2025 has been a strange year for fishing the Mississippi River in Minnesota. The water level has been unusually high in August, making it more challenging to find fish. The water this year is also unusually brown, with sediment from the frequent rain making the Big Muddy nickname a good fit this year even late in the fishing season. BGS fishing partners Bill Huefner and Scott Lepak added to the unpredictability by selecting a Saturday when rain was lurking to the south and a full moon was waiting to add chaos that evening. This was offset by the fact that the wildfire smoke was nonexistent for the day and Bill and Scott were coming off a lucky streak. Bill’s Friday attendance at the Lynx game produced a win and Scott’s attendance led to a win by the Twins. Adding to their optimism was their regular, late-season, ace Mississippi smallmouth bass guide Tommy Steffen, who indicated that the bite has been pretty good. “Pretty good” in guide speak means “run as fast as you can to the boat.” After a burger and beer strategy session at an undisclosed local watering hole (fishing veterans never give away their best fishing or bar locations), Bill and Scott met Tommy and jumped onto the river. Bill and Scott have been fishing…
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Attorneys Scott Lepak and Bill Huefner spent the morning of Saturday, August 24th bass fishing on the Mississippi River near Royalton Minnesota with their trusty guide Tommy Steffen from Steffen’s Rum River Guide Service. The fishing was great with 43 smallmouth bass landed in 4 hours. Highlights of the trip included Bill and Scott landing a bass at the exact same time (noted in the picture). Bill was the largest fish winner this year. Scott was lucky enough to catch smallmouth #10, 20 and 30. Even with all the rain and high-water levels throughout the first part of summer, the river is now down enough to find the fish.
Read MoreScott Lepak’s mother regularly viewed approaching rainstorms as opportunities to do a little quick fishing before the storm hit because, according to her, that was when the fish were really biting. In a continued shout out to mothers who love to fish and are enthusiastic pressure system weather prognosticators, Bill Huefner and Scott Lepak hit the Mississippi River Sunday afternoon, August 13th, with a huge rain system headed their way. Led by trusty fishing guide Tommy Steffen, Bill and Scott got in on a hot bite for smallmouth bass. While Scott got the coveted first fish award, Bill came on strong with the biggest and last fish. After catching and releasing 41 smallmouth in 4 hours, Scott and Bill are planning their next fishing adventure for September.
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