Favorite Fishing Destinations Countdown: No. 8 - Upper Mississippi River, Minnesota

Thank you to Darl Black for use of his photos, including this one of Steve Dezurik and me looking mighty goofy in our matching shirts and hats but displaying the kind of smallmouths that make certain stretches of the Mississippi River so fun to fish, plus the close-up of a another Mississippi River smallie that is inserted below.

I can't think of another fishery that flies under the radar quite like the Mississippi River upstream of Minneapolis for smallmouth bass. Based both on my experience and all I've ever heard from others who have visited my favorite sections, the fishing is simply exceptional. I believe the main reason it gets minimal acclaim is its location. Minnesota is the Land of 10,000 Lakes, after all, and anglers there have a "lakes" mentality. So many lakes in all parts of the state offer great fishing, often with fishing resorts on their banks, that the rivers get overlooked. Closely related, Minnesota is walleye country, and many anglers there simply don't care about smallmouth bass.

I've always likened the character of the fishing to what you can experience on a large Appalachian or Ozarks stream at its absolute best, except instead of catching smallmouths that average 3/4 pound, you catch fish that are mostly between 2 and 4 pounds, and any given fish that bites could be an absolute trophy. We didn't have means to weigh my biggest from the river, but I've caught a lot of big Great Lakes smallmouths, and I'm certain a giant that I caught on a Zell Pop in the Brainerd section about 10 years ago was very close to 6 pounds.

Beyond producing fast numbers, the stretches of the Upper Mississippi that I like best offer a style of fishing that I think is really fun. It's classic river fishing -- staying on the move and targeting eddies, current run-outs, ambush points behind rocks, etc. The fish are mostly shallow and in predictable river spots, and if you pay attention you can really pattern them. They'll also crush topwater during the summer. During one three day-trip, I kept a popper on one rod and a shallow dropshot on the other the entire time and never considered trying anything else.

The Mississippi River has many great smallmouth fishing sections, including a few above dams that can be fished effectively from a bass boat. However, the specific sections that I'm mostly talking about are the Monticello/Elk River section, which I'm guessing is about 30 miles upstream of Minneapolis, and the Brainerd section, quite a bit farther up the river. Both of these sections have to be floated, fished from a jetboat or waded in select spots because of plentiful shoal habitat.

I'm not sure when I'll have opportunity to return to the Upper Mississippi, but I'm constantly looking forward to that next time!

Trading Places

"Hey. You're fishing for bass, and I'm fishing for bream," Nathaniel observed as we worked our along a pond bank, with me popping a Zell Pop and him swimming a micro jig.

In a way that's not unusual. When we fish ponds together, we often both have a bass rod and a bream rod rigged, and it's not uncommon for both of us to be casting for whatever is biting best or trading bass for bream rod from one cast to another. And with both spend time throwing things like Rebel Crickhopper and smallish grubs that appeal to the pond's bass and bluegills .

That said, the old guy definitely is the 'gill getter of the pair and the one who will stick with throwing little stuff. The young guy is the bass fisherman. So for me to be casting for bass and him for bream (for more than a few casts) really is a bit odd and warranted comment.

Dreams of Bronze

Nathaniel and I had a wonderful time crashing through waves and plunging over drops on the Lower Gauley River today, but I can't deny looking longingly behind more than a few boulders and thinking about how much I wished I could work them with a popper or a little plastic craw. I've fished the same waters before, and the smallmouth fishing was spectacular, and at today's water level, I think the fish would have bitten aggressively. Not that I really could have had a rod on a regular whitewater trip. I needed my paddle and full attention on rapids. Still, some of those spots looked so, so good!

Tomorrow is all about fishing. Nathaniel and I are doing a full-day float on the New River, and catching smallmouths is the main objective. Of course we'll still enjoy sliding through some rapids and taking in the site of New Rive Gorge. We'll be in an rowed raft, though, so our hands will be free for casting. Shawn, the guide we are going with, said that the river is in really good condition and he feels like it's going to be a great day. He also said that he's going to bring a fly rod because the river is just right for the long-rod approach right now, and apparently he has a specific little fly that he believes will be the ticket.

I do have my starting line-up selected and tied on; however, I'm already debating changing one of the baits. One will remain a little gold Zell Pop. That much I know. I won't say what the other will be, just in case I change what is tied on now between now and tomorrow morning.

Smallmouth Scarred Zell Pops

A few of my Zell Pops have seen their better days, having been annihilated by countless smallmouths and a few pike and admittedly having been bounced off a rock or two. They keep popping, same as they always have, though, and the smallies don't seem to mind their tattered appearance. As long as that's the case, I'll keep throwing 'em.

In truth, the warrior pictured above or one that looks a lot like it probably will be the first lure I'll tie on for next week's West Virginia smallmouth float. I have others that are shiny and new and are even the same color as those used to be. I suspect they'd work fine, but there's something about those proven performers that make we want to tie them on trip after trip.

I like the 2-inch Zell Pop, which I fish on 6- or 8-pound test for stream smallmouths. My traditional favorite color is Gold Bream, which dark on the back and gold on the sides with a bit of orange on the belly. That color is out of production, but when I look at my battle-worn baits next to what they once looked like, I'm not convinced the color is a huge factor. I sort of think that when I need to replace a few Zell Pops, my new color of choice will be Z-Shad.

I typically fish a Zell Pop slowly, pausing it far more of the time than I'm popping it. I'll cast tight to a bank, well up into an eddy or next to rock, let it dead drift or sit still initially, give it a pop or two and then let it sit some more. Pops are executed with short but sharp snaps of a low rod tip. Strikes, which usually are explosive, often occur when the bait is at rest. Once the bait is out from the bank or away from the cover, I usually reel back quickly and cast it back into the primary zone.

Really the only time I fish a Zell Pop quickly or work it all the way to the boat is when I'm fishing shallow shoal water where the river is swift all the way across and the fish are holding in scattered ambush positions behind rocks. Given that condition I start popping right away and work it in quick little series of three or four pops with short pauses between them, staying ready all the time.

Bug Season Bronze

"The bug bite" was everything Britt Stoudenmire had promised and formed the strategical foundation for two days of float-fishing on Virginia's spectacular New River. A river guide who, along with his wife Leigh, operates New River Outdoor Company, Stoudenmire cherishes "bug season" because it provides some of the best opportunities of the year to catch big smallmouth bass. Every summer the fish feast on falling cicadas, which emerge, live short adult lives and die during the dog days, and the dying bugs dictate where the big fish congregate and how and when they feed.

Stoudenmire commonly uses a variety of flies that imitate cicadas this time of year, and he has even helped develop a lure he calls a spin-bug, which serves the same function for spin-fishermen. He and the bass clearly showed me, however, that making the proper presentations in the right types of places and understanding how conditions affect the bug bite are more important than the actual lure that's tied to the end of the line.

My best fish of the trip, a thick-bodied fish that measured barely shy of the 20-inch mark, took an XCalibur Zell Pop Xz2. Stoudenmire's best, which stretched the tape to 21 inches, grabbed a wacky rigged Senko. Both were in textbook "bug water," as it had been described to me from the onset, and fell for total deadstick presentations, and my topwater fish even took my lure exactly the way Stoudenmire had described smallmouths taking popping bugs and real cicadas after they die and crash land in the river.

The bad news is that the bug bite won't last too much longer. The good news is that the team of guides at New River Outdoor Company stay tuned into what the river's abundant smallies are doing throughout seasons.

Smallmouth Bass the MAINE Attraction

"Moose!" Doug Teel called out, pointing everyone's attention to the massive, dark-colored animal that was right beside the truck for an instant and then crashed into the thick Maine woods and disappeared.

Teel, who operates Northridge Outfitters & Guide Service, was driving David Hart, Lawrence Taylor and me from the Penobscot River to his lodge after a day of fast-action fishing. Spotting a moose only added to the whole Maine experience, as did the loons we saw and heard on the water, the steamed lobster we'd have for dinner the next evening and the black bear we would also spot while riding Maine backroads.

Smallmouth bass, however, were the "Maine" attraction, and the clear but dark waters of the
Penobscot did not disappoint. Heddon Torpedoes, XCalibur Zell Pops and Rebel Pop-Rs prompted crushing surface strikes for two full days. Top producers beneath the surface included YUM F2 Dingers an XCalibur Square Lips crankbaits.

Teel's two favorite lures, by far, are a Bullfrog-colored Torpedo, which he presents with patient pauses and steel nerves, an a Bumblebee Swirl YUM Dinger, which he rigs wacky style and weights with a small bullet weight. A Zell Pop, fished the same way as Teal works his Torpedo, was the top producer for me.