anyone hitting the mississippi for carp and rough fish already?

[cubicleb]

Have the weekend off and looking to do some shorefishing on the river. Anyone been out yet? Is coon rapids dam open? Any other open spots to catch some rough fish or catfish?

[bobbymalone]

The river looks open from every bridge I have drove over.

High water can make it tough to fish though.

Also, the fishing isn't the hottest until the water warms up a bit.

[itchmesir]

my understanding the sippi is gonna crest pretty high from what it sounds like..

where is all this water coming from???

[CarpKing921]

Its really no differeant from other years. It comes from all over the state all melt to the streams to the rivers to the Sippi. Then we all panic like it was unheard of.

[Eazyk9]

So would you recommend trying to hit the Mis this early for carp or would you wait a little bit?

[Adam Wolf]

For now hit inlets where warmer water is entering the river, if fish can get out of the current a bit even better. I've seen a few and have caught a few scales in a spot I fish, but with the cold temps they are still real slow to bite. In a week or two when water temps get above 40 fish the same areas, you will catch them, on anything from live bait to small twister tails. Once the temps get above 60 they will move up real shallow in backwaters and flats, you should be able to sight fish them at this time and it becomes some of the most fun fishing of the year, especially on a fly rod. I've only been fishing the river for about 2 years now, so I'm no expert, but for someone restricted to the shore it offers a great challenge all summer when many other fish are moving deeper.

[eckum54]

I wwent up to mill ruins park today and the bite was slow...one carp and the guys next to me pulled in three cats on cut bait.

[fishinbros]

Would you think the water temps would reach forty by this weekend? I have been catching a few kitties out of a nearby lake but I wanted to hit the dams on the river for them but i diont know if it would be worth it this early?

[popriveter]

Water temp is up to 42 in St Paul according to the US Army Corps Engineers. Should start getting fun this week.

[half-dutch]

It was fun last week.

Carp, sheephead, cats, crappies, also seeing some pre-season bonus walleyes and smallmouths. The cats are already hitting smash mouth with a lot of runs on the clickers and bait runner reels, which is early, but seem to be more interested in cut baits (especially shad or sucker). Our carp and sheephead have been coming on tiny crappie jigs tipped with plastic tubes. Insect hatches are already starting to come off, too.

No question "its goin' on" already.

[JimBuck]

half-dutch, have you been fishing the pool 2 stretch?I wanna get down there this week to try my hand at soaking some bait from shore since the Mn is far from fishable. Thanks for the reports! Let the open water season begin!

[blakeb]

I went out on sunday afternoon from shore near Grey Cloud Island, i was targeting channel cats and the sheepshead were hitting good, cutbait fished on the bottom.