milwaukee river smallies redemption part 2

Part 2-
After a quick snack, I was back after a few more bass to round out my morning of smallie fishing on the Milwaukee River. The early part of the morning had gone great and I was really starting to feel like I was making some progress dissecting this immense river. This was my first completely wet wade wearing only swim trunks and a pair of old sneakers. I was cool as a cucumber all day long and only needed to drop down shoulder deep when I even suspected it was hot out. The river was running cool and clear and I felt comfortable even though a tad creeped out about what I may rub up against. Do you ever really know what’s hanging out in those deep pools?

New Water-
The new water that was recommended to me, came from a member of the DTA (Driftless Trout Anglers, the best trout forum around). This guy is from Minnesota and saw my earlier blog posts from the Milwaukee River. He instantly knew what stretch of the river I was fishing and shot me an email regarding his exploits in the area along with a few tips. It was info that was much appreciated, so I wanna thank you. I bumped into him on a Dane County stream earlier this summer but didn’t realize who he was until we posted about our days on the DTA. Talk about really having a huge fishing search radius! From the twin cities to mad town, the mil and everything in between! And I thought I traveled to find fish? Mucho respect brother, mucho respect!

a scenic stretch of the milwaukee river

a milwaukee river bluff

In general, this section of river held faster and shallower runs with a lot more chutes and funnels. The water, ripping threw the narrower areas, was propelled out the other side with almost a white water effect. It was a much more difficult wade that left me pretty banged up from the heavy rock bottom and a few near stumbles. To shallow there for cranking so I opted for a nothing special, white spinner bait. It was the perfect tool to pick that water apart, plus no hanging up in the weeds. The fish here were in the textbook spots. The tail outs from the fast current produced when ambush spots were present. Smallies caught from the current areas sure fought harder then those taken from pools. Also, I picked off numerous fish by burning the spinner over those “pot holes” or minor depressions in the river bed. The pools were only a few feet deeper then the surrounding water but inevitably held some good fish. The back side of boulders and current breaks were also good bets. Fifteen fish wasn’t bad for a morning out on the river, and finally decided to call it a day. I don’t know where this weekend will take me, yet. If I do end up back on the Milwaukee rest assured I will explore her deeper and further than ever before.

burning a spinnerbait for milwaukee river smallies

last bass of the day