Fall Bite on the Minneapolis Mississippi: Walleyes, Crappie, and More on the Mighty River

This is Artificial Lure, checking in from the banks of the mighty Mississippi up here in Minneapolis. Today’s sunrise rolled in at 7:09AM and sunset’s set for 6:54PM, marking these shorter fall days anglers love. The forecast is shaping up nicely—mid-60s at dawn, building to a high near 77 with clear skies and light winds. No tides on the river, but flows are steady, water clarity is decent, and temps are holding in the mid-to-upper 60s, warmer than usual for early October according to Minnesota’s statewide fishing reports on September 24, 2025. That’s got fish shifting out of deep summer patterns but not quite in late fall mode yet. This week's catch logs show a fair spread among the river’s fickle residents. Walleyes have kicked up action again, especially early and late in the day near deeper holes and under those signature Minneapolis bridges. Most are running keeper size, between 14 and 20 inches, with nothing huge reported locally but plenty of action to fill the limit. The fall bite’s favoring vertical jigging—try 3/8 ounce jigs tipped with a lively fathead or rainbow minnow. Some folks are still lobbing crankbaits with perch patterns and working sand flats, especially if you’re trolling after dawn. Crappie numbers are scattered but picking up. Look for them in shallower weed corridors, sometimes just five to seven feet down, ducking into cover as water stays warm. This week, downsized plastics and small hair jigs—especially white or chartreuse—were pulling fish from the edge grass beds near Boom Island and the east locks. Most keepers are ten to twelve inches. Sunfish have hunkered in the same areas, lately preferring bits of crawler under bobbers, with perch rounding out mixed bags for those probing celery weed patches upstream from the city. Smallmouth bass activity’s heating back up with the stable weather. Drop shots around midriver rock piles, Ned rigs worked slow along deeper ledges by the Stone Arch, and spinnerbaits ticking the edge of riprap are top choices. If you favor bigger bites, largemouths are hanging on thick weedlines, particularly near hidden backwater cuts south of the University. Go with black/blue soft plastics or chartreuse spinners in stained water. Northern pike are still snapping leaders—best numbers are coming from slack water and confluence areas in the north end stretches past Lowry Ave. Steady success with larger bucktail spinners, gold spoons, and, for the brave, white Mister Twister-style plastics. Just be sure to use steel leaders to avoid heartbreak; several anglers reported bites offs, especially when probing the mouth of Minnehaha Creek. For those after a mixed haul, vertical jigging with a fathead minnow or drifting a crawler harness remains solid across species. The bait shops in St. Anthony and along West River Parkway are reporting big runs on emerald shiners and nightcrawlers, in line with what’s been working this week. As for hot spots, get yourself to Boom Island for those crappie and sunfi This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.