Back in March I entered our video “Backyard Browns” into the Great Waters Fly Expo Film Festival. I wasn’t able to make it to the expo, but got a call a few weeks later saying we had taken first place. Our prize — a float trip on the Upper Mississippi hosted by Scott Struif of The Fly Angler in Blaine, MN. We were super excited to go after smallmouth, and yesterday was our day to do it.
We met Scott and set off in Monticello, MN. The first hour or so was pretty slow — I caught one and lost another on a deer hair frog — but Andre got on the board with a couple smallies and a small pike on a copper Murdich Minnow, one of which being this dandy 17-incher!
He also caught this nice 14-incher.
We took a break to eat at about the half way point, and only had a couple fish in the boat. Scott assured us the best water was yet to come. Regardless, we got to take in some great views while casting.
As we continued downstream we hooked into a bunch of smaller fish around six inches. They must have had a nice class of fish last year and should have great fishing in a couple years. I think at one point I had seven fish in the boat, with only one over nine inches. I missed quite a few more, though. We switched between poppers, clousers, and TeQueelies. The little guys loved the TeQueelies.
We were working a really good shoreline around some boulders when I noticed a wake behind my silver Murdich Minnow, and quickly the fly disappeared. I set the hook, and felt the strong pull of a river smallmouth. After a couple runs by the fish, I finally got him in the net. He measured 14-inches, my first “picture-worthy” fish of the day.
Just a bit further downstream, Aric got snagged into some fallen trees. As Scott rowed over to get the fly out, I flicked my fly right along some other trees, not even 15 feet from the boat. After two twitches of the fly, a smallie came out and slammed it! I quickly got him into the boat, and figured if he was bigger than my first I’d get a photo. He measured the exact same size at 14 1/4″ so I quickly sent him back into the river. He was a memorable fish nonetheless.
Scott wasn’t kidding when he said we had great water ahead. The shoreline had plenty of fallen trees and boulders — perfect smallmouth habitat. I cast right next to a boulder with an overhanging tree above it, and after a couple strips of the fly, BANG! I instantly felt a strong tug at the end of my line. He made a big jump out of the water and all three of us realized I’d hooked into a big smallie. Scott anchored the boat so we wouldn’t lose a half mile of water before getting the fish in the net, but this allowed the fish to get downstream of me and into the current. He put a ton of pressure on the rod and took line off my reel. After a few minutes he finally relented and I was able to drag him near the boat and into Scott’s net. He measured 18 inches on the dot. What a tank.
That fish ended up being our last of the night — not a bad way to finish the float. We fished over nine miles of river in about nine hours and got to take in the sunset as we arrived at the take out point.
It was an awesome trip and we can’t thank Scott enough for taking us. Scott is also the manager at The Fly Angler, so if you’re ever in the north metro area, check out his shop. They have the best selection of fly tying materials I’ve seen. With the trout fishing slowing down a bit lately, it was awesome to get out and see some new water. We’ll definitely be doing some more smallmouth fly fishing in the future, and maybe get a kayak or two to float some of the local smallmouth rivers. I’ll be looking for a used drift boat in the meantime.
