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Mississippi River, Little Falls


B@ssmaster

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I'm taking a few Boy Scouts out canoeing on the Ol' Miss out of Charles Lindburgh this weekend. Thinking about bringing some tackle and wetting a line. I'm a very experienced bass fisherman, novice to river fishing however. Been reading some posts, most seem to talk about areas a little further downstream. Any smallies in the river that far north? Pike, muskies? Any tips or cautions? Thanks in advance for any info.

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I fished that section a few years ago. I did get a real nice football smallie that went 17". But only one. I did catch a musky about 36" and saw a bigger one pushing the 50" mark. It just swam on by. But that was then. There's got to be smallies in there. It's a neat little stretch. I wish I had more info for you. Good luck

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bassmaster-
you should bring some small in-line spinners and jigs with grubs.

how far south are you planning to go? i fish closer to the blanchard dam but i'm sure there is a good population thrughout!

jo

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I thank both of you for the info. Not sure how far we will go, depends on the mood of the scouts, time of day, etc. Most of the scouts don't fish, but I can't spend all afternoon on the water without giving it a shot. I'd go nuts if I didn't try. With any luck, maybe I can convert one or two into fishermen if it goes well. Hopefully I will have a good report on Monday.

Bassmaster

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I look forward to hearing your report - it's amazing how as soon as you catch one decent fish all of a sudden everyone wants to learn how... wink.gif The best of luck to you and the scouts!

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Dunno if you'll get this in time...

The Pike Creek inlet can produce walleyes in the evening from shore, and last year when I was there in July the hellgramites were huge and plentiful after sundown (free bait) as well as many craws in the rip-rap at the bridge.

There's lots of rip-rap shore in mild current on the west side of the river just downstream from the inlet. The first big timber-fall gave me a couple of nice northerns last year.

Hope ya'll have a great time.

Rob

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  • 3 weeks later...

Finally getting back to posting the report I promised, but I have very little to report. Was not able to convince any of the scouts to stop and fish, canoeing was just too enticing apparently. I did notice a few shorline fishermen pulled a couple of walleyes from the Pine Creek/Miss confluence just as Rob had noted. It was about 1 in the afternoon on a sunny day. I was a bit surprised by that given the time of day. But even without fishing, the scouts had a great time, the weather was beautiful, no bugs, etc. Already looking forward to next year's trip.

(I was making mental notes of likely looking spots as we paddled, maybe I will be able to convince one or two scouts next year to try it.)

Thanks again everyone, I appreciate the info.

Steve

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