Upper Mississippi River 8/29

[MuskyFlyGuy 0]

My wife and I floated a section of the upper Mississippi yesterday with noted guide, Kip Vieth. The weather started out cloudy and changed to sunny about noon. Winds were gusting up to 25 mph throughout the day. The river was still high, as we are over 7 inches above average for precipitation this year. Casting was tough, but Kip consistently gave us good casting angles. The upper Mississippi is markedly different than what you see several hundred miles south. Even though it is high, it still is fairly clear and you can choose from rock, sand, wood, runs, eddies, and deep holes. There are no houses on shore and we did not see another angler or boat all day. We did see a family about 100 yards from the takeout looking for artifacts. We were checking weather radar throughout the day and left an hour early so we could make it home before the big storm hit. I used the same Boogle bug and caught fish all day. My wife used a Tequeely and a Sparkle Grub with similar results. There was a period of time when the smallies were sipping the fly just like a brown trout. We really enjoyed sight fishing for them. We had a great day with Kip!

The typical fish was about this size. 
This was the big fish, a measured 20”

[Steeldrifter 0]

Real nice smallie there Tom. Such a great fighting fish when they hit that size! 😎

[Poopdeck 0]

Those are some really nice SMB. Never knew the Mississippi produced fish like that. Must have been a great day on the water. 

[partsman 0]

Well done those are some beautiful smallies!

[niveker 0]

Pretty sweet!

[DFoster 0]

Wow- nice fish!

[MuskyFlyGuy 0]

Thanks guys!

A perfect day for me would be catching a dozen before lunch, have a great lunch, and then catching another dozen in the afternoon. 

[Bryon Anderson 0]

Wow! Those are some whopper Smallies! Nice - looks like a great day