Just wondering if anyone has any experience fishing the Sippy from Elk River north? All my fishing on Mississippi has been on pool 4. I have the hot spots map.Just not sure about navagating in lower water depth. Am fishing out of a 14′ lund with 25hp. Any info would be much appreciated. Thanks Scott!!
I have fished this area… particularly around Monticello… there are eyes to be had… but lots of rock to hit as well… many guys use tunnel boats, or weld pitch forks onto the skegs, or have two motors…. I just tried to be careful… your still going to hit some rock….. just about anything works for eyes up there…… I would try jigs/twisters ringworms and cranks…. find the holes and work them… start on the upper part, then hit the lower.. then work the sides if you like… thats usually the most common places for fish to sit…. they used to be some really NICE eyes up there…. plus LOTS of SMB some VERY nice…. and plenty of channels….. some northern and the occasional musky…….. very FEW boats……
I grew up on the Mississippi up in Sartell. A town just north of St.Cloud. We have spent alot of time in this section but also the annandale area. There is a access just below the bridge on the hwy24 going from Annandale to Clearwater off of 94. This section has some very nice smallies. I use to often see Dave Genz and Dan Gapen down here as well. This area has some ideal smallie pockets, pools, flats, eddies and shoreline cover. Careful right now the water is a bit low right now up there and navigation can be dangerous at times. Very similair to Monticello as Rivereyes has descibed. Sorry, I can not comment alot on the walleyes here. We fished mainly smallies when we fished this section.
P.S. Keep your eye out for some shiny aluminum on some rocks just up from this access. This is compliments of DeeZee.
Good Luck
DeeZee-What size boat is appropriate at that Clearwater landing? Halvy
DeeZee, are rocks the main source of hazard / damage in this area?
I have looked for some information and insight on this area before and your right, it doesnt get fished much and really havent come across anybody with good knowledge of the sippi at the Clearwater landing area. Being from Sartell did you ever fish up towards the Pirates Cove area, or upstream from the lock in Sartell? and if so how was that to fish?
well I know your addressing DeeZee.. but Ive put in at Clearwater too….. I never went upstream…. but pretty much the river is the same throughout that area…. there are LOTS of rock…. from BOULDERS on down… there is sand to be had too… but mostly you have at least gravel…. the current can be quite swift in areas….. and it can be shallow…. there are times when you might need to wade and pull your boat if your going up river…. down river you can USUALLY get by….. its a great riffle pool habitat…. its an AWESOME smallmouth fishery which has been greatly enhanced by the slot limits…. and there ARE other species present including walleye….. Im sure few people would tell you to go there JUST for the walleye… but I can tell you Ive had great success in some of the holes there…. for me the best was June and September…. July and august were usually tougher for eyes (they probably were more active at low light then, but the channel was so treacherous I did not navigate it then)… though the bass and cats were going strong…..
I fish the upper Mississippi a lot. Mainly from Clearwater to Monticello. I would definitely keep your boat size in the 12-14′ jon boat range. Dan Gapen uses 14′ jons with 6 or 8 hp motors. I’ve floated it with my 12′ v-hull duck boat plenty and that works OK too. The water is pretty low right now so don’t stand up in the boat. When you hit a rock(and you will) everyone standing goes over the side!!
The fishing can be good to great on Walleyes and smallies. Walleyes will tend to run smallish. The smallies can be very large especially in the fall. The summer doldrums is the best time to go. Put in at Clearwater and float to Monticello. There is a great little park in Monticello where you can stop and have a cool one in the shade…This float is a wonderful experience everyone should try once , it’s very rural with the occasional cabin or home along the way. It’s what real river fishing is all about.
Randy and TheDman,
We used alot of different sizes of boats up there by Clearwater,
but the best I would say would be a jon boat with 15-25hp. This seems to get you up some skittish waters. Like I said before the smallie action is very good and wait until August and September.
Dman, My folks house is just up around the bend on the stearns co. side from Pirates Cove. This is my home water. The fishing here is pretty good as well. The only drawback is the amount of pleasure cruising in midsummer. It gets alot of pressure that way. We fish the Lion Club smallie tourney every year up there, which is alot of fun. Alot of water here to fish as well.
Hope this helps
Thanks for the info. I think I will try and get out Fri. Will take a small section at a time. Went and looked at the accesses tonight. The access in Dayton is in rough shape after the high water lots of sand 1-2′ of sand at the end of pilings. No new tracks there either the one at Elk River park is in good shape. There were 3 trailers there tonight! Will post my results when I get done. Thanks again, can always count on good info from people on this site!!! Scott
Leadhead-How long of a float (canoe) is it from Clearwater to Monticello, say the landing just below the power plant? Thanks. Randy
ok, ok… Im NOT LeadHead… but I live in Osceola too, and I have fished this stretch numerous times also……
from Clearwater to the Monticello landing is an all day trip by Canoe (if your fishing, a LONG day)… your probably talking 12-15 miles (just guessing, all I know is it always takes me a full day, if I dont have a full day I launch at Monticello or clearwater and return to the place I launched….. there are some holes your going to want to stop and fish for a while… your better of if you have some power to more quickly move you through the “dead” areas……
Ive also fished in the Elk River area, but I prefer Monticello and up…… Ive fished the river from Clearwater all the way through to Iowa and I have not missed many pools….. it was something I set out to do a long while ago and its been a worthwhile pursuit…..I would like to try up to St Cloud and maybe farther, just have not made it yet…
The Clearwater to Monty run is 4 to 6 hours if you stop here and there to fish. A person could do it quicker if in a hurry…don’t forget to bring a healthy supply of Beetle Spins!
man… I guess I spent more time working the holes or something…. it always takes me all day….. and then I usually have to “hurry” the last bit……
but then I WAS running it in a 14′ fiberglass boat… and its still intact today… so you can bet I was real careful…..
Most guys run it in Jon boats…. Dave Gentz in fact intentionally tbones big rocks from a down river approach, uses his motor to hold the boat there then drops in a big minnow… (think he uses chubs?)….. guess it works great for big smallies (at least this is what he told me once, when I was chatting to him about fishing up there)….. Ive not seen him out there (and I have never tried that, tboning a rock with MY boat would see me swiming back to the landing!)
but I know that him and gappen fish that area…. just like one of the previous posts said…. they both live in the area….. and I used to too….. I just know its a blast to fish….. one of my fishing buddies had a jon with a “jet” drive…. now that was the ticket…
I am going to get out of Clearwater landing Sunday morning, well be back on after i complete the run to give you a report on the fishing and possibly to find a good lower end unit mechanic from you guys. God i hope not anyway, but i do have pretty horseshit luck when it comes to adventures like this.
My report is no report, I have a 1790 boat with a 115 motor and wasnt about to bounce of the bottom of the river with it. The water was moving pretty swift thru there as well, surprised me as the level looked pretty low. Fished the Horseshoe chain instead, nothing much going there, couple small cats and a few small pike. I really want to get out and try that stretch but need to find a smaller rig, I have a brother in law with a small rig, and he even lives in Monticello so his phone will be ringing this week.
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