Fly Fishing Insider Podcast
The Mississippi above the Twin Cities is a clear, weedy, warm-water river averaging three to four feet deep, not the muddy channel most anglers picture. Smallmouth there hunt in packs across shallow flats and hold on the first drop-off, and the season runs from the May opener through mid-September.
Kip Vieth runs Wildwood Float Trips, guiding western-style drift boat trips for smallmouth bass and musky on the Mississippi River northwest of Minneapolis.
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What does the Mississippi River smallmouth fishery actually look like?
Anglers who arrive from the West describe the Mississippi upstream of the Twin Cities as a Colorado trout stream - clear water, heavy weed growth in summer, and enough visibility for sight fishing. Average depth across most of the float water is about three to four feet, and the deepest holes on a given float run only ten to twelve feet. The one thing separating the Mississippi from a trout river is temperature: the water warms too much for trout to survive, which is what makes it a smallmouth river.
How do water temperatures set the smallmouth season on the Mississippi?
Water temperature runs around 55 degrees in mid-May, and smallmouth spawn as the river climbs into the high 50s and 60. The season opens in the second week of May, so anglers usually find pre-spawn fish staging, with big females holding eggs and fighting for spawning sites on the quiet back sides of islands. Summer water reaches the mid-80s, and the guide's preferred window is 78 to 80 degrees, when smallmouth have to eat. Peak fishing runs June through mid-September, after which musky take over.
Where do Mississippi River smallmouth hold during the day?
For most of the day smallmouth sit on the first drop-off below a shallow rock flat rather than up on the flat itself - that first trough holds fish 80 to 90 percent of the time. Clients want to throw at the bank or at a visible rock, but working that edge with a popper, or bringing a minnow pattern back across it, is more productive. When flows drop, the first drop disappears and the fish shift out to the next one. Smallmouth also run the flats in wolf packs of five to ten fish, chasing bait in the open like a saltwater species.
Which fly patterns produce for Mississippi River smallmouth?
Two flies cover most of the season: a top-water popper with rubber legs and a diver fished on a short sink tip so it stays down and darts instead of climbing back to the surface. Pop the popper, let it sit, pop again - if a smallmouth has not eaten by the third pop, move to the next target, and if a fish appears underneath the popper, do nothing and let the rubber legs work. When fish will not come up, the backup is a neutrally buoyant minnow pattern three to four inches long, which keeps working after the strip stops and rolls over like a dying baitfish.
What leader do you need for smallmouth bass on a big river?
The standard rig is roughly three feet of 40-pound butt to three feet of 20-pound tippet with a loop knot to the fly, and that covers about 99 percent of days. When the water drops and clears, adding another two or three feet of 12- or 15-pound fluorocarbon keeps fish from spooking. Break-offs on 20-pound are rare and almost always come from a bad knot rather than the fish. During the September mayfly hatch, when smallmouth sip size 12 and 14 duns like trout, tippet drops to around 10 pounds and landing an 18-inch fish becomes a genuine problem.
Why fish a 7- or 8-weight instead of a 6-weight for smallmouth?
The heavier rod is about the pickup, not the fish. A 7- or 8-weight lifts a big, air-resistant popper or diver off the water, loads on one haul and shoots it back out, instead of grinding through a dozen false casts - and the more times a fly goes through the air, the more can go wrong. The heavier rod also brings fish in quickly in warm water, which matters for a fish that has been fighting current all its life, and it handles the weed clumps that load a line mid-fight.
How far do you actually need to cast on a smallmouth float?
Sixty feet is more than enough, and most of the fishing happens at 30 to 50 feet - four or five rod lengths plus a leader. The instruction for arriving anglers is one false cast: pick it up, let it load, lay it down. A popper is only being worked ten or fifteen feet before it gets picked up again, so distance is rarely the limiting factor. If money is going into gear, it should go into the fly line before the rod and well before the reel.
Key takeaways
- Target 78 to 80 degree water in summer on the Mississippi, when smallmouth have to feed; the fishery peaks from June through mid-September.
- Fish the first drop-off below a shallow rock flat instead of the bank - that trough holds fish 80 to 90 percent of the time, and it moves out as flows drop.
- Run about three feet of 40-pound butt to three feet of 20-pound tippet with a loop knot, adding 12- to 15-pound fluorocarbon only when the water is low and clear.
- Fish a diver on a homemade three-foot T-14 sink tip so it stays down and darts, moving enough water for fish to track it in dirty spring flows.
- Pop a popper and pause up to three times; if nothing eats, move on, and if a fish shows underneath it, stop moving the fly entirely.
- Carry a 7- or 8-weight so a big popper can be picked up and shot in one motion, and spend money on the fly line before the rod.
