Fishing near Interstate State Park

[Coach]

I am going to be at Interstate from July 1-4 and I have not been on this part of the river. Any suggestions would be helpful, depths, bait, lures? I would be looking for any type of fish, bass, walleyes, panfish, kitties. Looking to get out and enjoy the river. Thanks for any help.

[tunrevir]

Coach, If you look at the other post on this page TF to Osceola you might find what your looking for. The Dalles area above the park is really pretty decent for pannies, with some sauger and eyes thrown in. Towards evening the eyes will move up onto the rubble areas along the bluffs and the cats won't be far behind. A vertical jigging presentation should get you bit or head out into the deeper areas and drag live bait rigs with a half of crawler or whole one depending on the bite. I like crappie minnows and fatheads if You can keep them alive but crawlers are a great bait for just about everything that swims in the river. You may want to try som leeches both small for pannies and larger for eyes. Be careful about going downstrean as there is alot of shallow shoals between the park and the landing at Franconia. If you do decide to venture south bring a good paddle watch your depthfinder and be prepared to get out and tug the boat off of some of the shallower spots. If you go upriver from the park take the back channel it is relatively deep. There is some fast water at the tip of the island right before you enter the Dalles area, it looks spooky but it is deep and very navigable. Once you are past there work the rock walls and look for transition areas where the rubble meets the sand and you should get bit. It is pretty snaggy so bring plenty of jigs and don't let them sit on the bottom very long. A good starting point is along the wisconson side just above the boat landing at the head of the Dalles area. Mid channel is mostly sand and a bit of gravel and is a breeze to fish with live bait rigs. You will be looking at 20-24'. Look to the irregularities in the rock walls and any subtle points and eddies that are formed on the downstream side, these can hold a variety of fish and can be great cat spots in the evening with a 2-4oz sinker and 6-10" suckers. Hope this helps let me know how you do! If you decide to trailer up through Taylors falls to the tops side of the dam you can readily get into crappies, smallies and some pike or catfish. The water drops off fast, look for the crappies to be suspended in 16-25' of water or near brush along the shorelines. The smallies are more willing upriver around the rocky rubble areas and the areas with down timber. There are largemouth up there but I have yet to catch one but there is plent of lilly pads and slack water areas that might hold fish. If you can find the bluegills they tend to run rather nice sized and the crappies are a hoot as well. Again a word of caution when running upriver it does tend to shallow up and get rocky in spots so take it slow and you shouldn't have any problems. The launch is on the right about 3/4ths of a mile out of town or there is a bit nicer ramp on the Wisconson side just out of St. Croix Falls. I may be up in that area but it'd be later in the week. Good luck!

Tunrevir~