfish, but it was getting cold outside and they weren't biting well enough to keep me away from a good book and late-season NHL hockey. The bite should pick up soon, though.

[Brad B]

Carmike,

could you set me up with a place to fish for thoses northern strain barbel less flatheads(pouts). that is one of the species I haven't caught yet. they look like they could be a fun fight on light gear.

[Gordie]

Brad they are a blast on lite gear.

I have caught a couple on Leech Lake while fishing eyes they were in the 7-8 pound range and they put up quite a battle.

[Stick in Mud]

I'll send you a PM, Brad.

These fish are tiny....maybe a foot long, and they don't pull all that hard. When I'm fishing off the dock for cats, I use my sunny rod, with a Medium Light action and 4 lb. test. It works just fine....but these little guys aren't all that fun to catch even on my light gear.

[Stick in Mud]

Well, I caught the biggest flathead (pout) of the year so far....

And a red-eyed crappie, too (on cutbait...first time that's happened). No cats, though.

[Brad B]

Well, I caught the biggest flathead (pout) of the year so far....

And a red-eyed crappie, too (on cutbait...first time that's happened). No cats, though.

don't you mean a red eyed party crappie(rock bass). I have caught a few of these over the years but this past winter I got my first one while ice fishing.

[Stick in Mud]

Yup, that's a party crappie (I only learned this from Dtro and Aanderud while ice fishing the Chain this winter).

Went out tonight, but once again, nothing for catfish for me in my spot. I know people are getting them, but off the dock is about as far as I travel. They're usually down there, but I haven't found any yet this year. Maybe they'll start biting soon, but if you're planning on fishing off my dock, don't plan to catch anything besides party crappies and the northern strain of barbel-less (spotted) flathead catfish.

[Rick G]

Those p crappies have been crazy sofar this year. Was up at Blanchard yest tryin for suckers, We could only catch small rockies and the northern strain of big toothed golden crappies , we decided not to stick around too long.

[Stick in Mud]

Yeah, I'm doing something wrong (or right?). Can't catch nothin' but those barbel-less spotted catfish (or crappies?).

I must be doing something right (or wrong?).

[KMR85]

Put in at the Dayton access on Saturday 5/19 and headed up the Crow in search of cats...until the lower unit started bouncing off rocks. Good thing I was only going fast enough to make progress upstream. Found a spot to try on the Crow before heading back to the Miss. Had one run that I yanked out of the fish's mouth. I didn't find any areas that I wanted to try for cats on the Miss, so I trolled a crankbait in the channel for a while with no takers.

I decided to try and find a different place to launch the boat on the Crow on Sunday. I was able to do a little shore fishing in the process and hit a couple channel cats and a nice eater sized eyeball.

[EBass]

How was the landing? Rivers do wonders for the lower unit. I put 2 on the past couple years. What other landing on the Crow did ya use? Rockford? Is there one closer to the Sippi but not Dayton?

Early April the cats were on fire and have slowed down since. After being skunked 4 times in a row I kinda gave up for a bit, but want to try again.

[tsande00]

How was the landing? Rivers do wonders for the lower unit. I put 2 on the past couple years. What other landing on the Crow did ya use? Rockford? Is there one closer to the Sippi but not Dayton?

Early April the cats were on fire and have slowed down since. After being skunked 4 times in a row I kinda gave up for a bit, but want to try again.

I believe there is one in Hanover in the county park but I can't recall the quality of it as far as launching boats.

[KMR85]

The landing in Dayton was OK but shallow. Had to back in to where my exhaust pipe was almost in the water to launch a 14 ft duck boat. Not much muck on the slabs when I was there.

There is a canoe access on the Crow in Riverside Park in Hanover. You might be able launch a small boat there, but it's very steep. I wouldn't launch a boat there alone because I wouldn't trust the parking brake on that incline. It would be nice to get an actual public boat launch somewhere on the Crow near Hanover, but I don't think there's enough demand out there to actually get funding for it. It wouldn't be that much work to level out the canoe access in Riverside Park and add some slabs. There's basically a small parking area already there too.

[Rick G]

Made it out the last few days on the river above and below the St. Cloud dam. Water temp is in the upper 60s, the river is moving real high and fast right now. Most of the fish I have caught have ben holding tight to any curent breaks, no matter how small. Night crawlers have out produced everything else we threw at them. I think this might be due to all the runoff washing a large amount of worms into the river causing a feeding bindge on them.

I saw the north fishing pier was underwater in the Sauk Rapids park taday. Also the docks inWilso have a 3-4ft span of water between the dock and shore now, makes it tough not to get wet.

[Rick G]

Man, is this water ever going to go down? Made it out for a few hours this afternoon above St. Cloud, Fishing was pretty tough for us this outing. Tried crankbaits, plastics and live bait with most of the fish we did somehow manage to catch coming on plastics pitched to the shorelines. Water temp was 75 and moving quick . Lots of big trees and branches coming down river yet so keep an eye up streem if you decide to anchor somewhere.