Metro LETS - Mississippi River (Anoka)

[Dan Wood]

The only area off-limits for this event is the Mississippi River upstream from the confluence of the Crow River. This is subject to C&R only for bass and will thus be off-limits. The crow river and everything else you can get to without getting out of the boat is in bounds.

[Dan Wood]

The next event is coming up quick! Here is some general info. feel free to email me with questions...

Tournament headquarters will be at Peninsula Point Park. There seems to be plenty of shore/dock space to park.

The Mississippi Point Park access on the Champlin side is a good place to launch (free ramp with 20+ parking spots). There also is a launch on the East side of the Rum river (across from tourney headquarters) that looks nice and is also free. I don't know about launching at Peninsula Point, there is limited launching from what I understand. My recommendation would be to launch at one of the 2 other launches.

Chris and a number of others have informed me that north of the 169 bridge boat travel will require caution. There are a number of rocks and shallow water as you get above the bridge. South of the 169 bridge, you are fine all the way down to the CR dam.

There are special regulations above the Crow River (near Dayton). For this reason, this water will be OFF LIMITS for the tournament. This shouldn't come into play as the water gets pretty skinny long before this.

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T.J.'s Tackle
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Otter Outdoors
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[This message has been edited by Dan Wood (edited 08-17-2004).]

[sami0115]

where is the lower boundary of where we can fish. are there maps avialable of the river(i know they won't have depths, but something that tells where to and not to go).

andy

[Dan Wood]

Andy,
The lower boundary is the Coon Rapids dam. It is easy navigation from the 169 bridge down to the CR dam (maybe 5 miles???).

[Matt Johnson]

I was out there on Sunday and the water is a little low, but there is still quite a bit of area that we can cover without having to worry about shallow water. Like Dan said, as you head towards Dayton you will hit a lot of shallow water and rocks/boulders. The smallies are biting pretty good, the cats are around as well. The Mississippi Point launch is in very good condition.

Dan, are you saying that the Crow is off limits, or the Mississippi past the Crow is off limits?

Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson

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Matt Johnson Outdoors
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Metro Area Ice Fishing and more...

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[Chris-Neises]

Dan is correct about going above the 169 bridge. I have gone about a 1/2 mile or so above it but only at idle speed. Too many boulders. Lower units are expensive and that area can just be dangerous.

[duckbill]

I would just like say if you don't know this stretch of river and you have an aluminum prop you had better put it on. We did some pretty good damage Sunday to the prop and the bottom of the boat and we never went faster than than idle speed. The river is low so be careful out there.

[Dan Wood]

There has been a lot of concern with low water conditions and boat damage for this next event.

If you go above the bridge, you WILL bump your prop and/or bounce the bottom of your boat. Unless you really know the river well and/or have a river boat. Since nobody that I know of has a rig designed for these conditions, this event has me concerned a bit too.

I am open to suggestions, I don't want to see anyone damage their boat for an event. First and foremost, this is for fun. If it means changing the boundaries or changing the event location, I am open to suggestions.

[Chris-Neises]

Dan, How did you do yesterday? I went south to the Coon Rapids Dam park area. I haven't fished down there much, so I thought I'd look around. It might be best to make the 169 bridge the northern boundary. I saw boats cuising above the bridge, but I'm apparently not as lucky as they are. There is still miles of water to fish plus the rum river below Anoka.

[Dan Wood]

Hey Chris,
we did okay, lots of short fish though... How did you do?

[Matt Johnson]

Lets not change the boundaries, I think they are ok where they are now, just let everyone know that the water is low and we all need to proceed with caution. There is always risk when fishing the river, even in normal water conditions...

Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson

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Matt Johnson Outdoors
[email protected]
Metro Area Ice Fishing and more...

Iceleaders
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[taxmancommeth]

I say we change because Matt has his honey holes already!!!

We are going to get out after work tomorrow for a little bit and see how many rocks we can hit, oh I mean see what we can catch!!!

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GET-ER-DONE

[BDR]

Kind of late to start changing boundries. I just installed the livewell on my 2 seat jet ski.

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Brian Rogers

JR's Tackle
Catch-N Tackle and Bio-Bait

[This message has been edited by BDR (edited 08-23-2004).]

[Dennis Steele]

Glad I am not fishing this event!Talking about changing the boundries would have given me a heart attack!!!

[Chris-Neises]

Dennis why don't you join us. I'd like to go into some of those areas only accessible in your jet boat.

[Chris-Neises]

Dan,
I went south of the bridge yesterday and tries some different areas I had not been before. Couple of northerns/1 16" smallie.

[duckbill]

I was just trying to make sure that people were aware and didn't do damage like we did last weekend. I will post some pictures today if I have sometime.
Matt,
Yes I agree that if you have spent time prefishing and getting to now this river than you should be able fish what was originally planned. But I know that there are alot of deep running boats and I didn't want people to do some major damage for chance at winning $200.
The jetski idea is not bad. I could pull a tube with a cooler on it for my livewell.

Mike

[wastewaterguru]

I think that just making people aware of the dangers above the bridge is enough. Changing boundaries after people have prefished would be a bit annoying.

[Dan Wood]

Scott,
That is a possiblility. That thought has crossed my mind - having people only making the trip twice vs. 4 times, for those going up river, would help eliminate some of the risk. That is assuming guys aren't running up and down all day anyway! Which in a tournament, may not be a good assumption...

Chris, you got to the Dayton area with your boat? That get's super rocky, shallow, and fast long before that!

[taxmancommeth]

I will shoot out a message tomorrow on how the levels are today as we are heading out tonight. We plan on taking a look at north of 169 but not taking any major risks on loosing a lower unit or damaging the prop in any way!

[Chris-Neises]

No, but Andy and I went just past kings island the other day and it doesn't take that long. I used my trolling motor mostly. I doubt we would even go that far on sunday. We shouldn't forget there is miles of river below the 169 bridge and the Rum river. I would hate so see someone damage their equipment or worse. If someone is worried about rocks and travel time (as I am), go south.

[This message has been edited by Chris-Neises (edited 08-24-2004).]

[This message has been edited by Chris-Neises (edited 08-24-2004).]

[Dennis Steele]

I wish I could join you guys on this one but I am fishing Statewide this weekend.I think you guys are going to have a great time.That stretch is a blast to fish.Its the only good smallie water you guys will fish this year.One of my very favorite fish!

[taxmancommeth]

How about we vote on getting rid of the mid day weigh in? That way if someone wanted to go North of Anoka (we plan on to) they will have more time to do that.

[Chris-Neises]

We tried that last year on Big Marine and I thought it was a bad idea. Water temp is around 70 degrees. Even at idle it doesn't take that long to go to the Dayton area.

[taxmancommeth]

Well we were out last night. I expected worse from what I was reading. I thought that right when you get past the 169 bridge you were going to get rocks. Don't get me wrong it was shallow (3 feet - 8 feet), but we went all the way to the first island on the right side. We estimated about 2 miles.
How much further is it north of that when it gets really rocky and really rough to get through?
The weather was getting bad so we decided to not go further and to fish a little.
We ended up with a Triple Play bonus (if they were all legal). We had one legal Walleye, and one very small pike and SM bass. The bass hit like a ton of bricks and I about lost the pole in the water. [PoorWordUsage]ed that when it gave its aerial tricks it ended up only being about 8".
Had something hit a spinner bait three times on one cast, on the third time it found the hook and line and snapped my 12 lb right off... Might have to bite the bullet and start using that leader.

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GET-ER-DONE

[This message has been edited by taxmancommeth (edited 08-25-2004).]