St Croix State Park Fishing and Camping

[nofishfisherman]

I will be camping here with my wife this weekend and I would like to do some shore fishing. I will be casting rapalas and other lures in hopes of smallies, walleye, pike or anything else will bite.

I understand the St. Croix and Kettle river are both options for fishing.

Any tips? My wife might be with me for the fishing so I would like to know how easy the shore line is to walk.

i have never been here before but I very interested in trying. Thanks

[-Marc V-]

I camped there in June. I didn't fish, but had some buddies that did. Pretty slow action, but it was raining pretty much the entire time also. One buddy did end up with a lake sturgeon on the shore right down by the campground. Can walk the shore for a little ways.

Kettle was pretty low water.

There is an area that looked really good called 'The Big Eddy' on the Kettle river. It was about a mile hike down a trail. Might be able to wade the river in a shallower part to get to the other side then walk back up to the big eddy area that looked better for fishing. Not sure how ambitious you are to fish, but that seemed like a pretty good area.

Not sure if that helped much. I didn't get much for responses when I asked on this stetch of river either.

Good luck!

Marc

[nofishfisherman]

My ambition will depend on my wife. If she is fishing with me it will be shorter and we will stick to easier areas. If its just me then all bets are off, I might find myself a mile or two up stream if thats where the fish lead me.

I'll give it a go and post back when I get back on Sunday or Monday.

[nofishfisherman]

Ok, so it was a great park, I had a great time.

But I didn't do so well fishing. I fished at the canoe landing in the deeper hole of to the left and I also fished down stream a ways but it was shallower water.

Are there any tips for this area? I plan on trying to get back possibly this weekend. If I go I will be hitting it with a canoe more then likely so i will be able to fish from the landing down atleast 3-4 miles possibly more.

I plan on trying to cast near fallen trees and rocks but with the water so low I am not sure if these areas would hold fish or if I would need to fish only the deeper pools.

Any tips would be great. Thanks.

[LuckBites]

Shade seems to be the key. Of course the best spots are usually adjacent to deeper water. Deeper water may just be 4' or less this year. If you find a hot lure please share. I've had decent luck with micro spinnerbaits, rattle traps & small raps. Anyone have confidence in a surface bait for these types of water?

Good Luck!

[hondavxr]

Surface baits are great. I have been using poppers and nothing beats seeing a smallie jump up in the air with your popper in their mouth. Shade has been the key here also. Watch out sometimes it muskies waves that attach your poopers. Have fun yalls

[nofishfisherman]

I picked up a popper the other day and gave it a shot. Whats the key to have a good consistant action on the retrieve? Is it just a start/stop retrieve or do you need to twitch the bait? Never used one until this last week.

[Juan Grande]

I've heard that longer pauses in between jerks will attract hits with poppers.

If you want to cover more water, try using a buzz bait too. I was throwing a white one last time out on the Croix. Only got one fish on it, but it was the nicest of the day (17 inches). I've NEVER had a fish hit a topwater harder than that smallie hit.

[Flaco651]

The smallmouth are fun on the Croix, but don't overlook the Channel Cat population. There are some nice ones up that way, I've caught them up to 20lbs.

[nofishfisherman]

All the fish options in the river intrigue me. Although I don't think I have the gear to handle the big cats and sturgeon just yet.

I plan on making more trips up that way so i will try to devote some time to other species.

[Turk]

Talking about channel catfish, I often say pound for pound they are the toughest freshwater fighters even over smallies.

20 is a BIG channel cat! Hats off Flaco651!

I have read the Beanie BiG Louie contest board , listings of 23,22, and I think some 21pounders for winners years past -slob channel cats!. Speaking of the Big Louie Contest - Many time contest winner Don Gordon is entered this year after taking a few years off- He's a big fish guy. Another name I'd love to see in the contest is Bob Hill, He's moved up nort' now, I haven't seen him for five years, He is one of my favorite river rats! I'm sure he's nailin'em on the water somewhere, likely with two anchors out on bow and stern.

Turk