New relo - bought a place on the river in Ramsey, MN

[ekim22]

Technically Elk River but right on the border of Ramsey. A dream has come true and barring any setbacks or dealbreakers in the inspection tomorrow, we're set to close on the property Sept 14th.

We will be relocating from Georgia. I am used to fishing the cypress swamps of the south....not waters with walleye, muskie, and heck even smallmouth are nonexistant in a lot of our waters down there.

So with that said, it looks like the river water moves along at a hasty speed.....where can I read about some fishing techniques this far up river? Most of the stuff I've found on google has been about fishing from St. Paul & south. I'm not necessarily looking for crappie techniques (although nice), I'm looking for general fishing techniques.....

If I tossed out a general bottom rig with a night crawler on it what would I catch? Down south you'd only catch blue catfish. I'm comfortable with the bass fishing because we did have similar waters in the south and I've done some smallmouth fishing in my time too. But we're talking new species for me up there...walleye, muskie, northern pike, sauger, etc.

Anyways, what's the best resource for learning about fishing up here? And the property I am hoping to close on has a floating dock so I'm curious about the nightcrawler question. I have a kayak and jonboat but will probably stick to fishing off the dock for a while to start.

[RealDeal]

Welcome to MN. I am a short distance from you, and am familiar with the river. You will be on one of the best smallmouth bass sections of the river, in the entire state. There are special regs. for the bass in your locale, so read up before you start fishing. The river has sm. bass, walleye, channel catfish, northern pike, sucker, sheepshead (drum), rockbass, bullheads, chubs, common carp, and even a few sunfish/bluegill, in some streches. Crappies are in there, but you are looking for specific spots/holes for them. Crappies are not real widespread in your part of the river. Throwing a nightcrawler, or worms, on bottom rigs is a great way to fish the river for just about everything. Muskies are more prevalent further upstream, in the St. Cloud to the Brainerd stretch. A few have been taken upstream from Monticello in the past, but they are few and far between. Besides using live bait on a river rig, you can't go wrong with topwater buzzers, in line spinners, shallow crankbaits, and jigs as far as lures go for any of the fish on the list. A jonboat, and kayak will serve you well there. That stretch is shallow, fast water, rocky with gravel beds, and intermittent holes, with the typical hole-riffle-run set up. In Fisherman has books,and dvd's to give you some information on the basics on how to fish the river. Getting out there, and fishing, will teach you plenty as you learn your river section. Good luck.

[ekim22]

Awesome feedback, thanks!

I had anticipated using buzzbaits, inline spinners, and cranks. I'm excited to do some lazy man's fishing though - I own a pond in Georgia and could not catch ANYTHING on bottom or bobber fishing there but have good luck with wacky rigged worms, flukes, spinners, etc.....I'm excited to try some bottom fishing.

I too noticed the depth of the water and especially the speed of the current. I went back today for the home inspection (which went great) and took a little longer to look around the dock. Nice water clarity - not too clear but not stained, and rocky/sandy bottom. Just upstream from River Rd (County 42).

[RealDeal]

sent you a pm

[IMFSHN]

For a second I thought there was going to be an invite to come over for a house/river warming of fishing, Cajun BBQ, and sharing stories.

Congratulations! - I hope you and yours love your home and the state (the river goes without saying).

Getting out there, and fishing, will teach you plenty as you learn your river section. Good luck.

Real Deal is right on.

I grew up fishing rivers of one sort or another, with canoes, belly boats, waders, or what I was wearing . Give yourself some time with the river and look at what's happening up here in the classic spots you'd normally fish in rivers down south. Take a look at the In-Fisherman DVDs, and you'll start piecing it together. There are lots of hidden gems for those who take the time to play and notice.

You'll want to become familiar with the MN regulations regarding number of rods/line per person, creating your own fish attractors/structure, etc.

River fishing here in the Midwest is a lot of fun and can be quite addictive...my youngest brother wasn't into fishing (Around town he was know as the brother that didn't fish - not kidding), until I took him out wading waist-deep into a section of a river casting spinner baits under overhanging trees/shrubs. After the third northern exploded out of the water to annihilate his bait, he turned to me and said "This is the ____!," and the next day promptly went out and bough himself waders, a rod, and reel.

Best.

[RealDeal]

I used to wade and fish that section of the river where ekim has the new place, and the northerns were regularly hammering my shallow cranks while casting for bass. Nice sized pike, too. That part of the river is such a cool place to fish. I fish further upstream these days, and it's still as fun as it ever was.

[IMFSHN]

W e l c o m e T o W a l l e y e C o u n t r y E k i m 2 2

[no1son]

Rum or Mississippi? Maybe the Crow Wing? Last I heard they are running a bit higher than normal for this time of the year. That current will vary a lot depending on time of the year. I hope you checked for high water marks that may endanger your property depending on spring snow melt and/or heavy rains up stream. Some places flood every few years; so make sure not to scrimp on your flood insurance. Flood plain residences have been at special risk all throughout this area in the past few years despite general drought.

Nightcrawlers will be new to you if you have not fished north before. Southern worms of any kind do not compare. Everything will eat them from time to time, but mostly you can count on channel cats and carp and walleyes, but also they will take sunnies and crappies, pike, smallmouths, and sheephead. You are a bit far north for flatheads although they take an occasional one to 50 pounds up into the Twin Cities. The Minnesota has a far better rep for flatheads south and west of Minneapolis. No blues this far north either, but lots of channel catfish and lots of smallmouth and walleyes and some impressive pike. Muskies are there too, but you will probably not take one except by total accident. You may also run into a pile of black bullheads... For those who work the river there are some very impressive crappies taken but the locations are normally kept close to the shoulder by those who do. Same for bluegills. We do not have shellcrackers this far north either.

The Rum has a reputation for smallmouths, but they are also common in the Mississippi and the Crow Wing which joins the Mississippi not all that far from you.

One thing to remember about fishing in Minnesota. You are allowed only one line with one hook or lure on it. You can have a second one only on the ice in winter, but that is all. You may carry as many poles as you want but can only fish one at a time. Jugs and trotlines are also illegal as is noodling. Also there are some important restrictions on what kind of net you can use to catch bait and where you can transport what you catch. There are also some pretty restrictive regs on what sort of baitfish you can use. We also have restrictive seasons on important game fish, with the special feature of a catch and release only portion of the season on smallmouth bass. The various seasons open for different species at different times.

Be sure to read the reg book, which you can get online from the Minnesota DNR's website. The whole thing sounds more complicated than it really is.

One additional caution: be extremely careful about going on the ice over any moving stream in the winter. It will not be uniform especially over current, and fatal mistakes can be made very easily when fishing on river ice. That is true for all ice fishing but especially true on our northern rivers; conditions can change not just from day to day but in some situations from hour to hour. Always dress properly, too. Nothing gets one more miserable than getting truly cold which is very easy when standing directly on the ice.

All in all,in this country, a place on the river that is affordable is a rare gem. Here's wishing you and yours really enjoy the place.

[ekim22]

Thanks so much guys for the warm welcome. We are so excited to get up there. Sept 14th is our closing date and we should move sometime that week or after assuming all goes well with the closing of our house down here in Ga.

You are allowed only one line with one hook or lure on it.

That was pretty surprising to me. I understand about the no-jugging rule - I grew up in Virginia and you couldn't do that there but here in the deep south these Georgia boys will line an entire cove with floating bottles or lines tied to branches. The one-rod rule seems pretty silly to me but whatever. Honestly I will probably just fish from my dock with a bottom rig or throw artificials from my kayak. I have a 12' jon boat too that I may get in on the mix eventually.


No1Son, I definitely hear you on the flood insurance. We're not going to scrimp on that. The house sits on a bluff about 50 feet above the shoreline so I think we should be okay - the home was built in the early 90's and has not had any flooding but that doesn't mean it won't happen. Man that would suck.

And about ice fishing, you don't have to worry about that for me. Remember I'm born and raised in the south....we don't walk out on ice LOL

[RealDeal]

The regulation pertaining to how many hooks on a line from pg. 9 of the book is: you can use up to three single, or treble hooks in a single tackle configuration- example would be a crawler harness, or a quick strike rig. You cannot use this on a designated trout lake or stream. An artificial lure can have multiple hooks. Up to three artificial flies can be used to angle for trout,crappies, sunfish, and rock bass. One line only in MN right now. That may change in the future depending on what the legislature comes up with. Read the regulations book before you go fishing. Did I mention read the regs. book?
Aw c'mon man, ice fishing is the bomb! I can't wait til ice season gets here. You gotta try it at least once. Way too much fun.