Best Smallmouth lakes in MN

[Juan Grande]

gunning,

Mille Lacs is phenomenal for smallies. The tricky thing about fishing Mille Lacs is hitting it on a day when it's not too windy. Kind of sucks when it seems like there's only a slight breeze down in the cities and you get up to the lake and there's white caps. Can make boat control tough close to the rocks.

[fishuhalik]

small lake by marcel (tonkabass might remember the name, if he spills it he won't see tomorrow!)

sledneck's home lake

little trout (bwca)

big trout (bwca)

sippi from elk river to the c.r. dam

st. croix

[Cecil]

Plenty of good lakes by Marcell!

[TonkaBass]

I dont remember the lake fishuhalik, hard to remember a place i've never been too...

[Cecil]

I might know what lake you are talking about...maybe

[muskie-mike]

I have a cabin on Vermilion and have caught many smb over 4# but my largest 5 1/2# came from the Mississippi near Elk River.Also good fishing on the Miss. downtown Mpls. My favorite is fishing on Vermilion with wacky worms,thanks Sled........

[fishuhalik]

well maybe we'll just have to fix that this spring tonka! look me up if you're interested, charlie's got my # if you don't have it. BTW, did ya get my email about fishing this weekend?

cecil, I doubt it. The lake might see 5 people every year. no access and it's a pretty good portage into the lake. All I'll say is it's within 30 miles of marcel. That should narrow it down for ya....

[Cecil]

Hmm, the one I was thinking of, you have to (or had to) go through a resort to get onto it. It was pretty untouched and had a bunch of nice fish. That was quite awhile ago. We use to fish Deer on bass opener every year because you could see the beds in like 15'.

[Musky hunter 82]

If your going to the Grand Rapids area, you can't beat Deer lake or Pokegama. some really big pigs in both and you can get Large mouths out of each as well. Deer lake also has muskies in it. If you want places to go i'd be more then happy to point you in a direction. I grew up fishing all of the lakes in that area.

Good luck fishing

[fishuhalik]

Same here muskyhunter. I'm not a big fan of deer just because the water's so darn clear, they can be REAL spooky. I haven't fished pokey for smallies, I just know they're few and far between, but you're right, there are some hogs out there.

[shiltsy]

I keep telling myself that I need to get off the lakes and start exploring the St. Croix and Mississippi. I'm a little nervous about general navigation in the rivers and besides that just not sure where to start.

Any good references out there that I can read up on? I'll probably look at the Mississippi south of St. Paul to get started...

[fishuhalik]

If you're nervous about hazards, the St. Croix is no different than a lake. The area above the access in Stillwater can be pretty hazardous, but nothing a small boat can't handle during normal conditions.

As far as the 'sippi, it's pretty clear in that area, but I like the stretch from Anoka down to the Coon Rapids dam. Again, it's basically a lake, no rocks to worry about, and the fishing is perty dern good. Alot of different lures work, as long as they're a jig n' pig.

Still use a little caution though, since they are rivers every once in a while you'll see a log or branch floating around, but nothing too bad, unless it's spring.

[Deitz Dittrich]

As others have said.. I fish the croix plenty. You can go as far north on the croix with a bass boat as about 4 miles above the dam in Taylors falls.. Below the dam there are some sketchy spots.. but really if you idol and not go crazy you are fine...

[NBR]

Many but my choice would be Rainy!