MN River vs. Miss P2

[jamjumper]

I have fished the MN river now quite a bit for Flats, and when I first started was having pretty good success, not only on numbers of fish but acutally pretty big fish. That being said in more recent years, those same areas that I used to fish, my favorite spots, seams etc dont seem to be producing fish, I try new spots in this same 15 mile stretch of river, and it doesnt seem to be panning out like it used to. Any thoughts? I only catch and release and am as gentle as possible, so it cant be my limited pressure. Now I see more trend on here anyways, for guys fishing the Mississippi P2 and some really nice fish. Is it simply better over there? Or just more pressure? How does that area compare to the mn river by Morton? I am for the first time considering fishing the Miss, never have for flats. I dont have a very big boat 15 ft with 25 hp. is that suitable for P2 flat fishing? Any tips, thoughts or ideas would be good to hear! I dont need locations, or mile markers, just general info please and thanks!

[aanderud]

I have also noticed a significant downtrend in success on the MN river in the last few years. I think it's picking up, but there were a couple of really lean years here since about 2011.

The 'sippi is a much larger body of water, and will hold more fish. A lot of fish actually migrate out of the MN river into the 'sippi for wintering, so you always have the risk that some decide they like it there and don't go back upstream later. If you can fish it consistently, I'm convinced that you'll probablly see bigger fish and better numbers, on average, on the mississippi. However, the mississippi has many more gallons of water to hold those fish, so just figure on it being a learning curve. It's hard to beat the convenience of the Mn river for me.

The 15 footer with the 25 horse will certainly fish the 'sippi. Watch for larger cruisers and barge traffic, obviously. They can put out some big wakes, so take those with caution. I say give it a shot. No sense wondering 'what if'. The same types of areas that you fish on the MN will produce just fine. I also suggest getting a navionics or lakemaster chip, as the depth contours, wing dams, etc. all show up on those. At a minimum, get at least the android/iphone version for yourself if you don't already have something.

[jamjumper]

As far as the MN river goes, I always fish up by Morton and Franklin, I know they have catfish days etc there, and some big fish come from that area at times, but if you head towards new ulm or almost to the confluence with the 'sippi do you think there are more or better fish that way in the MN? How much larger is the river in that area? is it deeper, slower current, wider more rocky? any info helps...we will fish some of out favorite waters but are feeling a little adventurous too!

[Luke_M]

I fish the mn from 169 to the confluence with the Mississippi and it is quite wide and deep but there doesnt seem to be as much structure with so much of the river being modified for barge traffic. That said I have caught some of my biggest cats in that stretch. I dont know if the fish are any bigger. There is quite a bit of pressure in the stretch and you can get run off some of the best spots because of barges.

[jamjumper]

We had a pretty good night on friday night. We were unable to fish on saturday due to weather. River was high and fast, so we had to target new areas. Were able to land these fish however, with 6 other runs, 4 of which we hooked up with, 2 of which took us into snags and resulted in lost fish and 2 of which we lost rolling in high current. 2 of the lost fish were very nice, one of which we got a look at and was easily a 40# class or better fish...i know...the big ones always get away, but truly it was possibly the biggest flathead ive seen boatside. Fished 730pm-5am had fish hit all night .

[jamjumper]

oops. missed this little fella... lota commotion at 3 am for such a little tike.

[aanderud]

Great report, jamjumper! Looks like fun. That's hardcore, to be out all night. Looks like it paid off!