Ol Miss Report - Dayton

[ScottPugh]

After the wife and I brought the rain from Maple Grove to the Haywood circus, I mean the 2 day canoe trip on the Rum, my buddy Andy and I decided to take the canoe over to the Mississippi in Dayton.?

The rain has helped the water level a little bit as the water has come up about 12 inches from 4 weeks ago.? We headed up river hitting the rock formations that jet out into the river; we fished mainly the East side of the river as that had more structure.? We hit 4 or 5 rock piles on the way up and would get one or two bites from each rock pile.? Once you caught one or had one or two bites you might as well move to the next because they would scatter, even though the canoe was 30 feet out in the river.? We did have quite a few blowups on top water but only caught a couple.? A few more came on crank baits tossed out (6+ feet of water) and retrieved towards the canoe (3 feet of water).? I caught a couple on Case Plastics Sweet P's in roadkill color.

As we tempted to hold the canoe above the rocks and rapids just south of where the Crow dumps into the Mississippi, I realized the battery was running out of juice quick.? Since someone forgot the paddles at home we struggled to make it to the other side of the river, just as Andy picked up another 14" smallie, which is a blast in the rocks and current.? That one came on small spinner bait on the first cast.? We decided that our luck was running out and we would head home.?

We ended landing 7 smallies with at least that much coming off on the way to the canoe.? Tons more missed on bites.? Also saw a yearling deer and a few Bald Eagles.?

Here's a photo of one of Andy's smallies.?


Here's the yearling (I need a zoom lense)

[ScottPugh]

Went out again on Saturday afternoon after the Rush Lake AI event.? This time we decided we wanted at least a hour or so of rapid drifting, bottom feeding, drag ripping carp fishing fun.?

Grabbing a 15lb anchor from brother we set up just up river from where we saw some carp the weekend before.? We set up with my buddies trolling rods with 30lb power pro, a bell sinker, swivel and 10lb mono with a white hook, tipped with a crawler.?

As we found out quickly toss it out and hold is all you can do when it comes to redhorse on the river.? These are fun to fight in a canoe in the current while you are not trying to tip the canoe.? They fight like mad, then they see the canoe and fight even more.? Landing the bottom feeder is another story.? Do you grab a hold with the needle nose till they shake off or do you bring it into the canoe?? We tried both and the needle nose route was the best way NOT to tip a canoe.? We didn't tip at all but came close.? A half dozen or so 3lb - 5lb redhorse, half dozen smallies and one smallie that was in the range of 16"boat side, we decided to head up stream for more smallie action.?

We hit three of our rock spots from last weekend and landed 6-8 more smallies, 14" being the biggest and all coming on top water poppers.? With the anchor in the canoe now, we can toss that out in deeper water and cast into the spots with out trying to remain there with the trolling motor.? The anchor is also very handy when you get to where you can stand out of the canoe.? Toss out the anchor and go wade in the water and not have to worry about the canoe drifting downriver.

Heading out again sometime this week for more smallies and maybe some more rapid drifting, bottom feeding, drag ripping carp fishing fun.