ANy one been out? Approaching bass opener!!!!!!!

Curious how everyone has been doing with the trout? Only got out for an hour or so the whole past week, OUCH! Caught some spunky browners in the faster current areas in the SOuth BRanch of the Root River, downstream from the Carimona bridge about a mile! I was throwing a #9 rapala.

NOW, the time I have been waiting for is just about here, wading for smallies!!!!!!!

I guarantee some active posting from this enthusiast once she opens!

ANyone besides me wade for smallies?

Keep the rods bendin’!!!

Jim W

I almost prefer wading for smallies versus fishing from my boat. I can go straight from work and be fishing on the North Branch within 20 minutes. My absolute favorite approach is to grab the canoe, and make a day out of paddling from one hole to the next, stopping at each for a few hundred casts.

Only 3 days until it’s all legal.

Jim, fished Saturday and Sunday this past week. Started Saturday on the Wisconsin River looking for walleyes and finding none. Stopped at a very small trout stream (Little Green in Wisconsin) and caught nothing also although I had a couple little browns swipe at my spinner. The public fishing area resembled a jungle with the stream approximately a rods length wide. I can see why some advise just dropping a jig or lure straight down into the holes in these small of steams. Casting was almost impossible.

On Sunday we had real good luck. After playing with one of those monster rainbows we proceeded into the catch and release section of the stream and caught many browns ranging from those just planted (around 7 or 8 inches) to about 18 inches. My buddy threw a Panther Martin while I threw a Super Bow and Rebel Wee R. He caught more fish but the bigger fish fell to my Super Bow and the Wee R.

One thing I noticed this year is the terribly small size of the stocked trout. I heard that they are a wild strain. Does the Root and other Minnesota streams have an annual stocking program and if so what are the size of the fish they stock? Good luck on the bass opener this weekend, here in Wisconsin we’ve been able to fish them since the first weekend in May.

birdman,

There are quite a few streams in SE MN that get stocked on a annual basis. Generally, stocked trout will be in the 1-2 year old class translating to about 8 inches in length. IF that helps?

Jim W

Was out trout fishing on Mon. and Sun. evenings near the Madison area. I went to Black Earth Creek and fished with jigs. I hadn’t done much fishing with them, but they seem to work very well. I caught 10 rainbows and 4 browns on Sun evening, and 7 rainbows, 2 browns, and a brookie on Mon. evening. Most were caught on little craw jigs, and some on smaller tubes. The fish ranged in size from 9-16″. It was a couple of nice nights of fishing trying something new. I might have to try to get a-hold of some of the super bow spinners to try. It sounds like they work great. Also, good luck on the smallies on the Root River. Caught some really nice bass out of there last fall. Good luck to you.

According to the MN DNR, 90+% of the trout stocked in SE MN are stocked as fingerlings (3 – 4 inches when they are stocked in the fall).

I have been keeping a look out for Smallie and Pike indications while trouten, but I haven’t seen any sign of either.

I wonder if the colder conditions won’t keep things slow at first.

JOHN

2001 MN/DNR Stocking Reports. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/index.html