st cloud St Cloud Fishing Reports

[Rymann]

This is an awsome alternative to "regular" fishing. I know most of the streams listed in these areas, but no real know how to fish them. Any tips would be appreciated. Not looking for spots, just techniques. What are the sizes of browns being pulled out?

[catfreak]

You can also stop by stop light bait on highway 10. They have some free booklets that show all the trout streams in the area. Not my favorite shop around, but its definitely better with the new ownership.

[wizbang]

the past two weeks i have been watching my brother and his friends fill out on keeper size crappies with some very nice keepers off and on fishing at the river!green glow hooks worked the best with a minnow.i tried white colored jigs and did ok myself but my bro seemed to catch more with his green hook....!

[st cloud fisher]

wat part of the river?

[wizbang]

alls i can tell ya its north of the paper mill in sartell!

[srfishin15]

we just fought the wind and waves today and only ended up with a few. the crappies are NOT shallow anymore.

[621vs]

I fish the river all the time and the crappies are easy to target if you know what you are looking for going to try and make it out on tuesday after work open seat if anyone wants to join me.

[wizbang]

yes i noticed i caught the bigger ones when i was off bottom with my slip bobber even though i could see some surface......but i did catch more when i was fishing only a few feet down!you gotta have current or jig the bobber in too....you may even get a few eyes in the mix or some very nice small mouth bass even!the bigger crappie minnows did not do as well as the smaller ones also.....going to try my other honey holes so called in the area!

[BuckmasterG]

Just was curious as to what people have been seeing for lake temperatures? Unfortunately my locater doesn't have the temp. Thanks.

[pushbutton]

last two weeks pretty much 56 through 60...depending on the day.

[so haaad]

Here's a more detailed DNR link:

DNR Montrose

In general, you are better off hitting small streams early in the season before the vegetation fills in.

[nater]

The chain was 54-56 this weekend

[BuckmasterG]

Thanks for the reponses guys! That's pretty much what I assumed with my educated guess, but have seen other reports of lakes in the mid to upper 60's, thought it was HIGH

[Borch]

Koronis was 60-67 degrees depending on where you were on the lake last night. The cold algea bloom is hitting it hard now and the cottonwood fuzz is getting thick as well. Tough for trolling cranks. But there are fish to be had for those livebait rigging or jigging. We ended up catching 6 eyes from 13-22" pulling cranks will a few that came unbuttoned on the way to the boat.

[Borch]

Was out on Koronis end of last week and had a decent bite in the evening pulling crankbaits. Lots of 13.5-14.5" walleyes as well as a few 16-19" walleyes caught. During the day there has been a decent bit on the breaklines. Sometimes at the top and sometimes deeper. Shiner minnows were still putting fish in the boat but leeches and crawlers are becoming more effective. Water temps ranged from 59.5 to 67.8 degrees in the areas I fished. Still a fair amount of aglae floating around fouling crankbaits.

Sunfish on area lakes seem to be staging for the spawn.

Good Luck!

[fishgutz77]

Fished Big Watab this Sunday and went 4 for 6 on rainbows.

We lost a couple on the way to the boat.

All fished where 14-15"s

A small michigan stinger called boy-girl pattern that is gold, blue and pink did most of the damage and one other fish on mixed veggies colored stinger as well.

all fish where caught 20-30 ft down on the riggers about 80 to 100 ft back.

speed was 1.6 to 2.4 mph, a little wind would have helped the bite. very flat water.

[slurpie]

Was out on koronis today and did alright some small mixed fish. Then got a 30" eye and an 18" and 8 keeper crappies. My brother caught the big eye thought it was weeds till ten feet from the boat and it finally started to fight. We took pictures and made what we thought was a successful release. The fish did not come from deep water so this was kind of weird and was only out of water for one picture and to remove the hook. We fished the area for another 20 mins when we noticed a fish floating. We started to go to it when we noticed a bald eagle getting lower so we sped up the eagle took off then from the side when we were 10' from the fish a pelican swoops in between the boat and the fish. We scared off the pelican and unfortunatly it was the walleye we released. But that was one crazy pelican The saying must be true pelican pelican your beak can hold more than your belly can. That would have been crazy to try and watch but we could not let that happen. Anyways that was our fishing adventure for the 4th weekend. Hope others had some fun to.

[Borch]

Congrats on the nice eye. Too bad about the release not working out. So is it going on your brother's wall?

[slurpie]

Yeah Borch he is mounting it. It was a healthy fish dont know what happened in the release.

[Borch]

Sometimes fish don't go back down when they should. Catch enough of them and it happens. Sounds like an exciting trip though.

[terrible_fisherman]

I went out yesterday. It was pretty slow but did get one 18 inch eye and a few bass and sunfish. Caught the eye is four feet pulling a trap through weeds during mid day. Never know where those things are at.

[tcumd]

fished the river this evening in sauk rapids, had some luck on smaller walleyes in 14-18 fow. pink jig, leech or crawler. Good luck, later Casey

[T.O.W]

Casey, do you go out in a boat or from shore? If in a boat, where do you put in? and do you navigate both up and downstream with a medium sized boat?

[tcumd]

TOW...i was putting in at wilson and heading north with my 16 foot alumacraft....but after a 140$ prop later, i have been putting in by the papermill in sartell and having good luck up there. 32 fow chartruse jigs & fat heads...lots of small eyes mixed with a ocasional crappie and smallie. lots of fun. Good luck

Casey

[T.O.W]

Sounds good. I've been north of the paper mill several times. So your talking just below the dam? Is the access on the east or west side? Thanks for the info.

[tcumd]

east side of the river. above dam

[pushbutton]

fished grand last thursday as well as last evening, pulling shallow/mid range divers in 10 to 12ft.....good assortment of northern and smaller(12 to 15 inch) eyes. one of the 4 sides is definitely better!

[pushbutton]

as usual i have been out fished again!

crappies have been grouped up in 20 ish ft. , suspended at about 12 ft, and making runs into the shallows during primetime, had best crappie fishing of the year thursday night around 10 at night in 4 to 7 ft. after all the rain blew through, almost skunked friday night though. although borch found the eyes shallow a few weeks ago(i think he can smell them) i have just started seeing them, the fish are very well fed and thick....looks like the fall bite is on big time.....if you can get out, now would be the time to do it!

[Borch]

Looks like fun and that is a nice thick slab.

The shallow bite continues with the shiner minnows schooled up tight against shorelines, especially in current areas. And with all this rain there is significant current in areas that there is normally little to none this time of year. Frogs are also starting to show up on the lake shorelines and there seems to be quite a few of them but nothing like to old days.

Made it out Firday night and after a big blow all day the walleyes were relating to wind blown shorelines even though the lake flattened out in the evening. Found plenty of 12-20" walleyes willing to smack a crankbait. Both shad baits and stickbaits put walleyes in the boat. Water temps ranged from 58-60 degrees.

Walleyes smell good.

[osok]

fished north of Sartell this afternoon and evening. Kept 3 'eyes around 18" and must have released 3-4x as many 13" and under. Caught a few smallies w/ the largest @ 20" (wow what a fighter) and way too many rock bass.

But when the bite shut off, it was definitely done. Good times.