I was thinking out fishing the St. Joe some the end of this month and was wondering what the fishing was like up there in the fall. Is the Mishawaka area pretty good or are there better sections. I've never been up there before so any help would be great. Ramp locations and are there any areas not safe to run on plane. What's the predominate species up there smallmouth or largemouth?
Thanks,
Only been up there twice. Caught mainly slot fish and unders. Two ramps I know of are at maggies landing and six span.
That is about all I know. Never caught a smallmouth up there, do not know if there are any in there or not, but I imagine there probably is.
Fall fishing is pretty good there. Fish are on the small size but plenty of them. SM, LM, Pike, Walleye and pretty much everything a northern river has. Lot of vegetation and backwater areas to fish. It's a river so there are shallow areas everywhere, you just have to run it like a river. I can't remember exactly the section but you don't want to come off plane there, either idle thru or stay on plane because it's very shallow. Very nice ramp at Margaret H. *****ett Park. In a glass boat I think I ran as far up stream as the Elkhart General Hospital area, too shallow beyond that for glass boat.
Apparently the name P. r..i..c..kett is on the sensor list.
Last edited by idbefishing; 09-12-2017 at 11:48 AM. Reason: bbc sensor
I much prefer SouthBend/Mish or South Bend sections. Far less traffic and catch rates are close to equal in Qty and size to all other stretches.
Bonus being this time of year are salmon and steelhead are coming in record numbers!
I am not delusional,
I see all illusions!
I'm with Lakes I prefer the South Bend part of the river for smallmouth. The Maggies section you have about 10 miles of river to fish and it's usually kept at a safe depth. Right now the river is low in South Bend and if you don't know where to run you can tear your boat up.
So who is taking me fishing in mid october on the river?
"It's even, but it ain't settled. Let's settle it." Fast Eddie
I still can't believe they actually won...Cubs Fans Everywhere
I might be able to get away for a day Joe. Unless, the leaves have clogged up the river by then.
Thanks for the help guys.
you fished the wabash at all in your jet?Originally Posted by idbefishing
Never been on the Wabash, wouldn't even know where to start. It always looked muddy everytime I saw it.
Last edited by idbefishing; 09-16-2017 at 07:53 PM.
It is about like the white in clarity. More shallow water, no real deep water, at least until you get over to lafayette. Know it has good smallies in it around here.
"It's even, but it ain't settled. Let's settle it." Fast Eddie
I still can't believe they actually won...Cubs Fans Everywhere
I prefer the 6 span section in Elkhart. Really nice ramp and it's a pretty nice run downriver into town. Look for any areas where river channel swings close to docks You will catch both smallmouth and largemouth.
I prefer the Mishawaka stretch. The locals call it Maggies. Both green and Brown fish. You can run past Elkhart General if you know the river. It further up you go, the more brown fish there are. They are doing some work on the dam so I'm not 100% on the water level, but it looked full the last time I drove over it.
I’m a st. joe river rat, but I like the Nile MI stretch the best. not a lot of boat traffic and clean running all the way to Buchanan. Love the fall pike bite. Boat ramp is on marmont st. In Niles MI need any more help just send me a msg.
brian
Very interesting looking stretch, since there's a dam at each end of that pool is water level stable and slow flow?
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