Root River Smallmouth

[FishinFool]

My dad and I made it out today for a few hours on our first smallmouth adventure this year.

The water still had a little color to it from recent rains. Nothing major, as the water was fishable.

The water level was up some from last summer. We caught around 30-35 fish between the two of us. Most were small, around 6". But, we did manage to catch a fare share 12" and over. 4 12", 1 13", 2 14", 1 16", and 1 17".

Man are these smallmouth acrobats. The 16"er jumped completely out of the water three times before she was landed. What a rush.

The fish were more active earlier in the day when there was more sunlight. As the day went on and it became cloudier, the fishing slowed down considerably.

A few light hendrixsons (sp?) were hatching. We would see one every so often. There was still evidence of a few beds around. So I would assume that some smallmouth have just recently moved off of them.

The horse flies were pretty bad already. Although they weren't too fast and we were able to swat most of them.

F.F.

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Do you think fish brag about the size of the man they got away from?

[Jim W]

FF,

What seem to be the "ticket" for getting them leapers to bite?
ALso, who caught more you or your PA??

Thanks for the info!

Jim W

[mark p]

The kid caught more AGAIN, but he keeps forgetting to mention that his dad is extremely kind and keeps letting him fish all the best spots...LOL.

We caught most of them on spinners. I tried raps and twister tails also, but with very little success. Unfortunately I forgot to throw my craws and tubes in my vest so I couldn't try those. Do craws and other plastics work very well at this time of year? This is about the best time of the year for hatches on the trout streams here in SE MN so I normally don't get out after the smallies until the end of June or beginning of July.

[Jim W]

If you have a good spinner bite(usually early season), why go with something else? How ever, getting some bigger fish to go on plastics works.

June can be a back and forth with the Root River smallies!

Sounds like you guys did real well and had a good time to boot!

Jim W

[TedM]

Greetings to all! I haven't been on the board for ages, looks like its going strong!

At the risk of asking for trade secrets, I'd love to have a couple of pointers to good smallie spots on the Root. I do a fair amout of trout (fly) fishing in SE MN, but haven't done any Smallie hunting - and I LOVE those bronze-backs. I promise a full report in return. Many thanks in advance.

[Jim W]

TED,

Click the blue tab and e-mail me!

Jim

[TedM]

JimW,

Thanks for your quick reply. Can't seem to find your email addy - when I get to your public profile information, it says "not available." Or am I just an ***** and didn't click the right icon? ;-)

T

[Jim W]

ANyone been chasing smalies in SE MN lately?

Hoping to finally specifically target some this weekend!

Keep the rods bendin'!!!

Jim W

[stillhunter]

JW,
I'm headed a little south to investigate a border stretch of the Upper Iowa on a solo float. Not sure of water quality as my "source" for info hasn't been that direction. Will post any findings

Stillhunter

[stillhunter]

JimW
water was just fishable and had a good flow...similar to April/Early May. Did find some that cooperated...shallow running big minnow baits w/ high visibility in a.m. (chartreuse Rapala..#11 size? I think)
They went deeper when the sun was higher and was able to get a few of the "hefties" on a chrome/blue minnow plug that had some sound to it. I switched to it after some of my "ole' reliables" were getting nothing but my arm tired

Stillhunter

[FishinFool]

Well, Dad and I made it out earlier today on two new stretches of water.

We fished the first stretch for about 45 min. Caught 3 or 4 smallmouth, one being no bigger than dads #9 rapala.

The second stretch proved to be much better. The first pool we fished, we caught four and lost two others. We didn't get to fish as long as we would have liked to, as the rain eventually made us cold enough to quit.

We caught close to 40 smallouth. Most were in the 6-8 inch range. There were a few bigger ones thrown into the mix. Biggest one was 14. There were some bigger fish that followed our lures, but we were unable to hook up with any of those. Also caught one rock bass and one quite large sunfish that was between 1/2 and 3/4 lb. The sunny was caught on a spinner, crazy huh?

Water was plenty fishable. If you go out, you might want to think about bringing some bug spray. The mosquitos were annoying in a few places.

Good fishing.

F.F.

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Do you think fish brag about the size of the man they got away from?

[Jim W]

Fishinfool,

Thanks for the report! I suggest trying top water or even plastics to get those bigger fish to hit!

Jim W

[mark p]

Jim,

What do you use for top waters? Tiny torpedos, hula poppers, ???, or do you just twitch your floating raps?

I have occasionally caught a smallie twitching a floating rap and letting it sit but that doesn't seem to work very often, and only in the slowest pools. With the water flows being what they are, even the deeper pools seem to have a fair amount of flow right now.

[Jim W]

stillhunter,

Thanks for the repo! Let me know how you do!

Mark,
Z.Spooks, Pop-r's and as you mentioned!
Work current seems to back eddy's.
Plus, some fish are still spawning.

Jim W

[stillhunter]

another on-the-surface lure that I have had great luck on the NE IA rivers is a perch colored "original" floating Rapala. Don't know why as there are no perch in the area rivers...but it can tear'em up. Sneak cross-stream to some cover, flip slightly upstream of rock or timber cover... "mend" your line like fishing a flyrod...sometimes no movement needed or just a slight twitch...or slightly jerk it under the surface and let rise back up. and WATCH the lure as it has been my experience has been that the majority of the time smallies sneak attack and don't "cannonball" the lure.

surface fishing..my favorite way to fish smallmouth!!

Stillhunter

[mark p]

OK, one more question about top waters. About what size do you use? Every manufacturers numbering or naming is different but was curious about length. 2 inches, 2.5, 3,... It seems that I have always started with spinners, plastics, cranks that are too small when purchasing smallmouth lures and end up having to buy larger ones. Not sure why I do it. You would think a person would learn after awhile. Anyway, I thought I would ask ahead of time and hopefully get an appropriate size right away and save myself a little $. Thanks for the help.

[stillhunter]

A #7 Rapala minimum; Believe it or not, that majority of the time I use the Rapalas w/ 3 sets of trebles, not sure if they are the #9's or #11's...the #9 "jointed" gives a little more action if you give short retrieves and let it rise.

Stillhunter

[TedM]

Summertime, and the fishin' is ...

... OK, well not easy, but easier. After two weeks on the road I finally got out on the river chasin'smallies - Root river downstream from Lanesborough.

Air temp at 7:00am was about 65; don't know the water temp 'cause I broke my thermo ... but I'm guessing mid-60's as well. The water is still chocolate and pretty fast, so was mostly fishing blind.

Managed 2 very nice smallies around 17-inches on a Rooster spinner (yellow) and one 15-inch brown trout - a pleasant suprise to be sure. All returned safely to the water.

JimW thanks for the pointers!

[CrappieJohn]

A four hour trip with the James man would be equivilent to about four volumes of world book encyclopedia. Few fisherman have the aggressive knowledge that he has amassed over the years. His tips and pointers only scratch the surface.

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Plastics...making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys! CrappieTom

muckbootsonline.com Pro Staff
Culprit Tackle Crappie Pro Staff
Catch-n Tackle
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[Jim W]

Ted,

I am glad you caught a couple real nice fish!
ALso, glad the good ol' Rooster Tail came through.
ANother fine spinner for the Main branch of the Root is John Eggers Super Bow spinner, check them out.

Of course I didn't give you all of my favorite spots. Being a wadable scene, taking the time to look and explore usually will reap great dividends.

Things are quite messy yet, waiting for them to clear a bit so I can actually spend a day after the bass!

We should be in the plastics bite for big smallmouth...if we ever have a week with no rain!lol

Thanks Tom...TOO kind!

Keep the rods bendin'

Jim W

[Jim W]

Anyone been on the Root this week? I might sneak a cast or two tomorrow or Friday for my real first smally outing of the year...can't believe it myself!

Jim W

[FishinFool]

Oh Jim, did you end up making it out? If you did were the plastics working well. I finally was able to catch some nicer ones the last time I was out (2 wks ago). I hope to make it out this week before the big trip to Canada.

I assume the water levels are fine and the streams are clear?

Have been on vacation for a week near Yellowstone National Park. Dad and I managed to do a little fishing there. Caught some nice browns (17,15) on Earthquake Lake using a floating rap. Nothing better than to see them slam it while its on top. Dad also caught a few nice browns, a small rainbow, and a small cutthroat. Also fished one day in the park for cutthroat. We caught 5 and lost more. 15" was the biggest, but it could have been 18" if dad didn't lose it. Oh well, they were all beautiful fish.

F.F.

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Do you think fish brag about the size of the man they got away from?

[Jim W]

Fishinfool,

Decided on a trip to Pepin instead and was bonused for the decision. Got on a very good bite.

The root is looking good!

Jim W

[WxGuy]

I had the pleasure of taking a smallmouth fly-fishing school on the Root this past weekend with Tim Holschlag. I've fished for quite a few years, and still vary my gear, but I'm trying to get the techniques of the long rod down.

It wasn't quite as warm as we'd have liked for top water poppers, but the fishing was good. After a few hours of being skunked, I tied into a nice 14" smallmouth and a couple other smaller guys. The fish were caught on a white clouser, and the location was just south of Chatfield upstream of the canoe launch.

Gotta say those buggers are fun fighters and an absolute blast on a fly-rod!!! I'm looking forward to a little warmer water temps soon so I can get busy on the poppers.

We found water temps this last weekend reached 68deg. at the warmest...although it was an unusually cool weekend with lows getting down to the upper 40s.

[CrappieJohn]

I'm not a whipper-snapper (fly fisherman) but will assume that the rivers and streams are getting pretty clear with the lack of rain. Dropping some as well. That can make for interesting fishing....the dropping water concentrating the fish in deeper pools and runs, but the clearer water affording the fish much better visibility. This is fly fishing's time of year. Now if only I could develope some hand/line co-ordination.lol.

When fishing the lakes I do carry some poppers and fish them behind a clear float, the float being only for casting weight, if I see activity right up on the surface. I do not fish streams as much as I should, but as a kid I can remember catching tons of fish on streams using flies and poppers. Some of those streamers are heavy enough to cast on very light spinning tackle too...not very far, but far enough to fish them. And there has always been some sort of allure to fishing streams. I think it is the constant motion and the wonder of what lies behind that rock or in this riffle.

I need to get outof thispost or I'll ruin my lake frame of mind!lol.

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Plastics...making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys! CrappieTom

muckbootsonline.com Pro Staff
Culprit Tackle Crappie Pro Staff
Catch-n Tackle
[email protected]

[WxGuy]

Funny how the moving waters can pull you in!
I've had a fascination with the fly-rod since my Grandpa used to fish it on Lake Koronis...he would never let me touch the fly-rod. I do miss the lake fishing, though. Like I said in my previous post, I still like to switch it up. I have a nice new spinning rod that I haven't thrown around yet...just been in the groove with the fly-rod. I'm lucky that my wife is a teacher and I've had quite a few days to fish so far this summer. It's amazing how much water there is to discover in SE MN. Both cold and warmwater streams and rivers. Growing up in Central MN, nobody ever talked about this area too much, but I believe it's the state's greatest hidden treasure.

[Yankeedutch]

Hey Weatherguy,

How did you like Tim's class? I am taking it this Saturday up on the Zumbro. Does anyone know of good wading places for smallies in the area. It is my first time to fish SE MN. I guess it is much like NE IA

[WxGuy]

Hey Tom!

Can I take a raincheck on that? Sounds great but I've got daddy duty through the week since I have been on the water a lot lately. Some morning next week would be great!
I'll drop you a line...

yankee...
The class was very informative. Tim has many many years of experience hunting smallies and is a tremendous advocate of our warm-water resources here in the Zumbro and the Root systems. I learned techniques I would have never thought of on my own and they paid off in some nice fish. The class was worth the money I paid and there was only 6 of us in the class, so there was plenty of one-on-one time. Got some great bass flies out of the deal, too. I highly recommend it to someone who, like myself, hasn't done really any stream bass fishing before, or someone who just wants to learn more about fly-fishing for smallies.

[This message has been edited by WxGuy (edited 07-27-2004).]

[CrappieJohn]

WX....I'm going out in the morning...leaving at about 6:45. Got the tackle, extra rods and an empty seat.....wanna go? Back by 11: 30. Toss an e-mail if you're interested.

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Plastics...making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys! CrappieTom

muckbootsonline.com Pro Staff
Culprit Tackle Crappie Pro Staff
Catch-n Tackle
[email protected]

[Jim W]

Crappit Tom,

Shees, there ya go again, inviting someone else along!lol Maybe I need to check my anti-persperant??

Wax Guy, I'd take him up on it if I was you!!!

I'll be hitting Pepin today with Uffdapete, see what we can conjur up.

HAve fun guys!!

Jim W