Fishing the Upper Mississippi River

[B Jensen]

Just returned from a trip the Upper Mississippi River. The stretch from Brainerd to the Twin Cities can be very good. It certainly was on this trip.

Fished with John Castillo from Cabela's and Jon Navratil, a top-notch guide from central MN.

We anticipated catching lots of walleyes, and could have if the smallmouth bass hadn't been so cooperative. We located good numbers of walleyes in the deeper water and lots of smallmouth in the shallower stuff. We decided to chase the smallmouth.

Walleyes were agressive on Fire-Ball jigs and minnows as well as Mimic Minnow jigheads with 3" Gulp! Minnow Grubs. White was best.

Smallmouth were eating the jig/minnow combo as well as jigs/Gulp! and jig/tubes.

Biggest walleye was about 15 inches, biggest smallmouth was about 18 inches.

Probably caught 50 fish in 3 hours. Great weather, great bite, great fishing trip.

The bigger walleyes will move in with some colder weather, if you would like to contact Jon about a guided trip, contact him at naviguides.com

Best Fishes,

Bob Jensen

[JonN]

Man! I can't say enough good things about fishing with a true gentlemen like Mr. Jensen. And Bob is right, the fishing was great! I think it helps having two great sticks in the boat like John and Bob to keep the action going. We were constantly playing with different presentations through the day. :-)

If catching lot's and lot's of river smallies is your thing then get out there now. My past two trips on two separate sections of the Mississippi river have shown that the bass bite is on! We have been in a holding pattern for the past few weeks with this warm weather and the smallies have responded by staying active through out the day.

If a trip like this interests you then contact me through my website at: www.naviguides.com

My season starts in early April when I chase slab crappies and other panfish just after ice out and continues through spring, summer and fall or until ice up on the river.