Taylors Falls to Osceola stretch

[elusivecrappiecatcher]

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Every time we go out here it is 2 or 3 fish for a hell of allot of fishing time.

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Sounds like you know that stretch better than you think, cause that assessment sounds about right. Maybe even on to the "better" side. I caught a 25lb flat out of that stretch about a month ago on a current edge right near deep water. I think I may head up to there this afternoon to chase a few smallies with the fly rod.

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Honestly when i fished with cats on the croix, I should have stated the area I fished is usually around stillwater and hudson. I have honestly never fished the franconia to osceola stretch, but all I heard was his 9 pound cat. BIG WHOOP! 1 fish all day is nothing to brag about. He thinks it is a hot spot now that he caught 1 fish. I think it is hog wash. Maybe I will cast for some smallies while he is wasting his time with kitties.

[so haaad]

Fished the Franconia stretch Friday. I can't believe how low the water is! I actually saw two young kids walk all the way across the river from the access. Tunrevir, my "snagged-lure tree" above the island and way back in the corner by the stream mouth was completely out of the water. (No, I didn't recover any lures.) Fishing was pretty slow, although the bass were cooperative. Most hit weighted crawfish "flies" on the end of the fly rod. They wanted a very slow presentation.

[slipperybob]

I would never brag about the numbers of catfish caught around the downstream of the dam from Taylors Falls area, but that's just my luck. Only luck would I catch a catfish, even when I try. Well I do catch them, little kitties, if I'm despearate for something. I've probably more luck on suckers and sheapshead. But I'm still wondering what took a big bite on a little sheapshead I caught. It was a clean slash, almost like if someone knife cut the sheapshead, about near three inches straight. I've seen pike and catfish bites but this doesn't match the teeth pattern. Maybe it was a snapper turtle????

[tunrevir]

I'd stay away from that snapper if I was you . There are some larger pike in the area but if it was a clean cut I'd suspect a snapper.

Tunrevir~

[so haaad]

I'd say it was a snapper, too. That or a mermaid with a circular saw. I saw two turtles swimming just above the deepest hole in the franconia area last Friday, and one was a good sized snapper.

[fishuhalik]

I just got back from a youth group outing, we went from interstate park all the way down to o' brian. I've never fished the croix or any other rivers for that matter, but one of the guys that was with us was from Tennessee and fished alot of rivers down there so he knew some of the "tricks of the trade." 17 miles and most of our canoers were 13-15 yr old girls, so the focus was more on splashing people and swimming. Didn't do a ton of fishing, but the fishing we did was fantastic once we figured out the patterns. The only spots we were able to catch fish were where there was water running into the river on rocks in the shade. We fished water that was running into sand, nothing. Tried water running on rocks in the sun, nothing, but when we found a spot that had all the perfect elements we'd usually catch 3-4 each spot. Didn't catch any bruisers, had one on that woulda gone 5 lbs easy. Got alotta 1 1/2 - 3 lbers, prolly 45-50 smallies and a couple of nice slimers all on topwaters.

[pondhopper]

How's the water level in that stretch.

[fishuhalik]

Really low, there was alotta places we had to get out and drag the canoes over sand flats. None of us knew the river and if we woulda stayed in the channels we woulda been fine, but it seemed like we were always busy pulling someone over a sand flat! Unless you know what yer doing I wouldn't recommend taking a boat of any size in that stretch!

[Gilgamesh]

I was thinking of renting a canoe somewhere near taylors falls and fishing the river for whatever will bite on saturday. Whats a good place to rent a canoe for a couple hours and then they'll pick you up downriver?

[slipperybob]

Insterstate Park on the MN side rents canoes.

[tunrevir]

Gilgamesh, thee is the canoe rental that slipbob spoke of and that entire stretch can be very productive depending on how it is fished. A portable depthfinder is a definate plus but without one, I'd key on the current sides of islands and the inside corner areas. Look for the downed trees along the shoreline and that will make your search a bit shorter as the smallies and pike will inhabit the shallow water areas with the brush and trees. Deeper holes tend to be the eddies above the islands and the washouts that run along side them. Jig and minnow in the deeper water can yeild a variety of fish from cats and sturgeon to crappies, perch and walleyes. bring an ice cream pail to use as a drift sock to slow down in some of the fishy looking areas and you should do okay. Small spinner baits and plastics, small rapalas and shad raps, skitter pops and top water chug baits will all take fish. Jigs and crawlers will also put you on a variety of fish as well. Hope this helps, good luck out there!

Tunrevir~

[JBMasterAngler]

An ice cream pale as a drift sock? Why didn't I think of that before I spent $40 on the real thing?