Show me your bass

Ryan Smart

Steelhead
Nice!
I stopped into a fly shop in Duluth and chatted with the owner who at one time lived in Seattle.
He showed me some pics of the smallies they caught out if the upper Mississippi. I plan to do that float sometime when I’m back there.
SF
Ha, I would bet that was John at the Great Lakes Fly Company. He has a nice shop and is a lot of fun to talk to... I was a fairly frequent customer when I lived just outside Duluth. Depending on how far upstream you plan to go on the Mississippi, there can be really good musky fishing at times too.
 

Ryan Smart

Steelhead
I like it. Seems like everybody (in general, not saying on here) rounds up on fish length and lots of talk about 20” smallmouth when in reality that’s not an easy number to hit on many waterways. Beautiful fish
Yeah, with a pretty short growing season and long winters where this fish was caught, a 20" fish is a true trophy. I'm a C&R fisherman 99.9% of the time, but someday when I finally do land one that is a true 20" fish from this particular river, it's going on the wall. That made me do a lot more careful job of measuring it!
 

Stonedfish

Known Grizzler-hater of triploids, humpies & ND
Forum Supporter
Ha, I would bet that was John at the Great Lakes Fly Company. He has a nice shop and is a lot of fun to talk to... I was a fairly frequent customer when I lived just outside Duluth. Depending on how far upstream you plan to go on the Mississippi, there can be really good musky fishing at times too.

Indeed, it was John.
Musky is on the to do list as well.
Checked off pike last year with the worlds smallest out of the Mississippi.
The amount of crawdads in the Mississippi is just crazy, so I can see why the smallies get the size they do.
There are a couple other rivers closer to Minneapolis I need to explore some more.
The guys at the Fly Anglers fly shop inside of Thorne Brothers in Blaine were super helpful as well.
SF
 

SeaRunner

Steelhead
Ha, I would bet that was John at the Great Lakes Fly Company. He has a nice shop and is a lot of fun to talk to... I was a fairly frequent customer when I lived just outside Duluth. Depending on how far upstream you plan to go on the Mississippi, there can be really good musky fishing at times too.
Indeed, it was John.
Musky is on the to do list as well.
Checked off pike last year with the worlds smallest out of the Mississippi.
The amount of crawdads in the Mississippi is just crazy, so I can see why the smallies get the size they do.
There are a couple other rivers closer to Minneapolis I need to explore some more.
The guys at the Fly Anglers fly shop inside of Thorne Brothers in Blaine were super helpful as well.
SF

I visited Minnesota as a teenager. Basically explored a loop from Brainerd to Ely to Duluth. It was different than the NW, but a very cool area. I fished a lake in Brainerd and the kids working in the lake boathouse (who were about my same age at the time) sold me some live 4-6" long minnows and said they might catch some pike. I put them under a float and didn't catch any pike, but did catch several toad largemouth. The kids were cracking up and generally acting all excited when I went back asking for more minnows because the bass were eating them all. I ended up catching some pike and walleye up in Ely, though nothing of noteworthy size.
 

Nick Clayton

Fishing Is Neat
Forum Supporter
Can we post pet peeves here? Such as calling rockfish "sea bass"? ;)

Even worse, "rock cod" ugh!

That one is a toad for sure Evan!

I brought one aboard while I was a deckhand that was the largest I've ever seen. Unfortunately the fill in captain working that day takes horrible pics and the picture just doesn't do it justice. Really wish I had taken the time to get a length and weight on that one.

Only bass I've ever caught were pretty small. Maybe 12" tops. Never truly been bass fishing, or fished waters known for bigger ones. Always thought it looked right up my alley.
 

Long_Rod_Silvers

Elder Millennial
Forum Supporter
Black rockfish/sea bass. Suuuuuuuuuper fun. Rarely even close to that size. That was an exceptional specimen.
What impresses me about rockfish isn't the size (although that one is a piggy) but the age. Many of them live very long lives. That one in particular could easily be 40 years old.
 
Top