Zumbro river winter fishing bellow the dam

Hello, I have been a long time viewer of this forum but never made an account. I spent a lot of time in november and the first few days of December fishing in the pool bellow the dam and it was the best fishing I have had all fall. Last time I was out there was around december 5th. Does anyone know if Macs allows people to launch a boat year round? In open water I usually launch my kayak at the public launch and carry my yak over the dam on the portage. Also has anyone attempted to fish this area in the winter before? With the warm spell we are supposed to have later this week I think it would give me a reasonable chance at catching something, preferably a smallie but id take anything. Planning on just drifting a jig and minnow, dragging a tube and hopping a blade bait on the bottom. Any input would be appreciated, thanks.

I’m not certain the campground/bar stays open during the winter. I know how much ice there is on the plunge pool depends on how much water they’re letting thru the dam.

You might find a surprise muskie in that pool if you can cast.

I see on their facebook page they are still having events this winter so hopefully they will let me buy a pass. With the warm weather and the rain im hoping that there is a good amount of open water around the main basin of the pool. All the spots on the zumbro and root I have checked out have been almost completely open still.

I dedicated 3 or 4 trips here this fall to purely muskie fishing, and had multiple follows each outing. Never hooked into any but did get some good mid 30 inch pike on a 9 inch weighted suick. I have personally seen many upper 40 inch fish caught this fall, and a friend of mine witnessed a 53 incher caught on a topwater walking bait late this summer. Im going to spend a lot of time next muskie season targeting them on this river. Thanks for the input.

Double posted

Got my kayak out bellow the dam today and fished for about 4 hours, felt awesome to be in open water in January. Got a nice 17″ smallie right away and then nothing for about 2 hours. Once the sun started to go behind the dam I caught 3 walleye, with one being between 20-21. Also snagged about a 15lbs carp by the tail, fought it for 15 minutes before I could land it. Thought I had a nice musky on but it was still an incredibly fun fight. Whole pool was open and the water visibility was around 2 feet. All the fish I caught were dragging a 1/8th ounce jig and a fathead.

Many, many years ago that pool below the dam held some impressive brown trout along with a good showing of smallies. Every now and again I’d catch one of the trout and they’d all be pigs but we’re talking about 50 years ago. Its a shame that fishery went by the wayside.

I was fishing the zumbro today in Zumbro Falls just downstream of where cold spring brook dumps in and my brother lost a 20+ inch brown right next to shore. One of the biggest trout I’ve seen in my life. I don’t get the impression there are a lot of them in there but I’ve seen some big trout in that system.

Follow the road back along that Cold Brook stream and see if you can get any of the Tiger Trout. Beautiful fish, but small.