2022 MN Season Thread

[gimruis]

My Father and I caught 14 smallmouth and 2 pike floating the river this morning.  All of the brown bass were between 12-17 inches.  Most of the fish were caught on a subwart-style shallow crank bait in crayfish color.  Several of the fish took it while it was just sitting on the surface.  When a fish would swipe and miss, I'd toss right back in there with a small tube and caught the very same fish.  This occurred several times.  It was great to be back fishing in the river again.  I might try it again later next week.

[MN Fisher]

Maybe one of these days the weather will cool down to let me out on the lake.

 

Having suffered heat exhaustion and heat stroke in the past, I do NOT do well in high temps...this is getting ridiculous.

 

Don't talk to me about early mornings/late evenings...wife is home from the hospital and those are the times she needs me here for assistance.

[gimruis]

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

I do NOT do well in high temps...this is getting ridiculous.

I hear ya.  Not a big fan myself.  At least on that chart its "trending" the right direction.

 

Technically the period from July 15 - Aug 1 is the warmest time of year here.  So statistically, this is most likely when we are likely to get some extreme heat.

 

The bigger issue to me now is the lack of rain.  This is 2 summers in a row now where moisture has basically stopped once the calendar hit June.  Since June 1, MSP has recorded 2 inches of rain.  The average during that period is almost 7 inches.  The drought is very isolated this year though, as the greater metro area is really the only part of the state in drought.

 

Last year, the pattern shifted in early August and the fishing was spectacular.  A series of low pressure systems came in regularly and the fish were hungry and aggressive.  There was about a month long time frame last summer when the fishing really took off, and it started in early August and lasted through about Labor Day.

[Pogues2300]

High temps can certainly limit fishing. What I’ve noticed the last couple years is how windy the state has become. Or maybe it’s just more noticeable because I’m fishing from a kayak. Bought a pedal drive and that helps but it would be nice to have a few days of a gentle breeze lol

[Standard]

Haven't been on the river nearly enough this year, mainly due to how high it was early season.  Finally made it out last weekend and picked up quite a few smallies, with a couple 18" mixed in there.  Mostly on top water, 120 sized Choppo.

 

Going to head out early this Saturday and try to beat the storms.

On 7/18/2022 at 8:05 AM, gimruis said:

Last year, the pattern shifted in early August and the fishing was spectacular.  A series of low pressure systems came in regularly and the fish were hungry and aggressive.  There was about a month long time frame last summer when the fishing really took off, and it started in early August and lasted through about Labor Day.

 

Yeah, August last year was phenomenal.  Did great on both the river and Mille Lacs.

[Standard]

We had some pretty decent fishing last weekend on the river.  Of course, my buddy had the lucky catch of the day

 

 

[gimruis]

1 minute ago, Standard said:

Of course, my buddy had the lucky catch of the day

 

I'll say.  Nice job!

 

I'm hitting the river again tomorrow.  No coincidence.  Lol

[nosdog2]

Dang!  Great fish!

[gimruis]

On 7/29/2022 at 9:38 AM, Standard said:

We had some pretty decent fishing last weekend on the river. 

 

I floated the Rum for about 4.5 hours on Saturday with a friend and we caught 18 smallmouth and 2 pike.  Tons of brownies in the 12-14 inch range.  The biggest I caught was a 16.5 incher.  It felt much bigger when I tied into it.  Caught all the fish on a mix of shallow crankbaits/wakebaits or a small brown tube.  Its getting pretty shallow.  We bumped rocks a few times and bottomed out in a couple riffles.  I probably won't be fishing it again this season unless we get a significant amount of rain.

[Standard]

Fished the Mississippi on Saturday.. Not sure what deity I ticked off but boy was it a day.  Busted a rod through sheer stupidity, and finally sunk a hook into me past the barb.  Buddy got his finger sliced up pretty good by a pike.  At least the weather was decent, if a bit windy.  Had to pedal downstream in a couple of spots.

 

Caught decent numbers of smallies and way too many small pike, they were really out and feeding.  Much different pattern than last week.  Not much of a top water bite.  Had the most success on square bills and jerk baits.  Caught a decent keeper walleye right at the end to take home.  Don't usually keep fish but I figured after that day the river owed me one 🤣

[gimruis]

I did pretty good today. Caught about 15 bass in 4 hours, all skipping docks with various plastics. With the bright sunshine, it was obvious where the bass were set up. Got a pair of 4 pounders about 20 minutes apart. Water temp 74 degrees.

[roadwarrior]

 

 

                                    

 

[Adrift]

Catching some decent ones on the frog this week.  South of the metro water temps have been around 75. 

[MN Fisher]

Got a little time to go out today - not enough to launch/land the boat...so some shore fishing.

 

At least they're getting bigger.

[Standard]

Finally got back on the river after taking a few weeks off.  Was a little worried about how it was going to fish with the rain Friday night and spotty weather Saturday, and the wind forecast looked brutal.  Luckily only one short storm came through and the wind was lighter than the forecast said most of the day.  

 

Wake baits seemed to be the trick, had a few hits on top water but they didn't seem to commit to it as well.  Biggest was actually on a wacky worm when I wasn't even paying attention.  Didn't feel the take, gave it a pop and it took off.  About a 19.25" smallie, big one for the year so far.

 

Side note, took a plunge on the micro power pole for the kayak.  Worth every penny.  It is so nice to be able to stop the kayak with a button.  As long as you don't try to use it in too swift of water, it does have it's limitations.  

 

 

[gimruis]

1 hour ago, Standard said:

Side note, took a plunge on the micro power pole for the kayak.  Worth every penny.  It is so nice to be able to stop the kayak with a button. 

Nice upgrade for a yak.  I've got a 12 foot talon on my bass boat.

[gimruis]

I caught 12 bass, 7 pike, and a muskie today in the rain. The muskie was 30 inches. One of the pike was 35 inches, the biggest one I’ve caught this season. A white swim jig worked the best today. Water temp is still 74 degrees.

[TnRiver46]

41 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I caught 12 bass, 7 pike, and a muskie today in the rain. The muskie was 30 inches. One of the pike was 35 inches, the biggest one I’ve caught this season. A white swim jig worked the best today. Water temp is still 74 degrees.

Well that sounds eventful! Heckuva day 

[gimruis]

14 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Well that sounds eventful! Heckuva day 

We had a front come through yesterday. It was cloudy with off and on rain for most of the day. This particular lake is often much better when I get conditions like that. I talked to another angler who was out there and loading up when I was and he did quite well too.

[Standard]

Went to check out a new smallmouth spot over the weekend.  Hit the water about 8am on Saturday, took about an hour to find them but it was go time from there.  Ended up being a 50-something fish day between the two of us, with most of the smallmouth between 17-18".  At one point I picked up 3 ~17" fish in 3 casts.  Lure of the day was a shallow diving 1/2 oz crankbait, with a texas or wacky rigged worm follow up if they missed it.  Topwater over weed beds got a few of them also.

 

Did more exploring than fishing Sunday, but got big fish of the weekend at something over 19".  Was the best weekend fishing I've had for a while, but am paying for it today with some achy muscles.

 

 

[gimruis]

Went out locally this morning for a few hours. Caught 8 bass and a pike. Several quality fish, including these two. Water temp is still almost 70 degrees.

[gimruis]

Fishing was good today. I went with a friend this afternoon/evening for 4 hours and we caught 16 bass and 4 pike. We caught every fish burning a neon green or white colored spinnerbait in shallow water. Water temp is 58 degrees. This time of year I think it pays off to wait until it warms up some, rather than starting in the early morning when it’s so cold. This morning it was 31 degrees but this afternoon it was 60.

[gimruis]

I hammered them this afternoon.  I caught 31 bass and 1 pike in about 4.5 hours.  I caught a few on a spinnerbait like I did last weekend, but most of the damage was on a bluegill colored chatterbait.  13 of the bass were over 17 inches, including my season best, a 20 incher.  In one specific area, I marked a lot of bait fish on the sonar and observed a couple of fish feeding on the surface.  That is where I caught several large fish in a short period of time.  I think I found myself in the middle of a feeding frenzy there.  Any area with green weeds was also productive.  I think I'm done bass fishing for the season now but I might muskie fish once more.  Water temp is 51 degrees, north metro.

[gimruis]

One final outing for the season this morning for muskies only produced an accidental sizable largemouth. The water dropped from 51 to 48 with that cold snap. My boat gets winterized next week. Good luck to anyone still fishing.

[MN Fisher]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

My boat gets winterized next week.

F-9 is in the garage - winterization to be done this coming week.