Hotspotoutdoors

I was on the river all weekend. Fri I was walking around the islands below the st cloud dam. Found lots of bass and northerns right where they should be for this time of year. Saw the local co's in there river pro checking anglers and they said they were having good luck handing out citations and they even had a few rods and gear they took from some people. Sat I was above the blanchard dam and worked the walleyes and catfish. Ther was a lot of boat traffic up river from the sand bar all the way to the Lindberg access. Found most of the active fish in 12-15 fow. Sun I took my ugly puke green amf crestliner up to just below the st. cloud dam and fished for cats and bass. The bass were real slow but the cats were going nuts. Once we found them we casted 1/4 oz. heads and a leech or crawlers. Caught too many fish to count and never had to wait more than 10 min for the next bite. All together it was a pretty good fourth of july weekend on the river for me.

My son and I were out on Sunday afternoon to evening up near the Sartell county park access and had pretty good luck. We caught 18 Crappies, most between 10 - 11", with the largest being 12 1/4". We also caught 5 walleyes, largest was 16" and 8 smallies, largest was only about 14". All fish released. Most of the fish were near the edge of the weeds and only in about 3' of water. We stumbled onto the Crappies by accident. jigs and 3" twister tails were the ticket for most with a few smallies caught on buzz baits.

Nels

Sounds like a good time

Went out last night from 8:00p.m.-1:00a.m. catfishing in monticello. Fishing wasnt so good...Idk what the deal is but the last 4 times down there hasnt been good. Only managed to land one cat, about 3 lbs or so. Had a few other bites but missed them. Also got two turtles. Anyone else been fishing in monticello area for cats?? I would love to hear how you did?

Went out again tonight for cats...Wasnt good once again. Nothing but a few minor bites. Not sure what is going on with the cats lately...possibly spawn?? Who knows.

Plenty of cats being caught with in a couple miles of the dam here in town. Size is kinda small but lots of action.

I have been hitting the river from the hospital to the dam hard the last two weeks and have been having fair to good luck with walleyes, crappies and lots of smallies. The walleyes and smallies I have been finding have been from 13-17 fow and a few in 7-10 fow rocks seem to be holding more fish than sand. I have been using 1/8oz. jig and minnow or the 2.5in gulp. On the days when that has'nt worked so hot a crawler on a spinner rig worked at between .8-1.0 mph has been the ticket. The crappies I have been finding have come suspended a few feet off bottom over 10-17fow with some sort of current break near by. Small crappie jigs with a bobber or 2in twisters have worked good. pink/white or pink/yellow has done best for me.

Nice report. We hit the mighty Miss tonight for a couple hours around Monti. Got a few decent smallies 15-17" on suckers with slip bobbers. Wish we could have stayed out longer.

Lots and lots of big fish on suckers and tubes. My best in six years was 20" and I got two in one day this past week. The bigger one measured 20 1/2" (a personal best). Caught 20 in two hours yesterday with 6 in the 18" range - one was under 15". Fishing rock edges adjacent to deeper water. Favorite time of year and not many people have been out.

Water temps in the low 40's. Fish were very sluggish - managed 5 smallmouth in two hours, but no big ones. All 14"-16". Caught a 22" walleye as a bonus.

Tryed below the dam here in town this evening. Lots of tiny 8-11 in walleyes biting right now. Saw a two guys keepin theese tiny little fish and putting them in a paper bag. All I could do is shake my head in frustration. Heck if they caught there limit they might have enough meat for a fish sandwich.

The tiny walleyes are thick!
I'm catching alot of just about everything that swims in the river.
But,
It's all pretty small.
I am seeing some ok panfish.
Strangly enough.
flyfishing.

Caught 8 smallmouth yesterday afternoon in the Elk River area. Fish are biting, but need to work VERY slow. Biggest was 18". Caught a bonus 19 1/2" walleye. I never catch more than one. Does anyone catch multiple walleyes in the Elk River Otsego area? If so, are there certain patterns that work?

I have, but only 2-3. Fathead and 1/8 0z. fireball jig. I had one day that the only thing the 'eye's would hit were small sucker minnows on 1/4 fireball. CHARTREUSE. Key color for me. They love the current seams where ever there are rocks. Vertical jig, making sure you are just off the bottom. Hope this helps, good luck.

"I have, but only 2-3" Come on Mike we caught 6-8 eyes when we went out! Have you been out lately to the spot I brought you to? I haven't been there since September. We had been caching more walleyes throughout the year this year. We actually caught some very nice fish from shore in February I think it may have to do with removing the dam on the Crow River and giving them more room to roam around.

I only caught 1 today, but it was a fatty! Inhaled a sucker minnow.


As Rivernut says, look for current seams with a steep drop from shore and current breaks near fast water. You will need live bait to catch walleyes this time of year. Keep it slow and the bites will be very light. I like to use strong line like Maxima so I can bend the hook on jigs rather than break them off.

You don't "need" live bait, ringworms and hair will take there share of fish.

river rat - I agree you don't "need" live bait, but in my experience live bait catches more and bigger fish this time of year. There were days this fall when a 4" mega tube kept up,but the fish tended to be smaller (still good fish, but smaller). Do you have hair jig recommendations (brand, color, and retrieve)? Thanks.

Musk,have not been there, other than that time. Where have you been? See you havn't posted in a looooooong time. Thought you moved out of the area. Anyway, When water levels allow, I take my jonboat out in the Elk River area. Otherwise I hit the 'Croix, or Liitle Falls to Royalton stretch. Take care, maybe we"ll have to get out sometime.

Tuna, for hair jigs you really can't beat jimmy D's river bugs (google em) I tie my own and really like em but Jimmy D's are hard to beat. As far as retreive it varies, lots of times I do a drag down a seam controlling the boat speed with the bow mount (keep your boat in the current right next to the seam). Other times its just a simple pitch and let it settle to the bottom and a very slow retreive back to the boat. When they are really finnicky its short 1-2" pops of the rod tip letting the bait settle back down and sit there. I have had very few days where live bait out fishes artificials on the river. I also think its quite the opposite on big fish, but thats just my experience

Thanks river rat. I will buy some. How about weight and color? I have been trying to learn river fishing for the past few years and have wanted to give hair jigs a try. I definitely prefer artificials to live bait when they work the same.

Yes sir that River rat must be one heck of a lot better than I at stickin them eyes wit the artificials. I havent gotten a thing in the last week or so on anything but creek chubs or fatheads and even this method has not been pulling the same numbers as it was a couple weeks back. I thinkin my days on the river for the year are growing short.

90% of the time I throw 3/16 or 1/8oz sometimes you have to go heavier.

Developing confidence in what you are throwing is key, I started fishing hair jigs awhile ago, I have a ton of confidence in them. In other words 90% of the time if I am not getting bit on them its me, changing something like weight, color, retreive, is going to get you fish. SO I end up sticking with them and figuring it out, that and I don't carry live bait with me. I am in no way saying I have the river eyes figured out, but if I am lucky enough to get on top of them, they can be caught with hair or ringworms.

Thanks river rat. I will probably have more questions next spring. Hope you don't mind?

Has this forum gotten so stuffy one can't give a tounge & cheek ribbing to a good friend?

What a shame...

No, exact opposite actually, I just deleted it to get a rise out fof ya Cause I remember how much you adore censorship