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Crookston & Thief River Fall fishing reports


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Dropped the canoe into the river the other day for a little exploring. Managed to scratch out a couple nice walleyes on plastics, and of course the smallmouths were tearing up everything I threw in the water.

I don't know how much rain we're received here in TRF over the last few days, but I do know this, the river level below the dam is really strong right now, which should allow fish to come back up river for a while. There's a lot of weed growth to contend with after the extended low water we had a few weeks back, but the fish are once again showing up.

Our gardens are not only soft, but they are mucky deep with mud, and we've got tons of produce to harvest! Gonna be breakin' out the high water boots again and cleaning sloppy mud off the ATV's for a while. Gotta get to them beans, berries, and cucs while the gettin' is good!

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  • 2 weeks later...
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  • CANOPY SAM

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Pretty quiet around here. sleep

My eldest boy and his "posse" stayed up late on Sunday night fishing in the river. They started around 9:30 and fished till 3:30 a.m.! Kids. I remember those days all too well.

Anyway, they started catching a random fish here and there, and then around 11:00 p.m. it just took off. I imagine the in-coming low pressure system may have had something to do with it.

Pete said he and his 2 buddies caught 13 catfish, with most of them weighing between 8 and 15 lbs!!!

They also reeled in a 25 lb. snapping turtle. That was eventful. About midnight I get a call on my cell phone, from the backyard of course (teenagers crazy), asking, "What are we supposed to do with this?" I said, "Whatever you do, don't get too close to it's head!" smirk

The parade of cold fronts we've been experiencing has been making fishing tough, but the fish are there. Guess I just gotta stay up till 3:00 a.m. to find em'.....NOT!

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  • 3 months later...

Got out on a local lake today and it was slow. One little snot rocket and something else that I lost before I got it up to the hole. Another party that was out there was having the same luck and said they only caught a couple small ones also. Had a good 6 inches of ice so this cold spell really helped.

100_2849_zps7eb4e782.jpg

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  • 4 months later...

Lemme' know when you know Dan. I'm anxious to get down there too! Hope we get a decent spring run on the crappie and bull gills!

Shoot me a PM if you hear anything. We could shoot down there together if ya' wanna?

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Someone was fishing the culvert last Friday when I drove by, it wasn't open too far out yet but with the nice weather the past few days, I'm sure there's plenty of room to fish if the wind hasn't blown the ice in on it.

On another note...... I took a drive around yesterday and our local small lakes really took it hard this winter, most winter killed, it's too bad, there were some pretty good spots out there.

Mike

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This was posted on the Ceason's Bait and tackle facebook page on the 21th:

Hoping for the ice to be off Maple Lake this weekend. As of right now, reports are coming in that the inlet and twin culverts are open and people are fishing there. Will keep you posted. If anyone goes out to check the lake, please post if any other bays are open.

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Here's a pic from my crappy cell phone, ice is just about gone. Wind was from the Northwest today and blew what was left in by the culverts and the landing, I took this about noon time, it might not have made it through the day.

Union ( West Side ) has pulled away from shore but the main ice sheet remains in tact.

Mike

full-623-44955-0425141243.jpg

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We fished Friday evening there was no Ice but could see it gathereed on the South side of the lake. The fish where not biting. tried until a bit past dark. just waiting for the first nice day want to go try out some new rough fish flies on the river.

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Hi Dan,

You're talking about Maple, right? Bummer you didn't catch any fish. I'd imagine this wind is beating the snot outta the ice out there today.

Were you fishing over on the east side, by the public landing? Had you heard if anyone is catching any fish yet?

Thanks for the report.

Sam

You're a fly fishermen Dan? Have you ever spent any time chasing smallmouths on the river with flies? I've done a bit of fly fishing myself in the past, and I've given a lot of thought to floating the river in the canoe with the fly rod. We've got a lot of nice smallies in our river, and they'd be a blast on fly rod. Maybe you and I outta spend a day on the river some time this spring?

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Yes sorry it was Maple.

Last summer I targeted Carp and smallies then fall caught tons of eyes on the fly including a 27"

My fly rod goals this season are a 40+" pike and get better at carp, they are quite the challenge.

Sounds fun. We should go fish one day this spring.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Midnight opener filled out by 1:15 they where all about 13-16" Saturday night two 17 and 19" all on fly exept the 19" my wife caught. not a bad opener for not going to a lake.

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  • 1 month later...

Took my youngest down to the river at the Greenwood St bridge just down from our house for an hour or so before the rain today and caught 2 cats 5# or so and had 2 more hits but no hook sets. Also picked up a couple smallies when reeling in to rebait. Fishing is pretty hot right now.

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Great to hear, Arne! Hope your boy had a good time!

With this sustained high water I'm sure there are lots of fish moving up river. I suspect we're going to have high water for quite a while yet as I hear that Upper and Lower Red Lakes are both overflowing, and the sloughs and peat bogs east of the lakes are also full of water. Thief Lake and Agassiz also recently received a LOT of rain, so we've got an awful lot of water headed past our back yards for a LONG time to come.

I honestly haven't been fishing out back here for at least 3 weeks now. Spent 5 days in New York City with my wife and eldest son, then another 5 days down in Omaha at the College World Series, and National Legion Baseball tournaments. Been back for a week now, but the water is running so high, and so fast, it's tough to do much fishing in the river.

Took my son-in-law "to be" fishing over at Balm Lake last week though. We just targeted bass, and absolutely hammered nice fish. Great day on the water. We just fished catch and release, and I'd wager I put at least 50 fish in the boat with maybe 3-5 of em' running between 3 and 4 pounds. The topwater bass fishing was just a blast!

Sounds like I'm gonna have to wet a line behind the house this week regardless of the high water! wink

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  • 3 months later...

Dont give up on fishing yet! the walleye been biting decent this fall been getting a few a day alot of 20"+ fish. we been leting everything over 21" go.

the smallmouth are still hitting hard as well.

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Hey all! I'm currently attending UMC and it has been killing me that I have not had the time to fish at all this fall. I was curious as to what approach I should be using to hit the pike around the area in these conditions. I only have access to the shorelines.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Good to meet you the other day, Henry. (and your buddy Justin). Sorry fishing didn't work out quite the way we'd hoped it would. Hope you stick around for another year or two at UMC. It would be fun to get out for some more fishing opportunities.

I never did make it up to Lake of the Woods this weekend. Every time I was ready to head up there the doggone wind just blew like crazy. Had some friends up there on Long Point on Saturday that called around 11:00 saying they'd just been blown off the lake!

Anyway, gimme a holler anytime you wanna do a little fishing. You're always welcome to fish behind our place, or we could run out with the boat sometime as well.

Best of luck with your classes! Hang in there. It's a tough road, but it's worth it in the end. wink

Any fishing reports from around TRF, Crookston, RLF, or points north? Our river is still full of debris, leaves, weeds, scum, etc., it's nearly impossible to get a line in without junk on the line. Water clarity is poor at best. Suspect a lot of water still being let out of Thief Lake.

Anyone have any waterfowl reports? Grouse? Anyone?

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I was on Thief Lake Friday and Sunday and water levels have been holding steady so I'm not sure they are letting much water out. I thought I heard they opened up the dam on Red Lake though?

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I lied, they are currently drawing down Thief, looked like it was down like 8" from last time looking at the water line on the weeds.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey Matt thanks for having us on your property and showing us a few nice spots! We went down a few miles into a small town and caught a good amount of smallies later that evening none in size, but sure was fun! I really appreciate it!

Also, any clue as to when the fish will start feasting in the rivers before winter hits?

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Ha ha ha!!!! I think winter already hit last night, didn't it? laugh

Forecast looks like we're pretty well wrapped up for open water this year. My boat is winterized and in storage now. Very disappointing fall fishing this year. The wind beat the snot out of us this fall, and now we went from fairly decent weather to winter overnight!

Typically we see a bit more gradual temp drop with some late November opportunities for open water walleyes, but it doesn't look to be possible this year. Long term forecast now calls for no daytime high temps above freezing. frown

Now we wait for safe ice.

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I just hope people take into account how fast the current is running in the river this year. Has been all year long.

There might be a little ice out there in the next few weeks, but it's going to be HIGHLY variable in thickness. Even though there is ice "covering" the surface, with this much current it's impossible to tell how thick the ice is beneath the surface.

Personally, I'll stick to fishing lakes until I KNOW the river ice is safe.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Stopped and talked to a buddy who was fishing off 8th street today, 6-8 inches where he was just off the landing. Lots of pike. He didn't venture out too far to check ice. Few others out as well but all staying pretty close to shore.

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  • 4 years later...
  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

How is the ice looking around Crookston area lakes?

 

Anyone out ice fishing?

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