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St. Croix River near Hudson


liphooked

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I am fishing the St. Croix river for the first time on Saturday. I would like any suggestions as to the best way to catch some walleyes and smallmouth bass. I have fished mostly in inland lakes for most all species but have only fished in rivers a few times and those have been from shore or walking small rivers/creeks with waders.

i look forward to some constructive feedback.

thanks in advance,

Liphooked!

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liphooked,

Look for the points on the river and fish around them where the water drops off fast.(the deeper the drop the better) Walleyes, smallmouth, and white bass usually hang in these areas. Cast shadraps, spinners, plastics, of live bait rigs in these areas. If you are in a boat look around on calm mornings for fish busting water. We found some in the middle of the river last monday. It seems like the smallies and white bass are suspending and chasing minnows all over. The action has been pretty slow lately but should pick up very soon. Poke around and hopefully you will stumble into something!

crappie getter,

------------------
Chris's Croix Guide Service
http://fishingminnesota.com/stcroixguide/
(651) 458-1899
[email protected]
St. Croix River

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The Croix is a great place to fish, I hope you have a great time. I start out fishing two rods: one has a crawler rig and the other a jig(orange or gold fireballs are good colors) and let the walleyes tell me which they want. Work the points and rock areas in about 20 feet, maybe a little deeper now that the river levels falling, if you don't see fish on the LCR-move on. Don't waste time fishing in an area with no fish. If they're there, you'll see them. Play the wind if you can, I know that sounds wierd on a river, but over the years the windy side is usually better than the other. Good fishin'!

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thanks for the tips on fishing the St. Croix.

i will post an update once we see how we do.

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started the day fishing the Wisconsin shoreline in 15-22 feet of water using lindy rig with nightcrawler. Few bites but not much. Fishing partner caught two white bass on light spoon (3-way set up). Moved to I-94 bridge and fished the Minnesota side around second set of pillars using 1/4 quarter ounce jig with crawlers. Caught about a dozen walleyes (4-5 boats fishing the area so we just observed the pattern of boat traffic and worked around the pillars following other boats so we didn't cut anyone off). Most boats were catching walleyes.

will have to try that again soon. Is there any other spots recommended in that area of St. Croix for walleyes? we didn't see anyone pulling any walleyes in trolling down the Wisconsin side of the river.

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I was just South of the 94 bridge on both Saturday and Sunday mornings from 8am till around 10am or so. We did ok both days trolling leadcore and cranks in 17 to 30 feet of water. Between the two days we caught 7 walleyes (all between 16" and 20") and 2 northerns around 4 pounds each. We also had a big something on, but that's the great thing about the river is you never know what might be on the other end of the line. We trolled shad raps and walleydivers (sp?) in blues and greens but it seemed as long as you had the right speed the color didn't matter much. I would have done it all day but the weekend warriors in their 800' cruisers forced me to fish the no wake zones.

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