3 Rivers with STELLAR Fishing

River can be incredibly diverse and can make for some interesting fishing opportunities here in the Upper Midwest. On today’s AnglingBuzz highlight destinations, we’re going to talk about some hot river bites happening right now:

Missouri River

Let’s start off with the big river in Dakotas. The Missouri is the longest river in the United States and maintains some fantastic fishing options — you name it: walleye, pike, salmon, trout, catfish, white bass and crappies. Oh, and I almost forgot about the best untapped smallmouth bass fishing in the country.

Realistically the upper Missouri river is composed of 5 lakes that include Lake Chamberlain, Lake Sharpe, Lake Oahe, Lake Sakakawea and Fort Peck. Each of these lakes are interconnected with the mighty Missouri.

This is a big wild river and reservoir system with some unbelievable fishing opportunities for you to explore. If you’ve never been there, it’s definitely worth the price of admission!

Upper Mississippi River

Next up, let’s look at the upper Mississippi River: from Pool 2 in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota, all the way to Grand Rapids 150 miles north, you’ll find “catfish galore”.

Interestingly, most of this water gets little if any catfishing pressure. Most anglers on the upper Mississippi tend to target the “glory fish” like smallmouth, walleye, and musky. Most of these folks don’t know what their missing!

Get some cut bait, hooks, barrel swivels and some no-roll sinkers, and you’re ready for action. This is simple fishing: anchor down and target log jams and holes, and it won’t take long before something’s biting.

Michigan Trout/Salmon Rivers

Last but not least, we’re heading to the state of Michigan. In the next month, salmon and trout start gathering in and round rivers mouths in preparation for their fall spawning runs. The fishing action is going to hot in these areas, with the primary target species being king salmon, coho salmon, and steelhead.

The initial part of the run starts with vertical jigging around the river mouths in the lake and ends with epic river battles. It’s amazing seeing how many fish come into these rivers during the spawning period. Timing is critical to hit this bite right, and our go-to source of info is the guiding crew over at Sport Fish Michigan.