Journal of a Minnesota Angler

After our last adventure, George’s friend, Greg, and I decided we would get together again to puruse some fish. Greg works near the Mississippi River, so we thought we would try fishing the river. It was something neither of us had done and it would allow us to get started earlier. We met at 5:45 and were on the river by 6:00.

So as not to come into the adventure completely unprepared, I did some research on-line before I left work. I found a great page at TakeMeFishing.org that suggested fishing, among others, outside bends, merging currents, and rock and boulder pockets.

We first motored upstream and tried fishing near the lock up by the Ford plant. Greg beached the boat on a sandbar and we tried some casting from the boat. We were within casting distance of the point of the sandbar where the current going around it met. Greg focused on that area while I tried looking for the rock and boulder pockets TakeMeFishing.org was talking about. The current was going by pretty fast and I was struggling to find a bait I was comfortable with in those conditions.

I remember when I became the MNFlyAngler for a day that my brother taught me to cast upstream and let the lure float by the strike zone. There, I was in a small stream where you could kind of guess where the fish would be. With this area being so wide and the current so fast, I wasn’t sure where the fish would be, where to throw my bait, or where it would end up.

I suggested we move closer to the wall of the lock where the current wasn’t as strong. We stopped the motor a few hundred feet from the wall and were able to shut off the motor so that we would drift toward the wall. When we got too close, we would motor back out.

I was still switching lures fairly often trying to find something the fish would be interested in. We both knew there had to be fish in the area because it was a perfect quiet spot and we could see bubbles bubbling up occasionally.

We finally got our proof when Greg got a bite. As I watched it come in, I saw the top of the head and it looked big. Greg told me to get the net. When we pulled it up, this is what we found:

We didn’t have a measuring tape, but with my finger span, I estimated it at about 30″. He caught it on a spoon colored like a shad, complete with an eye. (BTW, that isn’t sweat on Greg’s shirt. We had a little mishap that caused Greg to get a bit wet.)

Now that the boat wasn’t skunked, I wanted to make sure I personally didn’t get skunked. I switched to a spoon as well. It didn’t take long before I got impatient with that and ended up with a texas rigged
Zoom Ultravibe Speed Craw on the line. It was the same one that I caught several fish on at Ken’s cabin.

One of my casts landed just feet from the lock wall and as I was bouncing the craw off the bottom, one of my bounces felt a little odd. I didn’t feel the weight of a fish, but it did feel heavier. I set the hook half-heartedly and after seeing my rod tip bend for a few seconds, the resistance went away. When I reeled in, my bait was all twisted. It was a fish!

Having finally found what the fish were interested in, I was a bit more persistent. I got a couple of more bites where my bait was twisted and a few others where the bait was still in position. The latter bites could likely have been rocks. In any case, they were all short strikes that I couldn’t hook into.

Since the bite had slowed, we decided to head downstream of the boat launch. We found a spot that had a stream feeding into it. It seemed like another great area. It had merging current as well as still water not far from the merge. To top it off it was in an outer bend. The only cause for concern is that the whole area was only 3-5 feet deep. We decided to try anyway.

Greg dropped a cast just a few feet from shore and got another bite. A fight ensued, but the fish eventually won. I didn’t get to see the fish, but Greg said it was another Northern, smaller than the first one.

I was back to switching baits again. I was a little more comfortable here because the water wasn’t moving as much and I thought I could use some lake techniques and lures. The water was, however, moving enough that my lure seemed like it had a mind of its own. It was a bit unnerving to see my line moving without feeling anything on the other end of it. On a lake, a line moving sideways is a definite sign of a fish. Here, it was likely not so.

At one point, we heard a splash near shore. It was in calmer water and probably less than 2 feet of water. It gave me an idea I hadn’t considered: a topwater lure. I pulled out a Heddon Torpedo Lure that Ken’s cousin swears by for bass.

On the third or fourth cast, I was trying to keep a fly from feeding on my ankle, when I felt a tick-tick-tick on my line. I looked up and my lure was no longer on the surface of the water. I quickly set the hook. Fish on! On the way in, I could see it as shorter than a northern and knew it had to be a bass. It wasn’t until we got it in the boat that I saw how nice a fish it was.

Using my hand span, I was estimating it at about 18″. Being that it was close enough to add to my bag at the Bass Pundit Minnesocold Bass Bloggers Derby, I knew I had to get a more accurate measurement. We didn’t have a tape measure, but Greg pulled out a $1 bill knowing that it is 6 inches long.

Species: Smallmouth Bass
Size: 17″
Lure used: Heddon Torpedo

The girl came in at about 17″, good enough to fill my bag in BP’s derby. Woohoo!

More casts in the same area with the torpedo didn’t yield anything else for me. However, Greg pulled in another northern at about 25″ with his spoon.

A little after 9, Greg got my attention to point out the barge coming down the river. It was HUGE. It took a pretty wide turn and we could see the captain struggling to keep the barge in line. It’s like he did a racing drift on the water. It was fun to watch. (Click on the image to see the barge better.)

Even though the river is pretty wide, it’s easy to forget it is a highway for goods going to other parts of the country. It would have been really cool to see that thing come out of the lock where we were first fishing.

It was getting pretty dark, so we headed in for the night shortly thereafter.

I’ll try river fishing again, but I don’t know if I’ll make it a regular occurrence. I just felt too uncomfortable out there. I tried casting a bit from shore as I waited for Greg to get his trailer and I had a hard time figuring out where to cast. I suppose it’s like anything else. You get used to it eventually. But when you feel out of your element, it’s hard to give it the time it deserves.

Have you ever fished a river? What techniques did you use to put bait in front of the fish?