Live in the snow belt and love to fish -- but don't enjoying ice fishing?
Don't fret, you don't have to ice fish or wait 6 months until ice-out to get your fishing fix. Power-plant lakes and rivers offer open-water angling year-round. Hot-water discharge from the facilities prevent nearby river sections from freezing.
Although I've lived in Minnesota for 13 years, I wasn't born here, so I do not have the ice-fishing gene as do many of my peers. I like ice fishing, but I love open-water fishing -- especially open-water bass fishing. So when most of my fishing buddies head to the ice house this winter, I'll be heading for the bank of the nearest power-plant river.
Twin Cities-area tournament anglers Rich Lindgren and Josh Douglas hooked me on this style of winter, snow-belt bass fishing last December on a stretch of the Mississippi River about an hour upstream of Minneapolis. Here's how our day went:
The air temperature is 16 degrees at about 9 a.m. The water temperature -- thanks to an upriver nuclear power plant's hot-water discharge -- is warmer than the air, slightly above freezing.
"While everybody else is probably even done hunting by now, we're still out trying to chase a few fish," says Rich Lindgren, a Lakeville, MN-based bass tournament angler and prolific blogger (
Rich's Bassin' Blog).
 |
| "I'm generally trying to make casts fairly long to get out towards that first little dropoff," says Rich Lindgren, a Lakeville, MN-based bass tournament angler and prolific blogger (Rich's Bassin' Blog). "Most of the fish are either sitting on that drop or up on the ledge. A lot of the times when they get active, that's where they stage." |
Rich is not among those ice-belt anglers who will spend the winter in a fish house. You'll find him fishing open water all winter, he says, not through a hole.
That's why Rich is bundled head to toe, standing on a riverbank, not enjoying the friendlier climes of an ice house. He's not a fan of short rods, tiny reels and the panfish many ice anglers target.
"This is a lot more fun than catching a three-inch sunfish through six feet of ice," he says.
Air temps have fallen about 10-12 degrees since reports came in a few days ago via the local fishing grapevine that the river-smallmouth bite is on.
"I expect we'll catch 'em, but I'm guessing we'll have to work for our bites today," Rich forecasts.
His fishing buddy today, fishing guide and bass-tournament angler
Josh Douglas, agrees.
 |
| "These smallmouths, this time of year ... they like to really gang up in some pretty large schools," explains fishing guide and bass-tournament angler Josh Douglas, Catching one fish can "turn on" a school. |
"It's one of the first really cold days of the winter. ... I don't know exactly how good it will be," Josh says. "It might be a little bit tough. We might really have to finesse them to get bit today."
On the other hand, it could be crazy good. Previous cold-weather excursions to this spot have yielded double-digit hook-ups of three- to four-pound smallmouth.
"These smallmouths, this time of year ... they like to really gang up in some pretty large schools," Josh explains. Catching one fish can "turn on" a school.
"Once that school gets activated, then it can be gangbusters -- just one after another," he says.
You can watch a video of our day on the water in the video player below. Note: The blog continues below video player.
Dress for success
Rich is wearing rubber wading boots, standing in the water. Although it's only slightly above freezing, the water is warmer than the air, he explains, and helps insulate his feet.
Wearing insulated, leather work boots, Josh stays on dry land, treading carefully onto small rocky points that allow him to cast further into the current.
"I'm generally trying to make casts fairly long to get out towards that first little dropoff," he explains. "Most of the fish are either sitting on that drop or up on the ledge. A lot of the times when they get active, that's where they stage."
Both anglers are dressed in layers and wear gloves. It takes some time getting used to operating a rod and reel in gloves, but it pays off when you reach into near-freezing water to land a thrashing bronzeback.
"When you're fishing this late in the year and in the winter, it's really important to dress properly," Rich cautions.
Along with a water-repellant out-layer, you'll need a moisture-wicking under-layer. Cotton underclothing is no good in cold weather -- when you sweat, cotton traps moisture, which can get very cold if the air temperature drops.
"You want to be able to stay comfortable and stay warm so you can stay out and catch as many fish as you can," Rich says.
Totally tubular
The game plan on this day is fairly straightforward -- cast upriver, let the current move your bait downstream, pushing and bumping it over rocks on the river bottom, imitating a crayfish, a favorite smallmouth meal.
This time of year in open water with current, anglers need only one bait, Rich says -- a tube rigged on a hook-exposed tube jig. Rich and Josh are both fishing tubes on light line (8- to 10-pound test) on spinning gear.
"What we're doing is we're looking for little shelves off the river where we've got deep water and current, where the fish can get up on the shelf and feed," Rich says. "Josh is illustrating how to catch another smallie right now."
 |
|
"Try not to move the bait too much," Josh says. "Let the current kind of lift it along."
He lifts his rod tip every 30 seconds or so to make sure he's not hung on a rock. With exposed hooks, hang-ups are common. When he lifts his rod tip, he says, he's "just kind of popping it free." |
Indeed, Josh is reeling in his third smallie since making his first cast about 30 minutes earlier. At this point, he's up on Rich 3-0, prompting Rich to switch baits.
"Josh has caught three on a green-pumpkin tube," he says. "I started with a small shad tube. I have now called an audible and I'm throwing a green tube."
"Good audible," Josh says, laughing. "You must've called an audible on taking my fishing spot too!" he says, noting that Rich has migrated from where he began casting to about three feet away from where Josh is casting.
A moment later, Josh sets the hook with authority, but breaks his line.
"Have I ever told you what a stud you are when it comes to smallie fishing, Josh?" Rich jokes.
"When it comes to every kind of fishing, Rich!" Josh shoots back.
Minutes later, Rich sets the hook and hauls in his first smallie of the day, a dark 18- to 19-incher. As he lifts it from the water, the fish curls up in the cold air.
"I was just bumping my tube along the bottom," he explains. "One picked up and slammed it pretty good."
Changing baits was a good call.
"Switched over to the green tube and got one right away. ..." he says. "That one is probably one of the most aggressive hits I ever had."
Committed catch-and-release anglers, both Rich and Josh return to the water immediately every fish they land. This particular smallie, upon release, exacts a small measure of revenge on Rich.
"That thing attacked me! He rammed my foot!" he exclaims.
Soon, Josh lands another 18-incher.
"They get a little bigger; they also get a little bit smaller," he says.
"We might try some other things, but this seems to be working right now," Rich says.
Go with the flow
In today's conditions, giving the bait too much action can be counter-productive.
"Try not to move the bait too much," Josh says. "Let the current kind of lift it along."
He lifts his rod tip every 30 seconds or so to make sure he's not hung on a rock. With exposed hooks, hang-ups are common. When he lifts his rod tip, he says, he's "just kind of popping it free."
Today, the smallies aren't hammering the bait. The light bite takes a practiced hand to discern.
"Usually, I just put it on the bottom ... just kind of finessing it along all those rocks, hitting snags and just keeping a real light tip and you'll just feel that little tap and that's a fish," Josh instructs.
"When the bait hits the bottom, you're hitting so many little rocks it can drive you crazy when you're first kinda' learning what it is," he elaborates. "Just keep a light hand on your rod, lift back, and you'll feel them -- literally like a rubber band stretching -- pulling on it. Or you'll feel that little tap in your line."
Sometimes, the fish will swim away with your bait before you feel a thing. So keep an eye on your line.
"If you get behind a nice eddy and the current is not so strong, you can literally watch your line either hop or start running to the side," Josh says.
And don't be afraid to let your bait sit on the bottom -- even get snagged.
"When you're on a snag, you want to be careful -- as soon as you get off it, leave it there," Josh says.
"Because smallmouth a lot of times will see that and that will make them have to grab it.
"I've had it where they'll take it right off of your snag for you," he continues. "You're snagged and then all of a sudden they just grab it and run with it."
Josh recommends a sweep-set hook-set, which will help bury an exposed hook, but allow your drag and rod tip do most of the work. To execute a sweep-set, sweep your rod tip away from the fish horizontally when you feel a strike, keeping constant pressure on the line while reeling to prevent slack.
He won't have a chance to demonstrate for some time, as the bite has turned off.
"I caught three-straight right away, then I broke off on one and now all of sudden I can't catch anymore," Josh says. "Once one gets spooked, it tells the rest of them and that's it for a while." "Now we're just trying to activate them again."
School's in session
About 200 yards downstream, Josh treads carefully onto an 8-foot by 2-foot point of jagged, lunch-box-sized rocks, a great vantage point for casting, but not so great for landing fish -- a point he soon comes to realize.
"I don't want to be out here anymore," he says, only half-kidding, reeling in what will prove to be another 19-incher and looking around for a safe place to put his left foot while bracing to better play the fish.
Further complicating matters, he has to drag the fish over several jagged rocks in the shallow water at the point's tip.
"I'm working this little tiny point," he says. "It's very small, but you see how the rocks come out to the edge of it? Well, it goes underwater here and it creates a little wing dam or eddie right there and these big ones like to get on the end of it.
"I'll take those all day -- Right Rich?" Josh says, talking a little good-natured smack, since he's comfortably ahead on the leader board. Although they're only "fun fishing," bragging rights are on the line.
But by the time the wisecrack is out of his mouth however, Rich is leaning back into his bent-over spinning rod, fighting a bronzeback of his own.
"You got him?" Josh asks.
In lieu of answer, Rich leans back into the road and reels in more line, his rod tip continuing to double over.
"That's a prime example of activating the school," Josh says.
"Once Josh got one off that point, I threw my tube right out onto the point and it didn't take long for one to jump on my tube," Rich says while reeling. "Feels like a pretty good one."
And it is -- another 17- to 18-incher.
"It's important to keep the fish up," Rich says, reeling in line, keeping his elbows and rod tip high.
"When you get them close, it's really shallow and rocky," he explains. "Plus, they don't tend to jump a lot when it's this cold."
Soon, Rich catches another nice football.
"It's getting hard to feel my fingers, but when you do get a nice fish like this, it warms you up a little bit."
Rogue walleye, snagged carp
Several hours pass, with both Josh and Rich landing several more fish, including a rogue walleye and a giant snagged carp. The temperature drops several degrees, a wind comes in from the north and the daylight begins to fade. Rich and Josh decide to call it a day.
"We did OK, probably caught 15, 16 fish between the two of us," Rich says. "No real giants -- some probably close to three pounds. A lot of nice two-pound fish."
The bite, as they predicted, was tougher than in past trips to this spot.
"The weather, you can really tell its getting to the fish," Josh says. "They may even have been getting beat up pretty good in this area for the last couple weeks, being that we had a really warm fall. We still managed to catch them, we just had to slow down to get our bites."
Despite fighting off ice on the their rod guides and a little ice on their reels and line, "overall it wasn't too bad," Rich says.
"It wasn't greatest, but we caught 'em pretty good. ..." Josh says. "I can't think of anything better to do in the start of December in Minnesota, can you?"