Say I was planning a trip to your house, although it would likely never happen: tell me where we'd go for some fine smallmouth fishing. Why? JGW
A Favorite Smallie River
Say I was planning a trip to your house, although it would likely never happen: tell me where we'd go for some fine smallmouth fishing. Why? JGW
John,
Your almost here already.
The upper Mississippi. Granted it's not tthe prettiest smallie reive that we have here in eastern Minnesota, but it has fish that you wouldn't believe. I would say that a 14" is a small fish in this water. I've had many days where the average size is 18", with very good shots at 20"+ fish. These fish are used to living in a heavy current and they have broad shoulders to fight with.
Bring your bass gear with you, nothing smaller than a 7wt under any circumstances. Even with an 8 wt these fish will put a deep bend in your rod.
See you at Great Waters,
Kevin
Sorry the Russian is a "has been" river....used to be a GRAND smallie river.We would have to send you all the way to Oregon for "GOOD" smallie fishing.
....lee s.
When toying with this thread I was thinking of Tim Hoschlag's "Small Mouth Fishing" book where he includes the 100 top smallmouth fishing rivers in the US. Seems like he has them in every state, and that isn't even scratching the surface. When I lived in Dubuque in the late 1960s I fly fished the Driftless rivers for smallies without even giving trout a thought. I don't even know if there trout in the rivers back then. Surely there must have been. Some of the most fun I've had here in the prairie was on the Minnesota, of all places, and our little creek here, Hawk Creek, both of which are on no one's maps whatsoever. Hoschlag told me one day that the substrate of the Minnesota in this area, which is just full of granite outcroppings, was before industrialized farming, prime smallie fishing. A flotilla of us who started out paddling the canoes for walleye ended up having a spectacular afternoon of smallie fishing on the Minnesota. It was fun and doesn't happen enough. JGW
We would go to an already over popular tributary of the Grand River where there is an area where you can catch dozens of 8" to 10" fish and other stretches where two or three fish an evening in the 15" to 20" range are possible.
I can think of few acts more selfish than refusing a vaccination.
The ST Croix!
Not because it's any better than the Mississippi, the Root or anywhere else in MN, but because, in my mind at least, the Croix is synonymous with small mouth.....hope to do it this year with or without you.
nam
Connecticut river, because there are Smallies there!
jed
If I told ya I'd have to kill ya.
Tight Lines & Wet Nets
Rick Federation
A medium sized river about 4 miles down the street from the house has loads of smallies and you'll never see another fisherman all day.
On my best day there I caught 83, but I was talking to a fella last week who fishes 20(?) miles down stream, he told me one day last summer he and his son caught over 300
My second choice would be the same as Jed's
The main branch of the Penobscot River in Maine may be the best smallmouth river in the country
The simpler the outfit, the more skill it takes to manage it, and the more pleasure one gets in his achievements.
--- Horace Kephart
I would have to agree with Namekagon. The Saint Croix would be my pick also.
Not because that is the best Smallie fishing around.
It's because you live to close to take you to my "Best" Smallie fishing.
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