Monticello

Has anyone been around the Monticello area and know if the river is open and fishable from shore?

The river rarely freezes up there because of the power plant. Fishing was slow for us and anyone we fished around today. With the warm weather there were alot of people out.

My brother and I went out on Sunday for a few hours casting from shore. Never had a bite. Never saw anyone else catch anything, either. We headed to Coon rapids dam for awhile, too and had no luck.

I know a 6.25 largemouth was caught by boat in that area this weekend…..

ozzyky wrote:

I know a 6.25 largemouth was caught by boat in that area this weekend…..

On the river? There are virtually no Largemouth bass in this section do you have a pic?

dj00140 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>ozzyky wrote:</div>
I know a 6.25 largemouth was caught by boat in that area this weekend…..

On the river? There are virtually no Largemouth bass in this section do you have a pic?

There are a few largies above the Coon rapids dam and below, not many, but they are big!

Hello all,

I’ve read articles and seen videos about smallmouth bass fishing in the Mississippi River near Monticello. I was all fired up to give it a try (on a short vacation from out of state) when I realized that I may be too late for this year. Is the smallmouth bass season closed now? 

You’d think I could figure this out on my own, but I find the Minnesota regulations on this topic somewhat confusing. And adding to the confusion are the videos I see that are dated late March and even early April. 

So forgive me but I want to get clarification: Is smallmouth bass fishing on the Mississippi closed now? Or can I still try it? Thanks!!!

It’s closed.

Closed for that section with the inland regulations. Pool 2 has catch and release open. But quite flooded. Pool 3 on down is open.

Decided to attempt some morning fluke action here and river is a icebergs. Yeah it’s cold, but have been up here plenty in years past, they turn down the water at the plant or what?

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Well the fish didn’t care if it was freezing balls out, just cast in between the bergs and you’d catch em.

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Really interested in trying to fish some smallies here maybe this winter but for sure in the summer. Is it possible to launch a boat out of the montissippi park boat launch? Not crazy shallow or way too heavy of current?

Another great day up there yesterday. Not much size to the fish but caught a ton.

Flow is up, many of the typical current seams are too strong to hold fish. Best spots were feet from shore where you’d find a little bit more depth than surrounding areas. I’d actually wade out and cast back in for best presentation angle.

Most of the crowd I saw were right where the fish would have been. Just bc you got waders don’t mean you need to soak em.

Couldn’t pay me to drag a minnow bucket around up there. Besides the newbs you see digging in a fish with pliers for 10 min bc they don’t know how to set a hook, cold fingers just suck! Paddletail, flukes and occasionally tubes all in natural colors work well. Hair with gulp also puts out.

Thanks Mr. Beads. Very helpful. I plan to give it a try in mid February, either wading or from shore.

Best tip I can give in general Ken is if a 1/16oz weight won’t skip along bottom nice and slow you’re in too fast of current. Maybe 1/8oz, but I like 1/16 for judgement. Don’t mistake the iceberg seam as the one you want to fish, sometimes it is, but let the flow dictate. Some spots in river have more depth so less flow where some are shallower stretches and quicker water. Easy to see that first seam typically, but hungry fish will find those secondary seams typically closer to shore when flow is up.

Wish I had more time up there but the NYE hangover was coming back and had to go find some waffles.

Thanks. Good info. I’ll keep all that in mind.

I’ll be visiting Monticello from out-of-state for about 6 days in mid February. I plan to explore, looking for fishing spots. Maybe the thing to do is drive around the river looking for people wading or fishing from shore, as potential starting points.

I could also try to wade or fish from shore starting at parks, like Montissippi Park. Or maybe near a bridge or two, like the Route 25 bridge.

Should be fun trying to figure it out. Hope I can add a report of success here during that time. Thanks again.

Can someone please message me how or where to access the public fishing areas for fishing there. My father has been wanting to do this for a long time now.

Youbetcha wrote:

Really interested in trying to fish some smallies here maybe this winter but for sure in the summer. Is it possible to launch a boat out of the montissippi park boat launch? Not crazy shallow or way too heavy of current?

Unless it is a small boat you would be much better off with waders. The bottom on that stretch is not forgiving and is usually plenty shallow this time of year.

Bullcan wrote:

Can someone please message me how or where to access the public fishing areas for fishing there. My father has been wanting to do this for a long time now.

Look at the Monticello power plant on the west bank, from there on down until whenever it freezes back up is where you want to be. Access the river thru the many parks along the riverbank. I go as far south as Otsego and Elk River some winters.

Some fishing spots are right by the accesses, many others are not. Walk and find. Some spots(very few) get sketchy to walk thru in waders bc of depth, but then those spots are usually pretty good bc of it!

Most islands in the area have a huge amount of beaver telltales, personally I like to stay away from those. The one south of 25 had an actual house on it years ago, haven’t been back to that recently. The one south of power plant bend by powerlines sure was sketchy last time out, felt I was gonna step thru on to their heads and a big bstrd was gonna tooth my femur. Just a heads up. Fckin beavers.

Anybody been up to Monticello lately? Ice fishing is fun and all, but have the itch to cast a bit.

Fish are always around.

I plan on hitting er more then a few times this February.

Glad I made it out there, pretty sure this was my PB smallie, although I never measure anyways. It was a tank.

Next time I’ll make sure to clean the grease out of the one-way bearing for the anti-reverse and use oil…

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Nice smallie, Mike!

Heck yeah. Nice fish.