New to the area...specifically Kasson

[JigginIsLife]

Hello guys,

Thought I would introduce myself, as I am a frequent updater, and tend to chime in from time to time. My name is Kelly, and I am originally from Medford, MN but had moved/went to school/lived up in Moorhead,MN for the past 6-7 years or so. I am an avid Ice fisherman, and that is where I spend MAJORITY of my time. Recently I have taken up bow hunting (with no success, YET!!) and those are my major outdoorsy activities. We moved into town becuase my fiance/very soon to be wife (oct 1) is a new teacher at the kasson school systems, and im tagging along with her as I continue my education. I am looking forward to fishing in the area/ hunting in the area, and hopefully meeting some of you. I regularly attended our gtg up in moorhead/otter tail area, and hopefully we do those down here as well. I am excited to be in the area, and hopefully teach and learn from some/all of you that are active on this site.

- On a side note, I am looking for someone in the area that likes to shoot bow, I have had no time to get out and even shoot much less sit in a stand this season yet. So if anyone shoots regularly or would go more if they had a buddy...well here I am.

- Second side note, I love to shoot darts, if you would like to meet up and [PoorWordUsage] and shoot some darts I am almost always geared up for that. let me know!!

Kelly

[JIvers]

Welcome to the Bluff Country!

Obviously we have some great bow-hunting in the area, but don't overlook our trout-fishing, too.

[james_walleye]

You'll definately want to take a drive east and fish pool 4 on the big Miss.

[Redbeard5289]

Welcome Kelly to Kasson!

There is some great fishing and hunting opportunities in SE Minnesota for you to explore and enjoy. My time on this forum has been rather sparse since I went back to school this fall to get my elementary ed degree. But I'd be happy to help another sportsman out with getting aquainted with this area.

Later

Redbeard5289

[Lewey]

Hey Kelly,

Welcome to Kasson. I think you will find that you can have some fun fishing close to home if you take up wading the streams around Kasson, Byron and Rochester. Smallies are lively and a lot of fun. Otherwise you will have to do some driving to find lakes to sit on. Good Luck. Hope you have a smooth transition to river fishing.

[BoneCollector9]

Welcome to SE MN I grew up in this area and the smallies fishing is great but each area is hit or miss on size but numbers you won't ever slack in. My best spots for size and specie variation is always the zumbro river but with my experience the closer you are to zumbro lake the better the size. Zumbro falls was always a great place to use the waders or canoe and walk the streams. Usually you will catch smallmouths and a few northerns a trip weren't uncommon using spinner baits. Also using spinnerbaits on the river near zumbro lake don't be surprised to catch a few muskies that are stocked in Lake Zumbro. I have ran into three muskies fishing the river by zumbro falls. Lake zumbro can be a tough lake to fish but has all sorts of trophy fish in it ranging from big smallmouths, pike, and muskies all the way to big catfish, carp, and sheephead. The walleye stocking in lake zumbro is producing small walleyes now too. Got into a mess of 12 inchers a few years ago so its great to see the walleyes starting to adapt to the lake. Is a fun place for the kids for the sheephead(not my option but do put up a good fight for the kids to stay occupied), bluegills, and crappies are abundance. Otherwise listen to the post above and hit up the Mississippi you can never go wrong there. The trout fishing is awesome as well when you get south of rochester or towards winona.

Happy fishing

[BoneCollector9]

One more thing the river north of byron by oxbow can produce smallmouths have caught a few 3-4 pounders out there but I wouldn't recommend inside the park. I always jumped in the river near the park and used waders to walk the river but remember the river is PUBLIC but the land around the river (outside of the park) is private so be respectful to others land when walking rivers. (I'd try walking up river from the bridge on county 5 heading north out of Byron) When speaking about live vs. lures I had much better luck with live bait crawlers or leeches but as im walkin the river I would be pitchin spinners until i got to a deep hole.