Fishing Report for Wed.

[jclymer]

Good day~ Caught all my fish casting in very shallow water. 15-20 smallmouth between 13"-18" and one big fish lost. The smallmouth stuck his big head out of the water and did the head shake and my lure popped out, it was a huge fish! Also caught one nice walleye and a 22" northern. I will be heading back out this morning!

[BigMike]

jc, congrats on the good action. Were you fishing from shore or boat & around what section (elkriver, monti, st. cloud, sartel)??

Any particular lure selection that proved to be a hot ticket?

I'm assuming that with the weather warming up the rivers & lakes are going to really be picking up the bass action!!!

[Aquaman01]

Thanks for the report!!

Best Fishes,
Rob

[jclymer]

I am in waders which is a must in the area I am fishing that is within a 5 mile radius of St. Cloud. I would love to be able to navigate my 18' Crestliner into this area of the river, but there is no possible way of even putting a 10' boat in this area. I used a float tube in this particular area later in the year last year with great success, but the current is so strong right now I will get swept away. I am fishing a rocky area with fast current. I fish right on the edge of the break waters behind boulders. I am also casting almost on shore and catching fish. Seems the closer you cast to shore the more fish. The hot lure has been a #4 blue fox spinner in the firetiger color. The brighter the lure the better. Normally use mepps spinners, but Blue fox makes lures that are brighter and they really started to produce for me this year!
Reports~ Thursday morning caugth another 20+ fish all in the 12"-18" range also caught a couple nice Northerns.

Thursday evening slowed WAY down, only caught 4 fish in 3 hours, don't know what happened. I really wanted to land a monster fish this year, I know I had one on my line Wednesday and also caught one monster out of season. I would really like to have a 7 lb smallmouth on my wall. Looks like I will not get her this year. Musky season opens on Saturday and all my attention will be drawn away from the smallmouths. It has been a extremely fun smallmouth season so far!

[BigMike]

jc, you've really found the hot ticket. I hope to get up around St. Cloud now that I picked up a nice pair of waders this winter. I was down around Monticello last Monday and had ok success, but nothing like 20+ in a few hours. The current is REALLY strong right now and I wasn't able to get too far off of shore (only in a few spots was it shallow enough to get 30+ feet off shore) to cast back to the shore. The smallie really seem to like the spinners this time of year. I'm hoping as the summer rolls by that the water comes down a little and I'm able to reach some more spots and get a little farther from shore without being "unsafe". I was reminded of just how powerful the river is on my first wade on Monday.

Keep up the good reports.

[Royce Aardahl]

FYI, the water is up some again. I've been looking for the 20 incher for 8 years. 19 1/2 is my biggest. Can't count all the fish released from 12 to 19. One of my fishing partners nailed a dandy 21/12 incher last year. Someday I will hopefully get the 20 or bigger.

[Mark Christianson]

I cannot break 20 inches either........

[jclymer]

I broke the 20" mark forsure a couple days before season opened. I did not measure the fish, but it looked ridiculous it was so big. I lost one the other night that was just as big, if not bigger! They are out there, but I think they are rarely caught! I must say what an impressive fishery, I truely think the only place that may be better is way up north on Rainy lake and river maybe. I just can not believe that you can go to the river and catch so many fish yet rarely ever see another person fishing! Good luck to everyone this year, hope to see a couple pics from some big fish on the board. I don't think you will see any from me, only a few hours away from musky opener!!!!

[jclymer]

I broke the 20" mark forsure a couple days before season opened. I did not measure the fish, but it looked ridiculous it was so big. I lost one the other night that was just as big, if not bigger! They are out there, but I think they are rarely caught! I must say what an impressive fishery, I truely think the only place that may be better is way up north on Rainy lake and river maybe. I just can not believe that you can go to the river and catch so many fish yet rarely ever see another person fishing! Good luck to everyone this year, hope to see a couple pics from some big fish on the board. I don't think you will see any from me, only a few hours away from musky opener!!!!

[BigMike]

Last year I barely broke the 20 inch mark with a 20.5''. I think it's posted somewhere way back in the "smallies on ole' miss" thread.

What a rush!!!

[Royce Aardahl]

you may as well email with the approximate location if you won't be fishing it anymore. I probably allreay fish it but put me within a mile. thanks! [email protected] good luck fishing mr tooth

[jclymer]

I fished this section of the river extremely hard and what I found was great fishing for a week then the fishing started to turn off. I was only fishing a section that was no longer than 200 yards, so I am pretty sure I can not give details of location. I really think that just the little pressure I pu on the river really turned the fish off. I am a big fan of giving accurate reports and general locations, weather it is Miss River in St. cloud area or Cass Lake for example. I think if I told people about this section of the river a little pressure would really hurt it. Plus I release everything I catch, and I know that isn't the case for everyone. I won't be fishing this section probably the rest of the year, but I will be next spring prior to musky opener. I would really hate to head down to this spot and see several people already fishing!

[Royce Aardahl]

so you can't put me within a mile??

[jclymer]

St. Cloud area..... Not below the dam..

[Royce Aardahl]

that's what I figured. I know every bolder by name from dam to dam.

[jclymer]

Good luck Eyes.....