This next weekend I am heading up to my parent's cabin in Aitkin, and am thinking about fishing the mississppi for the 1st time. I have twins(20 month olds) so I figured the river would be a lot more calm than the lakes. My dad went there last weekend for his first time and was able to get half dozen walleyes, but only two keepers. I was wondering if anyone would be so kind to offer any tips for Walleyes at this time of year in the river.
Me and my partner along with Mike W and his crew were up there the weekend before last ( 8/16 ) We got all of our fish trolling #5 flicker shads both updream and downstream. The trick is finding water deeper than 4 feet. Look close at all outside bends. We put in at the landing on 169 and headed upstream from there. Be carefull and go slow as the rocks will bite the prop. We both run jon boats. The only other boat you might see are canoes! Good mix of smallies and eyes. Both boats kept a meal for dinner, so the fish are there! I love that section of river. Wish I could fish it every weekend. Good Luck.
We will be back up there this weekend. Trolling cranks is a good choice. Live bait picked up a few fish for us to. Try either dragging bait on jigs for just anchoring up near some good structure and working the bait threw the areas.
Where are you going to be putting in at. The river up there has both shallow rock and gravel stretches and deep mud bank stretches. I have much better luck in shallow water but you need to water your props. Those boulders are nasty.
We will be launching right in Aitkin. Is there a better place to launch? They had there best luck last weekend jigging in deep holes. You suggest trolling flicker shads more? what depth do you run the flicker shads in? I have a 1700 explorer and a Lund S14 deluxe. I am guessing you would suggest leaving the bigger boat at home.
The river in Aitkin is a deep stretch of water. Vary different to the river where 169 crosses it north of town. The main channel there seems to run 10' with the corners running 20' or better. I have only spent a little time fishing that area and have not found a good pattern yet. We have caught some fish trolling where the ripple river comes into the mississippi.
You wouldnt want to try running the 169 stretch with a bigger boat. Holes may only be 5 to 8' and the runs only a 1' or 2 with lots of big rocks thrown in. This is where we troll the flicker shad, rattle traps and shad raps. 50 to 60 ' out and there ticking bottom.
Here are some pictures from the Miss in areas scattered between Aitkin and Grand Rapids from last weekend. Be very very careful, she gets hairy. I was examining the one area in the first two pictures before I ran it and I still scraped bottom a few times (this was with a jetdrive, not outboard.) Of course I was fishing bass so it doesn't do you much good as walleyes don't like buzzbaits
Nice photos Mike. Dont think we have ever caught a large mouth up that way. There are a few oxbow lakes in that area that may hold some large mouth. About 5 miles north of there near palisade the river turns back into muddy banks and deeper water.
I just heard yesterday from one of the locals that you couldn't get a prop boat threw to far down from the 169 landing. That area in the 1st couple of photos must be why. Wonder if any of the rain we got last night fell up that way? It would be nice to see the river come up a couple of inches.
Thanks for the info guys. Spent last night in the ER with my son who decided to knock a dining room chair over while he was on it. I was positive that he would need stiches, but no just super glue. With this latest development mom is a little overprotective so I may no be taking him fishing this weekend. If that is the case I will be out there by myself, or at Winnie. If any of you guys are out there and see an all silver Lund with a Yamaha 25 say hi.
Here are a few photos from our trip a few weeks ago. It was fun to spend the afternoon in the boat with Nate and his brother. They are from Maine and dont get to fish very often. Guess this was there 1st fishing trip out of a boat.
Well The trip to the mississippi was great. The scenery was something that I had not expected, adn the fishing was good. We got on the water by 6:30(launched at the campground in Atikin. We decided to troll #5 shadraps and by 8 we had four keepers. One about 2 pounds. We got some more throughout the morning, incuding some dandy smallmouth, but no more walleyes. Thanks for the tips guys.
It wasnt to bad of a weekend for us up there. Walleye fishing was a little slow but we got enough both days for a meal. Saturday Jon and I ended up with 6 nice walleyes, a ton of small mouth and a good number of pike. Monday Nate and I put in at Palisade and worked down river. Caught lots of smallmouth again and just a few walleyes.
The river had dropped about 5"s since a few weeks ago. It was tough going with a prop boat between palisade and 169. I may need to find a different section of river to fish for a while.
Fishing on the river has still been pretty good. Water levels where up about 6" last weekend and still climbing when we left. Saturday we found the walleyes biting pretty good. Was hoping for the same thing on Sunday. Sunday turned out to be a small mouth day again. Brown and gold colored flicker shads worked well this weekend. Didnt spend much time on live bait but I would figure that would be a good option to.
Mississippi river near aitkin
