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Sartell Dam


JeremyCampbell

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Started above the dam and only a few Sunnies came up.Then Tried below the dam with the intent of getting suckers or bass and ended up with crappies and gills all in the same zone.I've fished this before and its been smallies usually.Just keepin you all in the loop of what I get out of the water in my back yard.

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Great report Jeremy. Any size to the crappies? The ones I have been getting in the Sartell to St. Cloud section have been on the small side this year, most are running 8-10in.

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7-9 inches on the crappies and Sunnies Im thinking 6-7 inches

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Great report Jeremy. Any size to the crappies? The ones I have been getting in the Sartell to St. Cloud section have been on the small side this year, most are running 8-10in.

I'm pretty sure an 8-10 inch crappie in this neck of the woods is MORE than big enough. smile

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The last couple years the average was 10in, sure we got some smaller ones, but we also get quite a few larger ones as well. This year for some reason the larger ones have been few and far between.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Crappies and only crappies were biteing really well today in sartell.Started about 4:30 ,it died around 5:45.Gulp on a hook or jig ,NO bobbers .Just makein that bait move enough to get there attention.The crappies are larger now ,caught many @ 10 " When the bite died I moved 20 ft away and BOOM! They were yonder.Only problem I had was I lost about 5 jigs in the rocks just in 30minutes so I'm going to either go down in size on my jigs or Il have to bobber it. A guy and his son were having some bad luck so I told them what and how I was hooking them and gave up that spot to them.Then more folks started asking me I just packed up and left .lol.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I traded my Larson for a smaller boat and was thinking about takeing it above the sartell dam.Any ideas on what kind of fish I should shoot for with the conditions and time of season we are in and an idea just a teeny tiny idea where the boat should be for those fish?

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Took the new trade above the sartell dam and focused on the east side of the Mississippi.Wasn't what I hoped for but caught a few little fish and handle my downsized rig. full-45395-35666-imag0377.jpg

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Jeremy, try up past the little rock bridge on the left side of the river as you are heading up there are some spots with 19' of water. If you troll cranks or spinners/minnows it's good for walleye and spinners with crawlers work well for big cats and northern. Happy exploring!

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Yeah I been working 12hr days and 7 days a week trying to get all my exterior painting done before the cold season starts.Can't wait to get the boat back out.The outdoor specialists keep bringing up catfishing lately.I might go look for some up river.Need to fish,I'm pretty itchy.

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Was over in Jeremy's neck of the woods todayfull-26589-35780-004.jpg fishing was pretty slow except for small crappies and the occasional rough fish.

Made it over to the mouth of the Saukfull-26589-35781-007.jpg got a few small bass here, nothing worth braging about.

Finally, stopped in at a small backwater spot in the riverfull-26589-35782-003.jpg

Found some ok sized sunfish (7-8 inchers) roaming the shallows, it was easy to get them to chase the topwater baits.

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Nice sunfish! I went over to pic#1 last night too.Lately it's been slow from what I hear in that area .

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

I finally got out wading today. Did the east side below the mill. Fun fun fun!

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When you say fun that's all I needed to hear for a fishing report.lolWading along the East side below? You musta walked across somewhere or you got some friends on the fronts.I gotta get mine waders out too And leave them in the work truck.Too bad they don't make them in white.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

tennis shoes and shorts on, cross tracks, find secret pathway. no waders needed. gorilla glued the felt back on my wading shoes for next time. smile hope to get out again before tooo long. saw a guy in a small jon boat. bright green shirt. only a couple others. Saw a falcon, one young eagle, 2 osprey. Had a nice visit with quite a few smallies. smile

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Yeah, in between meetings with insurance agents and auto body shop people (don't ask), I found a few minutes to get down and wade some moving water. Nothing like being waist deep to clarify thinking and iron out the kinks. A few bass help, too.

As much as I'd love to see some good rain around here, I'll take a few more days of the dry stuff. smile

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

hope t0 get out again saturday. maybe even today smile

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I was out on my bicycle getting some air and went down under the holiday station bridge.It,looks like you can wade three quarters of the way over there.I know a guy that let's me park at the holiday so it would be worth a try to see how it goes.Il update ya's when I go next week.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

You could just start at the pier and wade up stream. good workout. smile

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You could just start at the pier and wade up stream. good workout. smile

Some nice pockets between the pier and the old pedestrian bridge to hit... I know for sure there are a few nice smallies that hang out around there wink

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Yeah I did that last year I had some good luck doing that.There's a area on that route your talking about about 100 ft out with three big rocks grouped together .I named it the pyramid rock.I've found some bass there just by giving a fast jiggle motion .Either small mouth or Rockies hit it.

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Set up camp on the east side above the mill and Fished between 2pm -4:30pm.Wasn't great but did get some bass on a rap and a dare devil.At one point I used a small jig and a gulp red worm and surprisingly a sucker grabbed it.Never caught rough fish in artificial bait before.Still fished on a bigger sized pink gumball jig.The bass seemed to bite more with that.They liked the line nice and tight,no curly's.

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Started above the dam and worked my way below the dam.Small mouth were biteing well with a bobber and a jig.Found a sun fish hole that was about 20x30 ft area.The Sunnies hit around 7:00 and smallies and rockys were all around there too.Probeley one of the busiest bites I've had in a few wks.Nothing big in size just a lot of catching fish fun.I took a pic of a sunfish that was tiny most of them were small like this one. full-45395-36107-imag0383.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

I've been up and down above and below the mill for a week or so and I thought I can corner the crappies some place.Checked many depths including structures but they seem to not to want to answer my calls.Been a nice bass bite everywhere pretty much.A few small walleye lock on once in a while with raps.Playing in New spots lately on the boat helped me learn where some of the drop offs are in 15'-25' deep areas.Learning how to troll on my own has been tough in the rain and cold.Still got to learn some more basics before I see any fruit from trolling.Other than that mainly the bass been cool with me and I'm not walking away skunked.Thank goodness.

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The dam has three gates open now and the pier was moved in for the winter.I was out for a few yesterday and the river down stream looks very fishable,all the way to the mouth.I had alot missed fish yesterday on a xrap.Caught only two small one's.Going to focus a little more this week down the Mississippi from the depot all the way to the Sauk mouth.It's worth a try.

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  • 1 month later...

Looks like there's only 2 small gates open on the dam.They must have closed the big one pretty recent.It will be interesting to see how the ice is in January.

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Did some measurements today above the dam and found 20",24"and 16" thicknesses of ice .After measuring I was heading to the Briggs chain and my engine went crazy.Ended up getting towed got it to a shop and fixed in just a few hrs.Guess il try again tommorrow

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Did some measurements today above the dam and found 20",24"and 16" thicknesses of ice .

That much ice on the river, seems strange since most of the lakes around here have about 12. Are you measuring the ice with the same ruler you use to measure your crappies?

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
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