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Coon Rapids Dam to St Anthony Falls Fishing Reports (Pool 1)


eckum54

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I went down there for a while today and it was really nice to get out and cast a little. Didn't get any fish but I also didn't try to hard either. When I pulled up I was the lone car in the lot and when I left it was pretty busy.

From rice creek I headed downstream by the interpretive center and gave that a shot with no luck.

I didn't get any fish but it was sure nice to get out there and fish a little. I bet if I had minnows or worms it would have been a different story but I had fun anyway. Hard to believe its march with this nice weather.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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Hey guys. I posted in the other Miss post and have not heard anything. I fish below the ford dam most of the year but I want to get up river. The ford dam and south is closed now so I was think of hitting Boom Island and heading north. I am reading that the river can be very rough in this area. With the water being a little high will it be that bad? I have a 17 low profile Bass Tracker so I can handle much lower water. Also is the fishing worth my time. I just want to get out and explore. It seems like the rocks are endless from what everyone is saying so I would think the smallies big or small will be there. Any tips would help. Thanks

-Bill

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I have a 14ft alumacraft, and I live in BP. I would like to go out there, but it seems pretty confusing and dangerous. If anybody is willing to show me around a little on navigation, I'd be up to go out.

Cody

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I usually don't put in there until after opener myself but I did see a guy running up and down the river in a fiberglass runabout last sunday. With the high water its not nearly as bad for navigating.

Look on Bing maps and google maps at the satellite images and you will get a pretty good idea of where a lot of the rockpiles are at. That being said its still best to just take it easy until you get a idea of where everything is.

While wading the past couple summers I have found that there are a lot of "random" rocks that would really do damage. They are pretty big boulders and it could be 4-5 feet deep but on top of the rock its ankle deep.

I don't bother going in the boat until after opener simply because its so easy to catch fish from shore. Also, anything I would be after in the boat isn't in season till then anyway.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I do fish that area a lot....well quite a bit because it is convenient. Don't expect much from it. You really cannot go much more than a few miles up from Boom Island launch. The smallies are quite small, average 12 inches. On occasion you will run into a pike or two. Otherwise roughies. In the years I have fished it I have only caught 1 walleye. I am curious to know what the fishing is like between Ford and The lock and dam at St Anthony falls.

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A few times a year we fish from just north of the Lowry Ave Bridge site all the way back to Hidden Falls. Ave smallie is about 1 lb. My biggest being near 3. There are a new neat places to find monster crappies.

Our typical day would be landing upwards of 200 fish of 5-6 species.

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I live a block of the river. The kids and I love putting out some sweet corn and hooking some large carp. When I am able to put the boat on the water. I use the launch on 83rd. You can run on plane right now. But you need to know where to go. By summer time there is two spots where i get out and walk the boat. If you go down to this part of the river. You can hook some nice fish. But a new prop cost $125 and get you scag welded cost $50 but when a 20 lb carp hits your 4 years old dauthers line. priceless

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  • 3 weeks later...

I would go below it for sure. Im not saying it can't be good above but the fish are easier to find below.

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im gonna head up by the dam saturday with the gf and her friend hopefully we can get into some cats or anything else for them

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went out saturday river was high and movin fast so no luck for the few houts we were there

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Yeah the high water really messed up my normal shore spots by home here.

I did manage to get onto a decent bite at shingle creek though. Random fish species, but fun to have something pulling on the line.

I think it would be pretty good from the boat right now though. There are a couple spots that are decent with high water. I'm thinking this weekend my dad, brother and I might try to get out in the boat.

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With the dry weather we got by next week it will drop again. I'm going to try it his weekend from the boat and I'm betting it will be down a foot or so by then.

They are doing work to the 42nd street bridge so I think they have been trying to keep it low for that.

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I fished the Mississippi / Rice Creek confluence for a few hours on Saturday morning (before the rain chased me off) only got one small channel cat. I watched some guys tossing beetle spins nailing little smallmouths.

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I am pumped to hit it up this weekend for the smallies. The water is staying high so I think it will be good for the boat too.

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Tonight I got out in the boat for a couple hours and it was decent. Lots of traffic but given the day it was honestly pretty tame.

A mixed bag of stuff caught. I was sort of axed from fishing the way I like but overall it was still decent. Bass were pretty active and the cats seemed hungry as they were smashing my crankbait. If I had been able to set still for a while Im sure it would have been really good for the cats.

The water was higher than I expected but the ramp at 694 was still out of the water. I wish they would extend it out a bit but I suppose that one is probably pretty low on the dnr's list of things to do. For now it works pretty good to just go on the downstream side of it.

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went out over the weekend and got one eye about 18" back to the water he went was pretty slow

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Was out fishing from shore last night and it was slow but I did have a odd experience. I had a 10lb Buffalo smack a chug bug and do a tail walk like a tarpon. A little odd but it was fun to watch and it sure pulled like crazy.

Not much going for bass. I think they are out on the mid river structure right now so the boat would be key.

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  • 4 weeks later...

This weekend I gave the dam a couple trys without any luck. I saw plenty of stuff being caught but just couldn't land anything myself. I had a couple solid hits and a couple hookups but whatever it was made some good runs and popped the hook out.

It seems like the people catching the most fish were using minnows or leeches. I was throwing a jig and triggerx twister or a rapala.

I wasn't really trying all that hard since it was so hot and it was packed so most of the places I like to fish were slammed. Now I remember why I haven't been there for so long. Time to start fishing by home again.

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Jon where abouts did you try? I was there yesterday morning. My luck wasn't much better, a five pound dogfish and nothing else. The only guy that seemed to be having any luck was the shirtless carp fisherman out on the sandbar.

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I went Saturday midday and yesterday (monday) after the rain, I think I was there around 4-7 or so.

Idk if it would even be a challenge to go after carp there. There is so many there its nuts. Saturday I stopped in the middle of the dam and watched the carp swimming around at the base of the two spillways they got closed. If someone were to get down there with a square hook and a boat they could make a record pull LOL. Some real bruisers swimming in there too.

If I head up there again I'm going to bring some bait for sure. Even some canned corn would probably keep the lines tight and drag singing.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So i'v lived in fridley for most of my life. When i was younger we would ride our bikes up to the coon rapids dam and carp fish. My boat is currently out of commition so i'v been thinking about that river alot. I actually live right off of locke lake which is where the little dam is on rice creek just before it goes into the river. There are many parks with many places to fish from shore all along east river rd. So does anyone have a good starting point. Where the creek goes into the river? Or should I just go up to coon rapids dam? Real bait? Or fake bait? I have become quite a fan of Trigger X worms for walleye fishing, with Gulp coming in a close 2nd. I have lots of these kinds of baits. What kind of rig do you use? I'd assume you dont want to let your weight sit on the bottom as it would most likely snag. Any info on these topics would be pretty cool as I seriously need to wet a line.

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