Russian River Smallies

[Rooger]

I used to hear that the Russian River had a decent smallmouth fishery a few years back, but I haven't seen anything in the last few.

My buddy may have his boat up in the Healdsburg/Cloverdale area around Thanksgiving and he asked me to meet him up there.

Never fished the Russian before and don't know much about it other than where it is. Has anyone fished it during the fall? Can you launch a Boston Whaler up that far, or should I take my canoe along?

Thanks, Rooger!

[Paul W]

I used to fish the Russian a lot for Smallies back in the 90's. There is a good population in the river, but most are small. My largest is about 3lbs, but on average they are 10-12" fish. A canoe would be your best option as the river is narrow and shallow, especially up around that part of the river. With that said, I wouldnt expect the Smallie fishing to be very good that time of year. For me, it always seemed to pretty much die out in late October.

Paul W

[justflipit]

drift boat or canoe, kickboat no boston.