fishing 14th

[Walli1]

Alright how many out there can't wait till tomorrow? I've been so pumped up, I feel like a child waiting to open his presents. I have the boat full of gas, bait well has plenty of redtails, rods and reels have all under went inspection and are cleared for use, new snells have been made, coffee pot is set on auto, check list is complete and ready to commence the fishing frenzy in the morning! Sandmannd lets try for sunday morning if your in? I'm taking a sign contractor out in the morning from 6 till 11, I'll post the results when I get back in the morning

[Sandmannd]

Sounds good Walli, just let me know a time and place. Good luck in the morning.

[Walli1]

Water temp 54.6 and the eyes were active, went through over three dozen redtails lindy riggen 28-38 feet. Kept enough for a good fish fry. What a great morning on the river, looking forward to getting out tomorrow morning!

[Stratosman]

We didn't have much luck this morning, I think the bite is still on live bait, which we had none of...Walli, I think we saw you, you have a red lund, did you have what appeared to be a planer board out?

[Walli1]

I do have a red lund but I wasn't using planner boards today just lindy riggen for that slow presentation and it was working good! The saugers I filleted out had eggs in them, whats up with that? Has anyone else caught saugers at this time of year with eggs in them? 8 years on the river and I've never came across saugers with eggs in them at this time of the year! or havn't I ever got a female?

[tunrevir]

fished upriver this weekend the temps were in the low 40's by my depth finder. I was shocked. I thought that the water would be low 50's and high forties but man it was 41.3 on the launch and 42.2 after the "sun" came out! Crappie bite wasn't bad as well as the smallies but everything else was slow.

Tunrevir~

[Sandmannd]

Hey Walli, are we on for tomorrow? Wifey wants to know if I'll be home or not. I don't wanna put no presure on you, but I think she's got a "Honey Do" list going in her head if I don't go fishin'. Save me if you can.

[SS 9 IRON]

Will be selling boat soon if I don't start finding fish...

I was out Saturday from 11am to 6pm. 1 waleye. I have been fishing the Catfish Bar area and just south of the 94 bridge. O.K. Define insanity: trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results. The girl-friend got so cute as to "take" a fishing article she saw at a DR.'s office while waiting for an appointment. SHE said that many fisherman get caught up trying same areas expecting to catch fish only because fish have been caught there in the past...

Tried jiggin, lindy riggin, 3-way trolling bearing in mind advice I've received from you guys here in the forum. What's up? I am completely stumped. Are there no fish between Beenies launch and the Catfish Bar. Here's my question fella's. Do I continue to try the areas described above or should I try launching out of Prescott and work the areas down there. Also, I've noticed millions of minnows swimming near the surface and seeing schools of baitfish on the graph . Could the amount of feed available be a factor in my absolute failure to produce fish(please bare in mind that I will never sell my boat and my groans of pain and suffering have everything to do with ego and nothing to do with genuine humility) Any how, off to church and will be looking forward to any ideas you guys have. I'm thinking of playing hookie one more time this week. If I do put in down at Prescott any ideas what areas I should target. I read that 28-38 feet is the depth to be fishing. Guess I'll target that depth. One more thing,where on God's green earth can I pick up some red tails? Apparently some of the gentleman on this forum put on an absotute clinic with these little critters.

See ya on the water.

[dieguy]

I Feel your pain SS 9 Iron. This is my first year fishing the croix. I have fished almost exclusively on the Croix this year and here what I have found so far.

I started fishing in May and it was a blast. i had my newly purchased used boat, a new sonar/gps, and a whole winters worth of newly read knowledge in my head. I was trying to learn Walleye techniques a bit better and was having good success. i would catch 3-5 walleyes and saugers everytime out. Along with an absolute ton of other "less desirable" species.

Then June came and things kept right on going, maybe a few more Sauger than Walleye and alot more sheephead. I was having relatives asking to go fishing with me because I was doing so well. I had a smile on my face everday.

Then July came. I was not going to go out the weekend of the 4th but my nephew talked me into it. I figured with all of the boats and traffic that it would be an absolute zoo (which I was right) didn't get anything all morning and by noon I couldn't stand the other boats anymore so I was about to pack it in without at least one Walleye or Sauger for the first time. Then I decided to troll one last shoreline on the way back to the landing. I hit a 19" and a 25" within 5 minustes. Then not more than 5 min.after that My Nephew hooks into a 29 1/2" beast. This was at about 12:30 pm on 4th of july weekend with about 8000 boats flying all around us, Hot and Sunny conditions, This is the greatest fishery that ever existed.

So there I was the next weekend and my first skunk, no walleyes or Sauger just cats and sheepies. The rest of the month of July the same thing only cats and sheepies.

Then comes August again only sheeps and cats but even there numbers are goin down drastically until by the end of the month I had my first complete skunk, No fish of any type for the whole trip.

Then september came - Things have got to get better right? WRONG!! hours and hours of searching and trying everything and I can't even get my old friend Mr Sheephead to bite. The kids actually laugh at me now when I ask them if they want to go fishin with me. I even went and purchased a leadline set up and a bunch of cranks and still nothing. finally the lastweek in September I got my first Walleye since since July 2nd and yes it was only one.

Now its October, so far hasn't been too good. I haven't hit more than 1 yet on any trip. I didn't make it out yesterday or today because of other obligations but from your post I don't expect it would have been much better. If you think about it the only person having good reports lately has been Walli1. The only thing I can figure is his years of experience are helping him in these hard bite times (otherwise he is actually some new technology fishing robot programmed to catch walleye - I mean who else could be up and on the river at 4:00 am every Sat. and Sunday ) I have been out at least 2 times a week and usually 3 or 4 fishing from Catfish bar down to Prescott. I am in the same boat as you SS but I figure i just need to put my time in and get the experience to be a consistent producer. The funny thing is with all of the bad luck I have had lately I still am sitting here and wishing I was on the river right now. if it were easy I know I wouldn't love it this much.Sorry about the long post guys and good luck to all,

dieguy

[Cbreeze]

Hey Guys,

I gotta tell you both that the best is yet to come. I posted back a few days to ya SS and just hang in there a few more days. I spent most of my time this year fishing the Kinni north to Hudson. I learned a lot and did well most times out. In the fall, I have historically spent more time Kinni south to Prescott and down the mississippi hitting key wingies and riprap. If you hang in there, the next few weeks will blow your socks off!!!

I know Walli sounds like he slams'em (and usually does I'm sure) but he's spent years perfecting presentation and patterning...and I bet he had frustrating days along the way as well. In a few weeks, hop down to the Kinni or Prescott, leave the minnows behind, and get those ringworms and K-Grubs ready!!

I know it has been suggested here many times but a day with a guide can make the learning curve soar!! Have fun out there and keep just enough to eat...leave some for the rest of us. By the way, last fall I had SEVERAL days of 40+ fish days... This year it's your turn!!

Tuna

[Walli1]

Had a great morning on the river, hooked up the Sandmannd for the first time,. nice to put a face with a forum poster Took him out this morning to see if I could put him on the fish, I think he's still cleaning them! redtails were the ticket, fish seemed to be rather lethargic today but we got enough to make it worth our while! Fishing beats Work and its only going to get better once the weather stabilizes

[Sandmannd]

Yep, had a great time. Thanks again Walli1. He pretty much took me right where he's always posted. Just a snell and a redtail and we had a meal. Good time on the water with a fellow FM poster.

[Walli1]

After I left the sandmannd I went out for a little scouting party and spot fishing, found fish in several spots tried one for over a hour produced only one eye burnt up quite a few redtails, hit another spot picked up a small sauger, stopped at the posted fishing spot for another look and the south corner had the fish I and sandmannd tried for before leaving the river had alot of short bites but did manage one decent one, ran out of redtails and never had another bite, just wouldn't take a river shinners no matter what!

[StCroixNewB]

I feel the pain of my fellow NewBee's on the Croix... this summer (just my second year on the Croix) I focused on the area between Hudson and the Kinni... had a few 'decent' days (3-5 walleyes), a bunch more zero days (except for sheepies and cats), a few multispecies days (mostly around Catfish) where we caught everything from bluegills to bass to sturgeon to catfish to walleyes, but really no "stellar" times out.

Today was a bit different... there were three of us in my boat and we ended up limiting out (yes, that's right, limiting out!) on sauger/walleye and we had a bonus sturgeon bite on a jig/shiner (was a bit over 32" - man, gotta love the fight those fish put up - solid muscle...). All of our hits came on jig/fathead in 40-30 fow at a steep drop-off crossing the main channel. Between catching fish the glorious weather, the day couldn't have been better! Keep the faith, the fall bite is nearly here!!!!

[Turk]

Quote:

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Has anyone else caught saugers at this time of year with eggs in them? 8 years on the river and I've never came across saugers with eggs in them at this time of the year!

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Nice saugers walli, every single year in late Ocotber they start carrying eggs, I've even seen them in late September. As well, I find the memory sometimes isn't what it used to be! ha.

Turk

[BigWadeS]

I had pretty good success Saturday, walleyes I caught were either too short, biggest was 14 3/4. I used everything, lindy riggin, jiggin, spinners, cranks...only thing I didn't get hooked up on was spinners. Cranks caught white bass and a couple smallies, walleyes, although not keepers were light bites with the slow presentation...

Walli, I think I saw you out in front of the bluffs, Sat AM, I was the one that had some motor troubles in a brown crestliner

[Walli1]

So that was you BigWades, I was wondering if your motor was going to start, I would of helped you out if you needed it! You should of came over by me, sure had a stack under the boat and in that general area, good times good times! Say hi or I'll say hi,always like to meet people

[Stratosman]

BigWade, I think I maybe saw you too. What does your boat look like? Full windshield on her? If so you were in the launch when I was... Need to put faces to names too.

[Walli1]

I was thinking about saugers with eggs in them at this time of year, maybe the reason I've never noticed it before is I move alot slower at filleting them then I use to or I just pay more attention and check them out alittle better!what ever the case maybe seems I've missed something. Two things I know for sure God loves me and the St.Croix is the best fishery period!!

[BigWadeS]

tan and brown 84 Crestliner Nordic, with full windshield

[BigWadeS]

which boat were you in?

[Turk]

Wally - you saw them before you just forgot, I've forgotton many things about fishing over the years, then you end up thinking oh ya I remember that...

Guys talking about and who's in what boat -If you ever wonder is that Turk? - I've got the Jesus fish symbol on my boat... My sponsor, and in my opinion that's the only sponsor I really need!

Keep Catchin'

Turk

[Stratosman]

Alumacraft tiller with a suzuki, newer model. Two guys, both big and dumb.

Scott

[StCroixNewB]

Turk, what section of the Croix have you been on lately? Were you 'up north' near Hudson last weekend?

[BigWadeS]

yeah I did see you out there, I was the solo big guy out there, last final outing for the year unfortunately, oh well, always next spring