Upper Mississippi Madness – Fall Smallmouth

By Joe Scegura 0

Fall is in the air and the fish are starting their annual Fall feeding frenzy! The smallmouth are schooling up in their usual rocky current seam haunts with one thing on their mind… FOOD and lots of it. I look for these areas to just get more concentrated with fish over the next

couple weeks.

Everyday I fish the river I notice more and more active fish. I’ve also noticed the physical effects these feeding binges are having on the fish. An increasing number of fish are showing serious signs of a true “pot belly”. Over the past two weeks I’ve seen fish go from normal healthy bass to absolute slobs!

The water clarity in the river is higher than normal this year, so I’ve noticed the fish have been more light sensitive. On the brighter days the fish are holding on the deep side of the seams or even move to a deeper 7-8 foot pool all together. In these areas working a crank bait or jigging a large minnow bait has been best. On the overcast days the fish have been quite a bit shallower and can be found on the inside current seam areas in 2-5 fow. In these skinny water areas a top water or large subsurface minnow bait can be deadly.

Being the fish are more light sensitive they have been relocating from day to day, so this year staying on the move has been essential. Once you develop a pattern for the day, you can work that pattern all the way up the river with great success. Now is one of the best times to fish the river, so if landing a trophy class smallmouth is on your bucket list, there’s never been a better time to hit the might Mississippi!

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Joe Scegura

I bought my first boat when I was 13 and I've spent about every day since on the water or ice. I do most of my guiding on MilleLacs and in the Alexandria Lakes area.

0 Comments

  11. Joe,
    Those are some huge Smallies and nice walleye. Cannot wait for our trip during the full moon phase on October 8th See you soon!

  13. Nice fish Joe, those are some dandy smallies!!!

    What part of the Upper Miss are you usually targeting? North of St. Cloud? There’s definately no shortage of smallies up in this area, but to put fish of that caliber in the boat consistently is impressive. We typically see fish in the 16″ range but very rarely get one to push the 19″ mark.

  15. Quote:

    Nice fish Joe, those are some dandy smallies!!!

    What part of the Upper Miss are you usually targeting? North of St. Cloud? There’s definately no shortage of smallies up in this area, but to put fish of that caliber in the boat consistently is impressive. We typically see fish in the 16″ range but very rarely get one to push the 19″ mark.

    I’ve fished from Monticello to north of Little Falls. That whole stretch of river seems to be great fishing. Like you said it is defiantly more difficult to get the big girls in the boat. 16″-17″+ fish are average for the river, but every trip we catch some hogs in the 18″-20″ range. And when the stars align 20″-22″ fish are very possible.

  16. Thanks Everyone! The Fall fishing has really started to heat up the past week. I look for this Fall to be one of the best I’ve had for big fish.

    Hey Ben, it’ll be October full moon before we know it. See you and your crew in a few weeks!

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